Arizona republican., 1922-01-19
THURSDAY MORNING. JANUARY 10, 1922
1t is one of the aOorst Of errors to
suppose. that there is any other path
of safety ercept that Of duty.
-Aughey.
Street Railway Service

Phoenix would buy copy Of the current Golfers. cut
out Of it certain article. "Your Trolley Cars" by
Edward Hungerford, and mail it to General NJ II.
saMman Of Los Angeles. Under the smother Of
these letters, General sherman would probably be
brought to an understanding Of the nature Of the
ailrnent Of his property in Phoenix.
That every business that suffers suffers from lack
of salesmanship may be set down general propo-
stion. Failure of salesmanship may result from
Of two causes There may be possible purchasers.
The most persuasive salesman could not sell B. " d.
underwear at the North Pole. or chinchla overcoats
in the Sahara in August But they would not likely
try it. salesmanshp. when it fails, usually fails
where it ought to succeed.
Mr. Hungerford finds that where trolley lines
20 wrong it is because there is no selling Of service
merely the delivery" OF it to those who apply and
the purchasers have to take what is handed out to
hem. He meets the complaint of struggling made
luate lines that they are crippled by automobile
competition or by jitney service and proves that
where lines are well managed they thrive and grow
against this sort of competition which, he says by
reason traffic conditions in cities never become
serious competition The congested conditions
become the more impossible becomes automobile
competition.
The cases Of Terre Haute, Indiana; youngstown,
Ohio and other cities larger and smaller cited
where intelligent Of service brought street
railway systems into conditions Of prosperity without
an increase Of the five-cent fare. He cites other
cases where street railways deterorated because
they quit selling service but peremptorily "deliv-
red' it.
Among the qualities of attractive service Mr.
Hungerford lists "headway,1 that is. the time be-
tween cars. we say. frequency of service.
fort Of cars and comfortable arrangement of seats
we Of Phoenix not greatly interested in comfort
we are concerned only with frequency of service
We do how the seats are arranged how rick
ETY. the cars may be or how sagging and uneven the
track. so that the cars along and do not keep
us waiting.
Mr.. Hungerford points that the profit in
street railway operation is in the short haul" pas
senger, the patron who wants to ride only four or
five blocks Right here is the chief ailment of the
Phoenix street railway 1t has short haul"
tingent and never except infrequent rainy
spells. 1t is comparatively seldom that the cars Of
the local system take discharge passengers
within half mile of the central district There is
thckly settled territory with a radius of half
mile, north, east west and northeast and northwest
which is almost barren Of revenue to the system
except in bad weather. Beyond this zone people
board the for short rides of from four
to a half dozen blocks
The long "headway' is responsible for this state
Of things. One will not wait for a car when he can
reach his destination by walking within the time
which he would have to wait. Walking is easier to
anyone but cripple than standing still. There is
another curious thing here, the Of the schedule
All wellregulated systems have schedules but usual
y they maintained only for use Of the oper-
ating department. The public neither knows the
schedule anything about it. The patron
that certain will be at certain point at GER
tain time He adjust his affairs to any street
railway schedule. When he is ready take car he
goes any convenient point on the line to take the
first that comes. knowing only that he will have
to wait but few minutes He know that the sched-
ule is reasonably adjusted to his affairs and the
affairs of all citizens 1t isn't his business to worry
about schedules missing cars.
In Phoenix, though patrons of the street cars
must adjust themselves to the schedule. They know
just when a certain is due at an intersection.
They must be there else wait another twenty
minutes or half hour. Most of them elect not to
wait buto to walk If they miss car
Some years ago street railway companies with
proper attention to installed large cars
carrying from 60 to so passengers and heightened
the 'headway." They could carry just as many
passengers big as two little ones. They
did not take account that the passenger might
care when he should be carried. Then they began
to lose the profitable rshort haul' passenger They
saw their mistake and began displacing their big
cars with small cars. cutting the
headway in two.
No doubt the automobile has deprived the street
railway in Phoenix OF some traffic We suppose the
service railway has stimulated the purchase
automobiles; has been the deciding argument in
favor OF buying many an automobile for which the
prospect was marshang pretexts when his judgment
told him that he could not afford it. But after the
novelty Of his possession had become worn he would
not have used his car for any trip which he could
make by street car If it could give him service.
Almost any automobile owner would prefer TO travel