The Washington times., 1913-11-07
STREET CAR CONGESTION.

1t is one of the anomalies of Washington's hap
hazard development of public utilities that, although
there is no possible excuse for congestion of traffic
we have it at some points in an aggravated form
There is such density of population as to Justify
it. The ground plan of the town, with its splendid
wide streets and the system of avenues diagonally
ntersecting these ought to be guarantee against
congestion. Yet the fact remains that there are
some of the most inconvenient, expensive, and dan
gerous street car conditions in this town that are
to be found anywhere in the country. They would
not be tolerated in other places They are tolerated
here only because the community is powerless to
help itself.
The executive committee of the Citizens Confer
ence has called attention anew to these bad condi
tions. Exactly who or what the Citizens Confer
ence represents we don't know; but if there were
Tooley street in Washington boasting of three tailor
shops, its sartoral convention would have as much
right to proclaim in behalf of "the people of Wash
ington' as anybody else has So here's to the Cih'
zens Conference at least in far at it's on the right
side of things.
The conference wants the congestion Of car
tracks and cars in the region bounded by Fourteenth
Fifteenth G. and H streets, to be relieved in Some
effective manner. The underlying trouble about re-
lieving it, as people familiar with the traction prob
lem will not overlook, is that there are two street
car systems in the town. Broadly, they must parallel
each other in order t9 get where the centers OF bus
ness are They must get to the Treasury, to the
Union Station to Georgetown; not because the pub
lie is better served by having them parallel each other
all around the town, but because their own revenue
necessities are safeguarded in this way The public
manifesty, would be better served if Some miles oi
tracks that represent merely competition, were SO
disposed that they would represent additional faci
ties. More people would ride, more of them would
be satisfied with the service they got. The aggre-
gate of street car revenues would be greater, and
the danger to life and limb would be lessened.
Those things would all be possible if there were
substantial unifcation of street-car interests. l,
would be brought about either by the enforcement
of universal transfer system, with an incidental
simphcaton and increased efficiency of the tracsage
Plans or by an actual consolidation of the street car
have two companies whose first business is to watch
each other and see that the division of territory and
opportunity is kept as equitable possible, when
the thing really needed is one company with no
other purpose than TO give the people the best pos
sibIe service.
1t is all wrong for the street and the Pennsyl-
vania avenue lines to be competitors of each other
they ought to be the compliments of each othec
That is true in many other places. study of traffic
conditions at the Union Station loop would prove that
an unconscionable mileage is run by cars OF
both companies, during most hours of the day, sim.
ply in order that they may be kept in touch with
that important traffic point, which must be reached
especially by Capital Traction cars over roundabout
and unsatisfactory route
These are big and fundamental aspects of the
street car situation in Washington. Universal trans
fers will help but it will give its full measure of I'M
provement only if it is supplemented by a generous
rearrangement of tracks and routes such as is
sary to provide the town with one system working
for the town, not with two systems fighting each
other for the towns business.