New-York tribune., 1920-07-27
Conrlecticut's
Cities Facing
Trolley Tiie-Up
Car Company, After Suss
pending Service in Bridge
port to Fight Buses,
Threatens Similar Action
Traffic Handled Better
Motor Vehicles Charge Flat
Scent Rate; Congestion
Reduced; No Accidents
From a star Correspondent

- MI oasA- SoHNs July 90 ne
Connecticut Company. which operates
the trolley lines in this CITY and other
cities of the state, started what is
ehought to be statewide fight against
motor bus competition to-day by sus-
pending its service in this city.
Mayor Mead, of Ansonia, has been
notlhed that similar action might be
expected in that city if motor bus COM
petltlon continued, and announcements
to the same effect have been received
fby the Board of Aldermen of Water
bury and the Mayor of New Haven.
during the first week of the suspen-
sion of it's service the company will
pay its employees their usual wages.
lhereafter they will be paid S21 a week
each.
Not one of the eompany's 165 cars
IN this city moved from the barns to-
day
Instead, there were about 45o buses
traversing the streets, about 200 Of
which had been brought into the citv
during the night from New York. Bos-
ton, New Haven, Hartford and Water
bury
Heretofore, the buses, operated at a
hve-cent fare and with the approval Of
city oftlclals, have been running in op-
position to the trolley cars. Increasing
~~~s ~ w etNAi NOiiipCllcQ INC lIOllGT
company to charge six-cent minimum
1are, which ranged upward to twelve
cents, according to the distance 8 pas
senger was carried.
Officials Of the trolley company have
been trying to have the minimum fare
increased to cents. They have warned
the city that their service in the long
run would be more economical than
that given by the busses, which even
Ivy
said, as the depreciation on a bus
through the wear and tear of constant
service would be greater than in the
case of trolley car, and there would
be no corresponding decrease in over
head expenses.
Buses Carry $4,000
With the number of its busses, almost
doubled overnight, however, the bus
company handled the rush hour crowds
and the normal passenger traffic with
out difficulty or accident. More than
$4,000 persons were carried, most of
them factory workers, who demanded
transpo tion at about the same hour,
morning and night.
Policemen were under instructions to
observe the results Of the first trolley
less day and make a report to Mayor
Clifford B. Wilson and the bus COM
panies. Their report contained the fol-
lowing observations:
Fewer persons were standing in the
busses than ordinarily were hanging to
trolley car straps.
Buses charged fat rate of cents
a passenger, regardless of the distance
traversed.
Street noises were diminished be-
cause of the absence of the trolley cars.
Congestion was reduced and passen
%ho, 4
promptly than when trolley cars were
in use Streets about factory which
turns out eight thousand employees
when the o'clock whistle sounds were
cleared at $40, whereas they had been
thronged until $3.50 when the en-
ployees relied upon trolley cars to take
them home.
No Accidents Reported
No accidents were reported.
No disorder, no confusion, no con-
gestion and no accidents-that about
sums it up" said Chief of Police
Flanagan
The editorial comment of "The
Bridgeport Post" in it's final edition to-
day was:
If the trolley company had foreseen
how little it would be missed on the
first morning of it's withdrawal, would
it have risked the experiment quite
so boldly?
There is but one conclusion safely
to be predicted from the first days
experiment and that is that the Con-
necticut company will go slow about
making the same venture in any other
Connecticut city. Burning ones
bridges behind is a dangerous gamble" !"
Officials of the trolley company re-
NAMED mistaken in their conviction
that the people of Bridgeport event
ually would find the substitution Of
ousses for trolley cars an expensive
instead of an economical project.
1t was announced that representa-
tlves of the trolley company would ap-
pear before the Public Utilities Com
mission at Hartford Thursday with a
petition for permission to increase the
minimum fare in Bridgeport to 7
cents. The executive committee of the
Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce.
which had intended 20 send represent
atlVes to the hearing, decided against
doing SO because Of the failure of the
company to operate cars to-day.
Mayor Wilson conferred tonight
with the members of commission
appointed by him to consider the sit
uatlon. Lucius S. Stores, president Of
the Connecticut company, announced
two weeks ago that he would stop his
service unless the competing bus lines
were removed. The Common Council
subsequently, passed an ordinance for
bidding bus competition. This ordi-
nance was declared by the Supreme
Court to be illegal.
The prospects are that the council at