The Washington times., 1915-02-08
THE UTNEY'S PLACE

The Jltney car Is starting Ma
tion-wide discussion of some funda'
mentals about intra-mural transpor'
tation. It seems worth while, al
this time, to survey the development
in city transit methods within the
memory of people still not by an,
means old, and determine whether
those methods ore liable to any fur
ther evolution. -
The old horse cars may yet be
seen occasionally in some places. II
is only two or three years since New
York lost the last of them. They
were the standard facility of city
transportation down to the end OF
the "eighties" of last century.
But there was also the cable line
in use extensively in Western towns
from Chicago to the Pacific, and to
rather a less extent in the East. A
steel rope in conduit furnished the
power; the cars hitched themselves
TO it and were hauled along. These
were pretty dangerous to traffic, and
their operation was perhaps more
expensive, per unit of passenger ca
pacity, than any other transporta.
ton ever attempted at popular
prices.
The trolley, overhead at first, un-
derground later, was 50 much cheap.
er, safer and more generally salts
factory that it very soon crowded
out the cable lines, while its in
creased speed and cleanliness left the
horse cars no chance of survival.
More recently has come the SUBJ
way, which, like ths elevated road,
is only necessary where congestion
is extreme, and only profitable in
very large cities that can provide a
very dense traffic.
It will be observed that in a gen.
Grafton past there has been series
of steps in the evolution Of traffic
methods. Why assume, then, that the
last stage has been reached? Es-
pecially why, when it is kept in mind
that the development, perfection and
adaptation of the petrol motor is the
mechanical wonder of the last two
decades.
During the period in which Ameri-
can towns have seen street cars pass
through the horse car, cable, over
head trolley, conduit trolley, elevat-
ed, and subway stages, the greatest
city in the world has practically
clung to the one method of transpor-
tation. London used it's bus lines
before there was a trolley; and Lon
don, though it has subways and
tramways, still does the vastly
greater part of its travelling on
buses.
The Londonpus might have had to
succumb before the perfected tram
way and the extended subway sys-
TENS, had not the improved electric
and the developed gasolene motors
come along in time to crowd out the
horse and give faster service. The
result is that London now gives ev-
cry promise of returning to the bus,
which is not very different from the
jitney, as the transportation facility
on which main reliance is to be
placed for handling the traffic of the
greatest of all cities.
In London the bus lines are op-
Grated by great corporations. The
jitney in this country starts in as an
individualistic enterprise. 1t consists
of man with an automobile and q
willingness to try new scheme. II
can go wherever it pleases, make its
route suit the business of the mo-
ment, and can, of course. vary its
charges for distance and convent.
ence, if desired. Thus far it has been
distinctly independent and individ.
ual; nobody seems to have tried seri.
ously to syndicate it. 1t stands for
distinct individualism and for real
competition in service. Undoubtedly
the time is long way ahead when
this sort of haphazard service will
be relied upon for any large part of
the transportation in American
cities. But it is also undoubted that
the progressive perfection of the au.
tomobile motor is going to increase
the difficulty of maintaining the un.
yielding rigidity of the old car serv.
ices of cities, restricted absolutely to
lines of rails, expensive conduits
and vast plants. The jitney stands
for phase in evolution, just as the
discarded cable or the overhead troll.
ley did.