New-York tribune., 1920-04-20
Service Resumption Is
Marked by Rate Raise
Without Any Hearing;
Inconvenience Is Great
Increase Decided
During the Strike
Commission Granted the
Higher Rate in Default
of Protest From Public

Service in the Hudson tubes was par
TALLY resumed last night under condi-
tions that came as decided shock to
the thousands of commuters who use
this means Of travel between Manhat-
tan and New Jersey
With practically no previous warn
ing, the operating company announced
an increase in fare, effective at once,
with system of collection that bids
fair to result in great inconvenience
and losses to the riding public.
Under the new schedule the fare will
be 6 cents between the Hudson Termi-
nal and stations in Jersey City or Ho-
boken. in either direction. Between
uptown New York and stations in Jer-
sey City or Hoboken the fare is 10
cents. Local fares in New Jersey and
between stations in uptown New York
continue at cents
Refunds in Jersey
Eastbound passengers to uptown
New York must deposit cents in the
coin boxes upon entering the stations
at Jersey City or Hoboken and an ad-
ditional a cents in coin boxes at the
stations of exit in uptown New York.
The most complex part of the system,
however, pertains to the local collec-
tions in New Jersey. There the pas
senger upon entering a station in Jer-
sey City or Hoboken deposits six cents
in a coin box and upon application is
given refund coupon calling for one
cent. This, however, will only be re-
deemed if presented to the station
agent within ten minutes after the pas
senger has arrived at the station where
he wishes to get out
Commuters say that nasmuch as
the local traffic is generally heavy at
rush hours and that long lines are
bound to form to obtain the refund,
ten minutes are entirely too short
tions are expected to give rise to
storms of protest when the operation
of the tunnels is begun under the old
time schedule.
Oren Root, president of the Hudson
& Manhattan Railway Company, said
that the raise on fare was permitted
under special ruling of the Interstate
Commerce Commission, to which the
had made application for an
increase at two different times. About
thirty days ago, he said, his company
had asked for permission to charge a,
fiat rate of eight cents. Under the
rules of the mmission a period Of
thirty days is allowed during which
protests or requests for hearing on
such requests are received.
No Hearing or Protest
When no objections are raised he de-
clared that the application becomes
automatically effective. In this case,
however, the commission ordered a sus
pension, feeling, as he explained it,
that the man who rides to Jersey
from downtown should not pay as
much as the man who comes from
uptown New York. At the suggestion
Of members of the commission, Mr..
Root says, he filed a second application
on April embodying the six and ten
aside it's general rule requiring lapse
of thirty days and cut the time down
to ten days
This was about the time the harbor
strike and the railroad strike were
the bulk of the public's at
tention and very little notice was given
the filing Of these applications by the
tube company. The ten days passed
by without hearing or protest and the
new rates became effective at midnight,
April 18.
The tubes had been closed since last
Saturday week, when the employees
JOlHGU. Cuc UuduIuOIlLCQ SLIIkc O1 rail-
men in the New York region. Since
that time Mr.. Root had steadfastly re-
fused to see reporters or give out any
to the public bearing on
the cause of the continued tie-up or
when the tunnels might resume opera
tion.
Tubes Open, Then Close
The tubes opened yesterday afternoon
at q o'clock, with four trains running
between Jersey City and the Hudson
Terminal under two-minute headway.
The service was continued until 7
O'Clock and then stopped again. Trains
will run again this morning at o'clock
and will continue until p. m. This
service, says Mr.. Root, will be ex-
tended to Hoboken and uptown New
York as new men are added to the force
of employees
Mr.. Root says that about seventy
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