Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-04-25
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TROUBLE WITH THE TROLLEY

TROUBLE WITH THE 1ROLLET
The Trenton Times cannot understand why the trolley company
sperating the street railway in that city cannot make the system pay
nm a five cent fare when the trolley lines of San Francisco are so pros
perous o a nickel ride. The Times says:
"H San Francisco, with a municipality operated street
railway system a pay expenses, make extensions, PROVIDE
for interest ON bonds a they mature, give good service ana
earn a large profit for the public reasury--and all o a
cent fare-surely the city of Trenton can do IS well any
rate. the Trenton and Mercer County Traction Company,
properly managed, should be able to carry passengers o ho'
exceeding a nickel fare and earn dividends on the money G.
tualy paid in II fl. street
railway corporations that have been unable to pay expenses,
even with higher fares, that its capitalization has been SO over
watered that the earnings cannot be made to cover drVidends,
s.rentals." decent service, and pay for repair, paving and the
legitimate expenses. The Public Utility Commission several
months ago minated that it intended to investigate trolley
With the new blood recently injected into the commits,
sion, this should be a good time to begin the investigation.
Perhaps lit is not so much the over-capitaization of the companies
Is it is failure to give service that will induce people to ride.
A person who recently came east from Los Angeles said that the
thing that impressed him most here was the awful trolley service. Los
Angeles, he said, has a trolley line which gives a service of twenty
miles in twenty minutes. 1t has six tracks. The two middle tracks
are for express service. A mile a minute is maintained and the fare is
only five cents What is more, the cars are large. steel cars correspond
ing to the regular standard passenger coaches used here ON NJ steam
railroads. Most impressive of all, they are scrupulously clean.
What a farce the so-called "fast line operating between here
and Newark becomes in comparison.
What q comedy the cau efVIce DetWeen tS c"y anu A"
Brunswick is, taking anywhere from an hour and ten minutes to an
hour and a half to travel the twelve mles-and that in dirty, filthy
cars that are hardly fiji for cattle to ride in
These high grade trolley lines ON the Pacific coast pay handsome
" on a five cent fare. Why must the trolley lines in the East get six
and seven cents for a greatly inferior service9
enc expisaafOn is that the trolley companies in the West en-
courage the people to use their lines, whereas here the trolley COM
pany, by its indifference and neglect-by its actual defiance of the peO-
-. ALL H. o1 o~las H. ;;+pay md
the private automobile a necessity.
If the trip between this city and Newark, a distance of about
eighteen miles, could be made in up to date, clean, easy riding cars in
thirty minutes, who would bother about jtneys, steam railroads or
even private automobilef
If real express service were inaugurated between this city and
New Brunswick, covering the twelve miles in fifteen or twenty min
utes, and with heavy, steel cars kept scrupulously clean to ride in,
there would not be so many people taking the round about route by
Railway, using the steam railroad; the jitney would be put out of
business and the private automobile would be abandoned to a large
extent. The result would be a greatly increased travel by trolley and
the fare could easily be maintained at five cents, the same S it il at
Los Angeles, where they ride for fifteen miles o a five cent fare.
Instead of whimpering and going to the Public Utility Commits
sion for permission to raise fare when the jitney comes in and takes
away a large share of the passengers, the trolley company should plan
to meet the competition by trying to learn why people prefer the jt-
ny to the trolley and then improve the service so as to put the compe-
tihon out of business.
This can be done by making the trolley service so attractive that
the people will ride in nothing else.
1t is apparent that there is something radically wrong with the
street transportation in eastern cities. The root of the whole trouble
seems to be a failure to render real service SO as to induce people to
ride. 1t seems like an imposition to ask people here to pay six cents
and seven cents fare for such inferior service when the people of other
parts of the country are getting such high class service for a nickel.
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