The Connecticut labor news., 1921-11-18

The order for Bridgeport followed
 hearing by the commission on a
 demand for a hve-cent fare there, following the order abolishing all
 jitney competition except on a few
 minor lines. Incidentally the com
 mission indicated it's intention Of di- vlding the Connecticut system Up into districts centering about New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New Lon don, Norwich, Hartford and Torring- ton, which gives the impression that 1t is going 10 follow out the recom- mendation of the last legislature and ask the lines removed from the con trol of trustees appointed by the Federal courts, and thereafter split 1 the lines up so that they may be sold in sections. Such division would be resented by not only the company officers but the trustees and stock holders, who believe the value of the lines lies in their now being a unit It would not result as if there were competing lines in the proposed dis=
 tricts, but 1t is claimed would only
 cause worse transportation difficulties
 than are "now enjoyed
 With the Bridgeport order the com
 mission issued a lengthy statement
 covering their action, saying that lines in congested centers shouldn't be
 made to bear the burdens of less patronized lines and therefore to try
 out a plan to bring about change five cent fare, without transfers, was ordered Then came the joker of the
 neutral zone in the center of the city,
 which in Bridgeport centers at Main
 street and Fairfield avenue and eX- tends two blocks on either side. A passenger riding on a car crossing the
 city, north and south, or east and west, can ride as far as the center and two blocks beyond for a nickel, but
 if he wants to continue on in the same car 1t will cost him another nickel
 If he wants 10 take a car crossing his
 line it costs him a nickel just the
 same so the workers cannot figure where there is any nickel fare about 1t.
 Bridgeport, because of the location
 of its many factories and residential
 districts, has thousands of persons
 working on one side of the city and
 they will have to continue to pay the present ten cent rate while the pleas
 ure seeker who simply wants to go downtown to see a show or look over tic bargains, get the advantage of a nickel ride. Many more thousands of workers reside in outlaying small towns and by the commissions order they will be compelled to pay I5 cents if they want to get to the center of the city and 20 cents if they want to cross to the other side from that they started on. Same conditions would prevail in New Haven or Hartford, only worse, the railroad stations in those cities being so far from the actual business center.
 The trolley company officials have, 1 it can be stated authoratively, been l sincerely trying for several months to | reduce the rate of fares now being | charged and it had even been recom-
 mended to the board of directors and
 the trustees. These efforts are still
 in the works and while 1t may not
 be possible to reduce the fare to five 1 cents right away, the officers we're
 confident some speedy relief could be
 afforded and other reductions made
 from time to time until conditions be-
 came normal again.
 1 While the five cent rates estab-
 lished in the Norwalks are said to be
 resulting favorably financially to the
 company and satisfactorily to the rid
 ing public, conditions there are much different from those in other cities. 1 The lines in those towns are practi-
 cally straight lines and converge in