Evening star., 1918-02-08
SKIPPING OF STOPS
FORSAV|NG OF FUEL
John A. BeeIer Recommends
Encouragement of Schedules
on Local Street Railways.
ADVISES UTILITIES BOARD

lHOstS@S UTILIZED DOHnU
| Every street ear schedule in Washing.
ton will have to be rearranged if the
Public Utilities Commission adopts rec
concentrations submitted to it today by
John A. Beeler, traffic engineer, calling
Tor the elimination of 80 per cent of the
regular stops of the Capital Traction
Company and 37R per cent of the regu-
lar stops of the Washington Railway
and Electric Company.
Based on an examination of every
stopping place in the District of Co.
lumbia and designed to speed up serv-
ice and save coal. the second report
growing out of Mr.. Beeler's investiga.
ton of local traffic conditions, which
deals exclusively with the subject OF
''skip-stops," went to the commission
this morning.
What the Report Proposes.
| 1t proposes abolition of 224 of the SIC
regular stops now main tanned by the
Capital Traction Company. and of 353
of the 944 stops maintained by the
Washington Railway and Electric Com.
pany.
The plan is based on a spacing OF
| eight stops per mile in the city and six
| per mile in the suburbs.
1 Not included in the above figures are
| several lines for which definite stopping
| places have been charted and recon-
mended by Mr. Beeler. but the Per
| centage of omissions involved is not
stated. For these lines total Of 1ss
| stops both ways is recommended and
4 trfh fhvvfn frh rzt ~ -.
Massachusetts, avenue to American Uni-
| yersity. s: Bladensburg road, "a; Colum-
bia line, from 18th and H streets north.
east to District line, IS: Kenilworth
| diers' Home branch. 6: Portland street
| branch, 4; 4th street northeast, s; East
| Washington Heights Traction Com-
pany. 10: Washington-Virginia lines.
10. and Washington and Maryland RaHp
way Company, 20.
Reduces Running Time, Saves Coal
Adoption of the recommendations,
Mr.. Beeler estimates will reduce run.
ming time from Is to 20 per cent and
lead to saving in coal of approximate
ly $4,000 tons year.
He proposes. as was suggested by The
Star. that the locations of stopping
places be clearly Defined.
At the outset, Mr.. Beeler statesrhat
the railway companies. in an attempt
to accommodate their patrons. are op-
Grating on a ''stop-at-every-biock" ba-
sis. which has slowed down schedules
! the car lines is but little faster than :
!, walk -
10 remedy this condition it is NOT
necessary. he asserts. to adopt any
involving long distances between stops
Equalization of spacing on a rational
basis is what is necessary. he states
and this Is what the plan submitted IL
IN avn1s- s-l.
aim is to develop a more rapid transit
service without unduly increasing the
| walking time or physical effort Of pa
irons to reach the designated stopping
Many of the stops designated are now
observed as fire stops, but the subiecf
OF f1re stops will be treated generally
In later report.
Exhibits Submitted.
Attached to the report submitted n
| the committee today are exhaustive
exhibits showing the location OF ali
passenger stopping places in the Dis
trict of Columbia. with the approx.
Hate distances between stops It il
stated that the territory surrounding
each possible stopping place was In.
spected before locating stops.
In those cases where the present
number OF stops exceeds the required
minimum the proposed stopping places
greatest number with the least incon-
| Verience. rs the centers of population
change in certain OF the suburban real
/ estate developments due 10 the erec-
| tion of more residences. it may be
necessary at Some frture date to shift
the stopping places in order to con-
! tinue to serve the greatest number
| with the least Inconvenience, according
| to the renort.
| At junction points and at crossings Of
street railway tracks the present stop
ping places have. in most cases. been
| retained. However as schedule speed
Increases and passenger traffic devel-
ops. it may be found necessary or desir.
able to move some of the present stops
! cut of the traffic throats. as has been
recommended at 18th street and New
| these junction points and crossings,
therefore, must not be considered a.
| final 1t is stated.
AS the numerous stops at the Union
station present a problem different from
ANYTHING else in the city. they have not
: been touched upon in this section, but
! VIII be reported sepa ratalv
"Onc of the chief difficulties with tho
street car service in Washington at
: the present time is the low rate Of
! speed. so that the patrons are not
transported quickly as they should
be between home and office" says the
I report. se
! The cars in use here are eeared 80
. as to run at maximum speed Of
/
the stops and slow-downs bring the
actual rate of progress down to about
eight miles per hour. and In the CON.
gested districts even less.
How Stops Affect Schedules. -
"The influence of stops on schedules
is not generally recognized. In fact.
the number of stops required per mile
is for all practical purposes the factor
that determines whether or not rapid
transit is possible for the community
served.
"A stop consists of three elements,
all involving loss of time The car
must be slowed down from its running
speed to standstfll, it must stand for
unloading or loading of passengers or
waiting for signals, and finally 1t must
start and again resume its speed.
LAS an illustration consider an ordf-
nary Washington street car capable Of
making twenty miles per hour without
stops Require it to make eight stops
of but five seconds each and the sched-
uIe speed is reduced to ten miles per
hour. or only one-half what is posi-
Bile without stopping. II the stops con-
s,,me more time the schedule speed will
he even more reduced. Fourteen stopA
per mile will reduce the speed to sevsas
miles per hour.
Stop-at-Every-Block Policy.