The sun., 1919-09-16
JERSEY ZONE PLAN
BAD FOR TEMPERS
Argument, Fisticuffs and Traf.
fic Delays Mark First Work
Day of System.
MANY ROWS AT FERRIES
Pay as You Leave Method Re-
suits Everywhere in Dis
pute and Confusion. v

When New Jerseyites finally reached
their homes last night they sat them
selves down and sang the Doxology. A
great load of trouble had rolled of their
shoulders, for they had one day OF the
brand new "pay as you leave system
Of street car operation. and had lived
to tell the tale. Although they will have
to 20 through II all again to-day few
Of them cared last night to reflect upon
that awful prospect.
It had in fact been a day to go down
in Jerseys history in indellble letters n
day distinguished by its delays, alterca-
lions. MISUNDERSTANDING hsticuffs, min
iature riots and general all around chaos.
There must have been some one who
liked Il all. because John F. O'Toole,
publicity chief of the Public Service
Company, announced that the new sys-
tenn was working much better than had
been expected.
II the public, however. had Issued a
statement Of It's views on the matter,
that statement would probably have been
well filled with dashes and exclamation
points, for 1t was evident in Newark.
Jersey City, Paterson. Hackensack.
Montclair, Elizabeth, the Oranges and
other cities and towns that Mr.. o'Toole
opinions were not generally supported by
the rank and file.
The chief objection to the new system
was based upon the delay occasioned.
All passengers were supposed to enter
cars by the front doors. the motermen to
pass out tickets as they did
SO. and the passengers were supposed to
turn these tickets over to the conductors
al they left 1t was the conductors'
job to figure out just how many zones
they had travelled through and charge
them conts for the first zone and
cents for each additional one. He
was then to ring up the charge, make
change and permit the passenger to
alight.
As may be suspected disputes were
many, and at places where traffic Is
generally heaviest, such as Broad and
Market streets, Newark. and at the
river stations In Hoboken and Jersey
City, little arguments about two cents or
four cents sometimes caused a suspen-
sion OF traffic for as long as ten minutes
Alterations of this kind occurring in
Kearny and Camden aroused the wrath
OF shipyard workers who were already
late because of the traffic trouble. So
they rushed past the conductor In massed
formation and escaped without paying
any fares at all. In several instances
they smashed the car windows ana
climbed out At Valley road and Bloom
field avenue, Montclair, a negro gave
the conductor such a battle the motor
man was obliged to leave his post In
order to help subdue him. A woman
on a South Orange avenue car near
49, I'll kao era5
over additional charges that she kicked
the conductor. broke two OF the car
windows, and finally left the car without
paying.
Schedules Are All Askew.
At the Fourteenth street terminal in
Hoboken twenty New York bound pas
sengers bowled over a conductor and
scrambled off after a free ride. Some
conscientious ones who were pushed Off
the car by the crowd went back for the
purpose of settling up their accounts.
Arrests were made at various points.
six prisoners being taken In tow for
beating a motorman and a conductor in
Central avenue near the East Orange
line.
Instead OF running on normal schedule
the cars seemed to travel In conveys of
six or seven, with waits Of half an hour
or more in between. This was partly
due to the inability OF some conductors
90 calculate rapidly. There was a con-
tinual snarl at the lower ferry terminal
IN Hoboken, where passengers were
rounded up In corrals and forced to pass
through turnstile on leaving. With
eight or ten cars in line at this point
discharging passengers the crowd be-
came SO dense that the sitting process
was very slow. and large numbers
missed their boats as a result.
On crowded streets wherever IN argu-
ment arose over thu tariff not only the
car was held UP b. all automobile traf-
fic as well. owing to the fact that these
vehicles are not allowed to pass cars
that have come to a stop. At many
places It was evident that the number OF
pedestrians had greatly Increased. Many
persons sought to save a few cents by
walking to the next gone boundary while
many sought to save time.
1--WE expect in the course of two or
three days to have the system working
perfectly" said optimist O'Toole last
night. ''It is only a matter OF getting
the passengers and the car crews work
ing together" Still they set the alarm
clocks half an hour ahead in Jersey last
night.