Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-12
RNANTOWN CARS
LIKE TOONERVILLE'S
Patrons Of Routes 75 and 81
A Lose Patience With In
efficient Service
LONG WATTS, COLD RIDES
Shortage of Conductors and Motor
men Blamed in Part on Lack
of Heating

There Is no section of Philadelphia
vbere the need Is greater for efficient
sroIIey service than the Twenty-second
ward. which includes Germantown and
CHESTNUT Hill. This is particularly true
~ the lines which cross Germantown on
Chelten avenue.
There are two lines of cars in this
.eryice-Route 81 and Route 10. Route
-s Is the more important of the two,
running from Ridge apd Midvale ave-
nues to Frankford.
The very first car that was boarded by
an EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER reporter
engaged in looking into the conditions
~ the service was a startling exhibit of
ineff,ciency. He boarded the car at
4 fifth street and Wyoming avenue, hav-
ing waited more than twenty minutes
for one to come.
"What is the matter with the SERVICE"
ne asked the conductor, who looked far
from happy in his lot. Matter" he
answered, "why, it looks to me as though
this company is completely up in the
air. am thoroughly and heartily dis
rusted with conditions over here. and
II they do not have man to relieve me
when get to the barn they will be one
more man short than they are now.
/ am doing this trip to help them out,
and expect to get no thanks for it."
CARS WORN OUT
As the car stopped at each block.
the conductor had to disengage the troll
ley rope from the door. for which it
showed a strange affinity.
''The cars we have to work are fit
for the junk heap" growled the con-
ductor, "and the company refuses to
ALLOW us to turn on enough heat to
make them at all comfortable" That's
why so many of the men are laid up
Why, do you know that one day last
week there were only eight cars rum
ming on this whole line. Can you beat
that for rotten service? Talk about
your Tooneryille trolley. They ought
TO bring the old skipper over on this
line; he would be right at home"
Before boarding this car. the reporter
had been at Second and Wyoming ave-
nue. looking at the bewildering array
Of coal stored there by the +. r. T..
II was here that he heard a most in
teresting tale of the service on Route
rs.
A few days ago, a crowd, many Of
them employed by the Government at
the Frankford Arsenal. waited from
$40 a. m. until $3.50 a. m, one hour
and forty minutes, mind you, before
a car came, and when the cars did
come they would not stop to take on
these men who had been in the cold
all that time. At last one of the men
pulled the pole off the wire and in this
way stopped the car. A patrolman who
was there placed him under arrest, but
released him when he learned the true
state of affairs.
The reporter went into a small store
to make purchase, and spoke about the
service to the woman who waited on
him.
II have never seen 1t so bad" she
said II stand here and see the people
wait and wait for the cars in the cold
! and rain. and tell you sir. I am sorry
for them. They say they are short OF
men, but j don't wonder at that.
have a friend whose husband works on
3 the cars. and she tells me he had to
5 quit. He got rheumatism and he
blames it all on the cold, drafty cars
he had to work on"
CRITICISM ALL AROUND
When the reporter reached German
town and Chelten avenues, one of the
/ busiest centers in Philadelphia, he made
inquiry concerning the service on. Routes
rs and 81, and without single excep'
tion every person he asked made some
far from flattering remark. Some were
mild in their criticism, some knocked
5 pretty hard. while others were violent
In their protests. The reporter thinks
he spoiled the whole day for one man
whom he asked If he did not think that
the service was pretty good. consider
, ing that the cars were out of date, Iot
heated. and that the schedule on which
Y they ran looked like a leaf out of Joe
. Millers joke book.
Don't try to make me laugh about
Route 75," he growled THAT line is
past being jokes l have to depend
i on 1t to get to my work in Frankford
IN the morning, and I have had my
Z stomach full this winter"
The reporter was going to suggest
that the p. r. T. extend the line as far
as West Laurel Hill Cemetery so the
cars would have the proper surround
ings, but he thought better Of 1t. He
did not want to see the man suffer
any more. Temper is bad thing.
ROUTE rs NOT so BAD
Route 81 did not come In for as many
harsh words as Route 10.
This line. which runs from Wissa'
hickon avenue across Chelten through
East Germantown and then to Yorl
road. seems to have been behaving 9
little better. and one rider engaged II
conversation with the reporter said tina
he thought it very good. However, upor
cross examination. 1t seems that thi'
man did not live in that section OF thu
city and that this was the only time h
had ridden on the line this winter. Hi
testimony, therefore, did not carry very
much weight.
The reporter was told by one con
ductor on Route 81 that the company
refused to furnish fuses to connect vi
the heating system Of the cars. The
reporter was unable to verify thi.
statement, but from the temperature OF
the car he was on at the time he was
Inclined to give credence to the mans
statement