Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-17
$4,000 BUSES
WILDE NEEDED
IF R. STOP
Million Persons Use Surface
Cars on New York
Lines

New York, Oct II. - A haIIiieh
New TerAers may ride In buses Thls
b . pcssibfe outcome OF the elty's eon-
prtoated Transportation sit,satiea. lob
h Heages receiver for the New 9ers
Railways Company, says that unless
financial assistance In the form Of In
creased fares Ii granted In the immedi-
ate future he will ask the court to stop
the operation Of surface cars.
The first CT January is isuggested as
the time for the new order of things
to become effective. II the receivers
petition is granted no cars will be run
on the following trolley nnesl Lezing-
ton avenue, Fourth and Madison ave
nues Sixth avenue from Fifty-ninth
street to South Ferry, Seventh avenue
and Brooklyn from Fffty-ninth to
Williamsburg bridges, Columbus and
Lenox avenues between SIxty-flfth and
14eth streets. and the crosstewn lines
on 1&5th. 11eth. Eighty-sixth. Thirty
fourth. Twenty-third, Fourteenth, Eighth
and Canal streets
II Is estimated at the Office of Frank
Hedley, general manager for the Inter
borough system, that from 400 to 500
cars are operated on these lines daily,
carrying about a milricn persons These
include all the green surface cars which
run In Manhattan, with the exception
OF tho Second. Third, Eighth and Ninth
avenue lines
Some of Lines May Continue
It Is possible that certain of these
lines which are now leased to the New
York Railways Company would ask the
courts for an abrogation OF their leases
and continue operation separately. In
this way service might be continued on
Fourth and Madison avenues, Sixth and
Lenox avenues north of 116th, Broad
way from Fifteenth to Fprty-fifth,
Seventh avenue from F1fty-ninth to
Greenwich. Twenty-third crosstown. the
Eighth and Fourteenth street lines.
Whether this action could be taken by
the leasor companies Immediately upon
suspension OF operations by the con-
trolling company only time will tell
In any event New York is confronted
with serious crippling of its transporta-
ton facilities From the Mayors office
comes the reports that this threatened
emergency can and will be met by es-
tablishing bus lines, such as have al
ready been established to take the place
of suspended storage battery car serv-
Ice on Delaney and Spring streets, Ave-
nue. c, Chambers street, and on the
Brooklyn-North River line.
Figures obtained from the Public
Service Commission, James A. Walker.
show that In the rush hours from to
Z P. NJ on Oct l and from to 10 A
NJ on Oct the bus lines on Chambers
Spring and Avenue c carried $500 pas
sengers. This number is S,905 less than
the number carried by the storage bat
terry cars during the same hours on
Sept. 16 and II. A part OF this dis
crepancy may be due to the fact that
the buses did not give transfers to other
lines
f4,oO0 Buses Required
Many persons who had been In the
habit Of taking the surface cars may
have preferred to walk Q few blocks
rather than pay an extra fare. At this
rate, estimating roughly without TAX
ing into account length OF runs. capacit
OF buses, or intervals of running, II
would take $4,000 buses to handle the
million surface car passengers In
view of these figures Mr.. Walker says
he is justified IN his opinion that 1t will
be extremely difficult to handle the
situation unless ample time Is given 70
obtain sufficient buses,
Much is being said on both sides
regarding the advisaoility OF perma-
nently substituting bus system of sur
face transportation for the present cleo
trio railway system. Those who sdvp-
cate the bus system would let the pro-
cess of disintegration. which has al
ready begun in the electric railway sys-
TEN, continue uninterfered with. II is
maintained that a bus system is much
more elastic flexible and adaptable
that It admits of rerouting to meet
changing traffic demands; that were
the present surface car tracks torn up,
the congestion and blockading of the
streets would thereby be done away
with. The we'll regulated bus system of
London, which takes care OF the entire
traffic in the heart OF the city, Is pointed
10 as a proof OF its value.