The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-03-17
Cheap, Convenient and Popular
Means of Travel is in This
Country to Stay.

l NIEdIlo VI lEdtEI Is III HIS
Country to Stay.
! Influences exerted by street rail
way interests may succeed for a
short period in retarding the devel.
opment of the .jitney bus" but il
/ will never be able to suppress that
new and popular means OF transpor-
tation." says John N. WHY'S. presi-
/ dent of the Willys-Overland Com
i pany in the course OF an interview.
at his winter home in Pasadena.
/ Cal
The public in this country is Just
awakening TO the possibilities and adj
vantages of motor transportation. In
London the electric lines known over
there as trans are owned and oper-
ated by the London county council.
This body is extremely jealous OF. its
abilities and has branched into num-
erous paternalistic schemes. AS
soon as the motor bus became fac
TORN transportation nine or ten
years ago. the council began exerting
every effort within its great power
TO suppress motor buses In the in
terest Of the huge investments in
which the body had involved the tax
payers in the construction Of electric
street railways.
The public, however, rallied to the
defense Of the newer and more popu-
lar means of transportation and to-
day. notwithstanding the fact that
the councils pet street railways are
facing certain bankruptcy as result
Of motor competition, the people
stand by the motor buses, and refuse
to see them unjustly dealt with
!
Spread to Small Towns.
In England the iitney business is
no longer confined to the cities
There have been dozens of bus serv-
ices established between smaller
towns. Out of London lines run IN
all directions. carrying passengers in
TO the country to points which have
never before been available to the
rank and file.
It is true that a great protest is
going up from the exclusive elements
which have heretofore practically mo-
nopolized these rural districts, but
the authorities have been true to the
motto, the greatest good for the
greatest number.
At the beginning of the war a
tremendous movement was on foot
to nationalize motor bus transporta-
ton and compete more and more with
steam railways, which in their SUBJ
urban passenger traffic are already
being hard hit by bus competition. In
historic old Oxford the trans have
entirely disappeared from the street.
In London it has been demon
strated that the motor bus can. With
out attaining dangerous speeds, sol
completely outstrip the electric street.
car IN the transportation OF passen-
gers as to make the latter unattrac-
tive to the public. The street car
gets tied up every time a driver of
any sort of vehicle gets on the track. \
s ,ltl'E,s' delays make car schedules ex-
1tremely slow and uncertain.
Service is Rapid. ]
On the other hand. despite the
fact that the bus itself weighs from
a, 600 to 1000 pounds, it accelerates-I
quickly. runs around obstacles and
delivers and picks up its passengers
next to the curb
But the foreigners have neversen-
loyed the advantages whicht America
has at its cor in the form of posi-
sbilities Of g light car. or .jitney hus'E
for the reason that!
prices at which automobiles sell over
there and the cost OF upkeep put ia e
light car out of competition. About
the cheapest ight car fitted for .jit-
ney work abroad would cost the
operator $1,150. Gasonline costs
fully double in Lond on to w11at-it does
here in this country in Il wholesale
way. because in addition to the cost
ofstransportation from the distanct
countries in which it is produced.
there is a tax of six cents a gallon
upon the gasoline used for pleasure
cars and three cents gallon for that