Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-09-23
URGES BUS LINES
FOR INDIANAPOLIS
Advantages Over Street Cars
Set Forth in Letter.

The establishment Of municipal DuS
lines as auxiliaries to the street car
system is the most practical method OF
relieving traffic congestion in the down
town district of Indianapolis, declares
Frank S. Pryor, Frankfort, Ind, attor-
ney and a nephew Of the late Theodore
P. Shonts, who was a Panama Canal
zone commissioner and president of the
Marlborough Rapid Transit Company OF
New York City.
The recommendation is made in let
ter TO Gustav G. Schmidt, president of
the city council.
Mr. Pryor explained that he has writ
ten the letter TO Mr. Schmidt, after hav-
ing read of the council presidents ordi-
nance to establish a larger street car
loop.
The letter is as follows:
"For a period OF two years l was as
ISOLATED with the Fifth Avenue Coach
Company OF New York City, and had an
occasion to study congested traffic from
every angle.
1T am of the opinion that the in
PRODUCTION of the omnibus in Indian
apolis, in the heart of the business dis
trict and along Meridian street, would
be a more effective and less expensive
plan to relieve the congestion in Indian
apolis. which has grown to be of seri-
Gus and dangerous nature.
"Omnibuses of the double-deck type,
seating from fifty to sixty passengers,
are now being operated at a great profit
and likewise at a great convenience In
New York City, both by a private COM
pany and by the city of New York. They
are also being operated in Detroit, Chi
cago, Newark and st. Louis.
PLACE AUTO BUSES
ON ABANDONED LINES.
street car companies in practically
every large municipality in the country
have either raised their fares or aban-
doned certain lines.
''In September last year in New York
City four cross town lines were aban-
doned, and the mayor promptly installed
improyised buses.
These buses were installed because
they could be operated more cheaply.
Buses need no rails, no trolleys, no
trolley poles or wires, no streets need
be torn up, no power houses maintained.
For every street car in operation in
New York City the sum of Sill, 900 is in
vested, whereas it requires less than an
investment of $1,000 for a bus and the
necessary equipment for operating It..
'Of course the New York estimate is
higher than that prevailing In Indian
apolis, but it is safe to figure that five
times more capital has to be invested in
a street car than in a motor bus in your
city.
BUSES do not block traffic.
When a street car breaks down 1t
blocks all the cars behind il, causing in
convenience to hundreds.
When a motor bus breaks down, other
buses lift the passengers and drive
around the disabled vehicle.
"A bus is more comfortable. for there
is a seat for every passenger. There is
no strap hanging.
POINTS NUMEROUS
ADVANTAGES OF BUSES.
"a bus is more adaptable to changing
traffic conditions.
abandoned street car lines means a
neighborhood has changed, that the traf-
&c has moved away.
When this takes place along the line
OF a motor bus, the route can be changed
on an hours notice.
NO valuable steel rails have to be left
behind to rust, no trolley poles to rot. no
streets have to be torn up to install the
new routes.
Just as the horse car succeeded the
stage coach, the electric car the horse
car, so viii the motor bus succeed the
electric car in Indianapolis for the fore
going reasons: Seven-cent fares, 10-cent
fares or even 15-cent fares viii not be
enough to pay for the enormous cost of
operation and maintenance Of the average
electric line.
1.-THE electric car is passe economically
as the horse car or stage coach.
'tThere is a great demand for motor
buses to solve the traction problems now
confronting almost every city in the coun-
try.
In the month of September last year