Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-04-14
BUSES AND THE P. r. T.

TWO seemingly insurmountablc obstacles
i always have stood between the people of
Philadelphia and the improved transit serv-
ice that would be possible with we'll organ
lied public motor service on the wcll-paved
trollcyless streets. One is City Council The
other is the L. r. T.
What, therefore does Mr.. Mittcn's or
gani2aton hope 20 attain through the bill
Just entered In the Legislature by Mr.. Ware
to give established street railway corpora
tionS the right to operate notorious extern
sions in Philadelphia and other communi-
ties? Does Mr.. Ware know?
There would be no objection to a grant
Of such extra franchises TO any company
which could be made to guarantee efficient
service at moderate price. But the bill
as it has been prepared might easily be con-
strued to imply that only those transit COM
pnnies that are already in existence and
functionng should be permitted to operate
motor vehicle lines. and it is possible to
imagine the T. II. L. or any other corpora
tion meeting convenient opposition in City
Council after 1t had permanently shut out
all other potential competitors by means OF
q state law.
or what Use are new boulevards if they
are not fully opened for the convenience of
the public which pays for them? The
Roosevelt boulevard is almost deserted
during six days of the week. The Parkway
is given over exclusively to private motors,
though ii offers an ideal route for motor
bus lines to the northwest areas by way of
Thirty third street.
Broad street. as the opponents of jitneys
and motorbuses see it, Is too crowded for
passenger carrying motors; yet Fifth avenue
in New York, the most congestcd street III
the world, has one of the best motor transit
systems yet organized. Similar service could,
90 bn r,rnriJoI ctr ;f ba
methods of traffic regulation in use on Fifth
avenue were TO be duplicated here.
Trolley companies everywhere are carry
ing on concerted war not only on jitneys,
but on the motorbus idea. Their aim is to
make their existing lines and equipment
profitable. But the steady improvement in
motors and motor vehicles makes the use Of
automobiles in street transit service in
cvitable. In other cities as well as in
Philadelphia boulevard systems are being
extended and elaborated. and in the course
Of time public opinion will demand that they
be no longer regarded merely as schemes Of
ornamcntation.
The i. II. r. is so cngrOssed with its
financial difficulties that it cannot be eX-
pCCtcd To enter with large investments into
Il relatively new field of experiment and
cndcavor. And yet to almost any lay OBJ
server il has always seemed that the transit
company might devote its funds and its
energies to worse uses. People who are now
required TO pay six and seven cent fares
would not object to paying ten cents for a
ride home that unlike the trip in the
average rush hour trolley would not be a
deadly hardship.
The objections so frequently raised against
small and experimental jitncy lines con-
trolled BY individuals or small and irrcspon-
Sbe corporations are logical enough. Motor
bus service. il II is permitted at all. should
BE- organized with view TO City-wide scrv-
ice and administered scientifically. 1t should
who use them
Money and technical ability and an en-.
lghtcnCd conception Of the opportunities
that still are uurccognizcd and undevcoped
in this new field would be required to pro-
vide in this city a sort OF motor service
that already is long overdue. But the text
Of Mr.. Wares bill doesn't encourage hope
Of relief for straphangcrs. 1t suggests rather
new development in the campaign to re-
strict competition between motors and
trOleys.
In Paris. London and almost all Euro.
pcan and South American cities. a. we'll us
in Japan and China, efficient systems of
motor transit are already established. But
until City Council revcrses its familiar policy
Of blockudc Philadelphia will have to depend
on orerCrOwdcd troleys while its great and
costly avenues are given over 10 private
motors almost exclusively.