The evening world., 1919-08-01
Conductors Heed Order ."Avoid
Trouble" on First Day and
Z Some Give Free Tickets.
uA.MS ON PLATFORMS.
One Irate Woman Tears Up
Whole Bunch of Slips-Un-
( initiated Pay 7 Cents Fare.

Unto q street car At Seventh Ave-
hns ana SSth Street this morning
Slapped . woman who within the last
TenT has been taxed and overoharged
md imposed upon generally almost to
the point Of paranoia.
All the rpEe that had been accumu-
Eating without a safety valve burst
forth when, having demanded her
usual transfer she heard the conduc-
tor say: Two cents"
This was the climax. Her mouth
opened. closed again; her fsts
double and opened; then she took a
step. The next instant she had
snatched the whole bunch Of trans-
fers from the conductors hand ana
tore them to bits.
! The conductor had special ins,ruo-
tions for this FIRST day Of the two
cents-for-a-transfer-or-waIk order
out his instructions did not cover the
case. So he called an inspector. The
woman was put on. not arrested. And
me incident was closed.
avoid trouble"
That was the keynote OF all the
instructions to conductors and in.
spectors for the first day. They did
their best. Sometimes, to stop an
argument they gave free transfers
A. pay points-but the companies
say firmly that nothing Of that sort
VIII be done tomorrow.
In other cases uniformed mas
sengers dropped seven cents in the
box when they did not want trans
fers' thinking the regular fare was
seven cents. Such persons helped
reimburse the companies for what
they lost on others.
The rule Ia to put your nickel in
the box and pay for your transfer
separately. This was generally OBJ
served and II caused many delays on
rear platforms. Debates, pocket
searches for pennies. &C. kept pas
Bengers crowded around the doors,
preventing people from getting in and
out expeditiously.
One Seventh Avenue conductor
said this morning he had issued only
seven transfers in the>time he form
eriy issued 100. There were other
similar reports, but that was the
extrepre case. The average CON-
or said he expected to take in
rom $40 to Sl2 mora per day than
nnder the free transfer system.
Every conductor was equipped with
a.pocketful of pennies before the start
OF his run. and along the route there
were Inspectors with more pennies in
the event OF emergency.
Inspectors said a number OF people
who used TO ride block or two and
then transfer we're now walking TO
the transfer point.
Conditions in Brooklyn were similar
20 those in New York. There was a
GOOD deal Of confusion. but not more
than had been expected. The main
trouble of conductors was TO explain
the situation TO foreign born people
who speak no English. Some OF these
thought they were being unofficially
1eeced, and they took the badge num-
bers OF the conductors, saying they
were going to make complaints.
Public Service Commissioner Lewis
Nixon and Corporation Counsel Will
IAN -. burr nhu the IOllOWlHB W boy
to-day about the two cent transfers.:
Mr.. Nixon-"I have personally
watched the paid for transfers at
eight different points in this city to-
day. / saw no trouble anywhere.
OF course some people do not like the
idea, but l am afraid they fail to real
iEe what the two cent transfer Is
saving them. / have come from a
vacation In New Jersey, where people
! were paying nine cents for their car
fare.
4 cannot say that the two cent
transfer means a definite and per-
manent solution of the trouble. We
may be able to tell in two months
II the people carefully read the series
OF answers in The Evening World
articles recently, which / dictated
they will have fair idea of what the
situation is i believe the people will
quickly realize the trouble and adapt
themselves to the paid-for transfer
Mr.. Burr-''There is no use rushing
IN haphazardly in this matter Of paid
for transfers. The legal department
of the city will use every effort &c
meet the challenge. Any action, sc
far as am concerned, must be based
ON legal lines. The public may rest
assured We will not leave unturneo
any legal stone TO prevent the tive
cent transfer charge. II the rehear-
ing next week before the Public Ser
vice Commission falls to convince the
Commission. then we will go to the