The Washington times., 1917-09-14
Street Car DiSService and the
Service of JitneyS
Conditions Call for Radical and Effective Measures by the
District Commissioners-Protests Are Numerous.
By DAVID LAWRENCE.

Complaints against the street service continue to b.
numerous The Times is receiving many letters every day
pointing out the careessness Of the Washington Railway
Electric Company These communications reflect wide
spread discomfort The service very few of the lines Of
that company to be satisfactory Says who
holds position of responsibility In the Government:
write this letter as protest against the inefficient
service of the Washington Railway and Electric Co,
especially the service the North Capitol street line
between a. m. and 6. / reside at North Capitol
and streets and at this point the invariably go by
without stopping to take passengers whether the car
is full not The for the not stopping at
this point is that they behind schedule time and to
make this up they will the wouldb passengers to
be late in reaching their places of employment. This
morning, for instance, was compelled to wait hve
stop street Randolph Place to take passengers
and at Sixth and streets the ahead became dis
abled. got off and walked to get car to carry me to
Seventeenth and Fl streets
This is not complaint of crank or an old man,
but from who has had to contend for the past three
years with the intoerabIe car service on this line.
have decided to walk to work In future know how
long it takes me to walk but do not know the time
street requires to convey me to my destination
Very sincerely, yours,
LAC.
Here is another from Clarence W. Miller which shows
the relationship between street service and the order
Gently issued to prohibit the of streets in the business
section by Itneys
On Monday morning the cars of the Columbia line
were tied up during the rush period causing many to
report late for work This is the only line in Washing
ton that is paraleled by regular jitney service The
Idre Is Genus the distance TWO Lules
service the working people Of the northeast section
would be at the mercy Of corporation that makes
pretense about accommodating the travelling public and
which, because it pays small percentage of Its gross
receipts into the public treasury, claims exclusive
right to serve f the travelling public on certain streets
of the city. Let the jitneys operated
warning against encouragement of the Jtnsys ID
given by still another correspondent, who writes:
In view of the wretched service given by the
Washington Railway and Electric Company, the It-
neys should be allowed to operate where they can do
so to advantage.
Much of the congestion in the business district il
caused the failure of the street cars to the crowds
and if the neys can handle any of these crowds let
them do it Furthermore if it necessary for the neyS
to charge 10 cents the longer hau In order to stay
in business and the people would rather pay 10 cents
to ride in tney than take chances with street
commodatons is there any harm donei The Washing
ton Railway and Electric Co., with its vast resources
making fight the tneys and they succeed in drv-
ing the neys off the Streets or it now making it
too hot with the help of the police for the jtneys to
operate the public should know what to expect from
this company when the jitneys are gone
The above letters, taken from many of similar kind
hat have been written to The Times well as the Public
Utilities Commission show that street dsservce is be-
oming and more aggravatng every day It is
sy to be hoped that the Commissioners of the District Of
Columbia planning way to give the residents Of
Washington relief There ought to be systematic study Of
ondtions possible by experts and the results laid before
congress Commissioner Brownlow who is practically the
mayor of the city nowadays realizes full WELL it is believed
hat street conditions in Washington far from what
hey should be the Capital of the United States The peo
relying upon him to take the fight for them and
will find them ready to support any he may pro-
that ultimately will prompt and adequate service