New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-17
VAST TRAVEL TO
CENTRAL ZONE
Interesting Statistics Com
piled from Report on
\ Ticket Sales
63,44l PASSENGERS
PER ACRE IN DISTRICT
CIarkSOn CoWI Discusses
Great Transit Facility of
Mercantile Area

IFiN NhfiattN III "a
d Four olt Of every five persons daily
+ entering New York BY subway reach
+ lower Manhattan through or near the
central mercantile district. 10000 froT
Brooklyn, 10000 from New Jersey, says
Clartson Govt, president OF the Cen
trial Mercantile Association, in com
montinr on the figures compiled from
the recent report Of the Public Service
Commission ON the sale of station
tickets on PETERBOROUGH lines for the
year ended June 80 last
From that report Che statisticians Of
the Central Mercantile Association got
tho following data: The average mum
Der Of rapid transit passengers pcr
acre for the central mercantile dis
trict Canal 60 Thirfy-fourth street.
Fourth Avenue TO The Hudson River. T.
t3.til. the average FOR the city. Man
haitian. Bronx. Brooklyn and Queens,
I. d.-6l per acre. The central dis.ric.
covers 95S acres, the four boroughs
lGO45G. Thus fifteen times more per
sons travel 10 and from the central
mercantile district than from all the
subway and elevated stations in the
city.
By elevated and subway 60,777,o7S
4 passengers entered and left the central
mercantile district last year, one for
every eleven carried by these lines
throughout the city. This Is an in
crease Of 2,520,2S5 passengers over the
previous year.
As TO the present and future rapid
transit facilities OF the district, Presi-
dent Cowl says:
Remarkable as the statistics from
the Public Service Commissions report
arc as indicating the vast volume OF
passenger traffic through the central
mercantile district. those who have
been familiar with the sections growth
and facilities are not a. all sstonished
by these most recent figures.
persons doing business IN the dis
trict ard others mirroring their real
estate holdings with lofts and apart
meuts there, have been aware right
along OF the transit situation. The
section contains 125000 industrial
workers In 1910 plants. so per cent Of
all Manhatt9r's employees and - per
cent Of Nsnhattan's plants.
Then. also, every railroad but one
entering New York City has freight
terminals in the district. and one-half
Msnhattan's dock revenue comes from
the docks in the central mercantile sec
tion. Yet these docks occupy only one
tenth the boroueh's waterfront
New Rapid Transit Lines
President Cowl referred TO the feet
e. u Ia, oil n -
are arranged 10 give direct express ser
vice and "a 5-cent fare from the central
mercantile district to all metropolitan
New York. IL i8 the only District, he
added. Offering rapid transit lines with
six express stops. Il crosstOwn subway
TO Brooklyn and East New York, and q
tunnel TO New Jersey, to the far-seeing
business man or investor whose eye IS
on the door OF opportunity.
"Cold fact reveal the progress IN the
new sUbWays and show how soon the
central mercantile district will be en-
loving the novel benefits OF uncqUallcd
transit facilities" Mr. Cowl continued.
"Thc most recent report Of the Public
Service Commission shows that the
Seventh av. subway is IS per cent com
plctcd in the central mercantile dis
trict and g per cent finished as a
whole The Broadway subway is 3
per cent completed in the central Nor
camille district, and the commission is
actively pressing forward the work on
the 1tth st.-Eastern subway line.
"Tnese facts remind me Of Public
Service Commissioner Travis II. Whit
ncy's remark at the Central Mercan-
tile Associations last annual dinner
when he declared that all roads lead
20 the central mercantile district, and
pointed to The special benefits 10 the
section from the opening OF the dual
su5Ways.'
Transit Tubes nder Way
Joseph +. kean. secretary of the as
social on. draws attention 10 the fac.
tbat the headings Of the north tube
of the pair constituting The Old Slip
Clsrk 81. tunnel were joined recently
under the last River, and that head
ings Of the south tube OF the same tuU-
uci arc approximately 300 feet apart
They will meet within two or three
months. The four-tuhe tunnel under
the Harlem River, built as part of
the Lexington sv. line and virtually
completed. was the only other new IN
der-river tunnei provided for IN the
dual system contracts, IN addition 10
the East River tunnels.
The other new downtown tunnel is
that being constructed between White
hall ST.. Manhattan, and Montague ST..
Brooklyn, Tor operation by the New
York Municipal Railway Corporate
The headings of each tube Of the tun-
mel last named must be advanced l.OOO
feet more before they may be joined
1t is expected they will be united
about May !, 1917.
Shafts arc now being sunk for the
tubes Of the tunnel Of the 18th ST.
Eastern line from East l4th St, Man
haitian. to North eth ST., Brooklyn, and
for the Goth 81. tunnel from Goth So.
Manhattan. under Blackwell's Island TO
Queens. Thus all four East River tun
nels contemplated under the dual cor
tracts are now under construction. The
18th st.-Esstern lines trains will alsl
run through the Goth St. tunnel
ARCADE BUILDING ON
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS