The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-15
With Jitneys Taking Cream
 From Traction Company, New
 Raise in Carfare Imminent
toontinuod From Page One)

ton, among other things, To the re- ouIrements of the business with re- spect to the utLity under considera- ton, and the necessity (under honest, efficient and economical management of such utility) of enlarging the plants, facilities and equipment of the utility under consideration in order to provide that portion of the public served thereby with adequate service.'
 MUST HAVE SERVICE "The people of Birmingham are en- titled to the service now being given by the street car system and, as one member of the commission, I shall op pose any effort to- care for this finan- cial loss by reducing the service. Hun dreds of citizens of Birmingham have purchased homes in the suburbs with the understanding that street car service will be maintained which will place them at their business in other sections of Birmingham within a rea- sorable tme. Therefore, 1t will be necessary to maintain the present service.
 .sRelief from the disturbing con dItions in the company's finances must come through readjustments which will give the company ren- sonabIe revenue without decreas-
 ing the service. It seems to me the solution of the problem must be in the regulation of those agen~ cies in Birmingham which are now talxing the short hauIs from the | company, the operators of autOmo-
 piles for hire or the sO-called jit- news The commission found that operators of Jitneys were Ohtain- ing the cream of the business on the short hauIs, leaving the long hnuIs to the street railway. For instance, not many months ago the
 paving of Tuscaloosa avenue in l West End was completed. Since | that time the revenue from the ] West End line of the street rail l way has sh own decrease of about 30 per cent. This decrease has re-
 suited from the operation of jitneys | on Tuscaloosa avenue to the end of the pavement.
 Incidentally, 1t may be said that the street railway company was re- quired to bear the cost of paving that l portion of Tuscaloosa avenue which lies between the car tracks and IS inches on either side, the total cost tJ the company being about S24O,00O. The net result here is that the company paid s240,000 for the establishment of a competitor In business.
 GET CREAM OF BUSINESS
 
 street railway the cream of the short haul business during the rush hours naturally forces the long hauls to take cars of the losses from the short hauls and means that in the end those who reside in the suburbs and long dis tances from the business center must bear the losses because a street rail way system cannot be continually op- 1 erated at a. loss.
 | There is a desire on the part of the receiver of the company to improve the service. When the Birmingham Rail- way. Light and Power company was placed under the supervision of the public service commission there were only 93 cars which could be operated at all. Since that time others have been rebuilt and repaired and new cars purchased until now 204 are il | excellent operating condition and the company has a reserve of cars suffici- ent to care for any unusual traffic de- mands.
 | Since the receiver was appointed he has spent more than $1,000,000 in buy ing new cars, improving and rebuild ing the old ones and generally re- habilitating the street railway sys- tenn.
 "While in Birmingham inc com
 mission called upon the probate
 judge, other county officials and
 the city commission. A pleasant
 conference was held with members
 of the city commission, who have
 in their power the making of nd- T justments which will maintain the Il street railway service and furnish n
 reasonable return the invest
 ment, and l nm convinced that the city commissioners are as much I interested In solving this prob
 lem as my other persons
 \ T believe that the cooperation be-