Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1913-06-12
HAS STEPLESS CARS
viii Save GothamiteS 125,000
Miles a Year in Steps.
Governor OF New York Expected to
Sign Bill Doing Away With the
Ancient Type-old Horse
Cars Are Doomed.

New York.--By the introduction OF
a new style OF street car the New
York Railways company is about to
save the good people OF this city
an annual climb from the level OF
the street OF $4,000 miles a year, and
a descent to the street Of exactly the
same length. II has come about
through its engineers recognizing
that 1t was ridiculous to make their
passengers continue every time they
boarded a street car to climb above
all the machinery and that little in
genuity would enable them to de-
sign a car with practically no climb
ing at all
Once the figures are given anyone
can verify this calculation for him
self. In the year ended June 80, 1912.
the New York Railways company and
its predecessor, the Metropolitan
Street Railway company, carried just
under 264 100000 passengers. The
height OF the step of tho so-called
stepless car from the street is ten
inches and the height of the old-style
car, which 1t is to replace, is about
40 inches. Consequently there is a
saving OF 80 inches every time a
passenger gets on or of the car, and
this works out at 125, 900 miles a year
Cor the entire system.
The double-decked. stepless car
which bears so strong a family re
semblance to the other new style OF
car, will continue, however. for some
time alone in its glory.
1t was only after considering care
fully the many different brands oil
street car In use in other cities tina,
the New York Railways company
evolved the side-door, stepless. prepay
ment car. Montreal, for example. has
a side-door, prepayment car, and Phil
adelphia prides itself on its 'near-side
car" The latter was inspired by the
desire to provide room for more pas
sengers and to enable them to entel
and leave at such a point that they
would encounter as little as possible
| of the mud of the street.
While the newest thing in stree
cars is being installed in New York
the oldest is about to be abandoned
| New York has for several years beer
the only one OF the big cities to re
tain horse cars. In some instances
| this was necessary because of con
! gested traffic, but new subways hav
relieved this to such an extent tina
electric power now is practical.
Governor Sulzer now has under cor
sideration a bill requiring all stree
car companies of the city to cease OF
Grating horse cars after January
next. This measure has passed tn
legislature, and if accepted by tn
gov rnor, will affect six lines In Mar
haitian, but even without this legisla
ton it Is probable that in a fey
months the last of the old horse car
will have been driven to the barns
never to run again.
When the public service commissio
took Office on July /, 1907, there wer
16 horze-car lines in operation. Q
these four have been abandoned an
six are now wholly or partially opel
ated by storage battery cars. TIL
six still running are the Avenue
line, from the Desbrosses street ferr
across town to East Twenty-fourt
street; the Blocker street line, freI
Blocker street and Broadway t
Fourteenth street and Ninth avenue
the Chambers street line, from Chan
bers street ferry to Grand street ferry
tn Metropolitan cross-town line, frol
Desbrosses street ferry to Gran
street ferry; the Seventeenth an
Eighteenth streets line, from Broa
way to the Twenty-third street ferr
and the Sixth avenue-Desbros
street ferry line, from Sixth aVenu
and Third street to the DesbossC
street ferry.