New-York tribune., 1922-10-15
OR Tells
Transit Boards
|UnificatiOnPla Ian
Franchises am Obstacle
Five-Cent Fare Will BE Lever
to Bring Companies in
Line for New System

I General John f. O'Ryan, Transit
Commissioner, in letter yesterday to
J, ]. Chambers, chairman of the 2sth
Wand Taxpayers' Association of Brook
lyn, who asked about the, status Of the
Fourteenth Street7Eaatern District
Line, tells Mr.. Chambers what he
wants to know, and sets forth ii, detail
the aims of the Transit Commission In
bringing to pass the unifcation of all
the transportation lines under city
ownership, with q five-cent fare.
"The, subway portion from Sixth
Avenue and Fourteenth Street. Man.
haitian, to and under the East River
and as far as. Mesero1e Street Brook
lyn," says, General OiRyan, "ia COM
pleted as far as the structure itsela is.
concerned. Contracts have been let and
are now being executed for station An
ish at all the stations in Manhattan
and Brooklyn. Ii contract time is
,4Fde tha Brooklyn stations should be
cbHp1eted by january II, 1923, and the
Manhattan stations by October ~,
1928. The next step is to INSTALL the
tracks. On. August 16, this year, the
commission approved and sent. to. the
Board Of Estimate ard Apportionment
a contract for the installation of
tracks throughout the subway. This
contract has not as yet been approved
by that board, and until it is approved
and the appropriation made work cam
not be started. Favorable action, how
ever, is expected this week.
Materials All Ready
"In this connection, may say that.
all steel rails and other track materials,
needed for the work have been ordered
and either are on hand or Will be de-
hvered shortly, so that there should
be no delay for lack of materials. Our
engineers estimate that it will take ter
When this is done, the company will
require three to four months to install
the signal syatem and make the re-
quired power connections, 1t is, there
fore, unlikely that this portion of the
line can be operated much before the
close of TIE year 1928"
Turning to, the unified system prof.
ect, General Organ continues:
"The existing lines are operated un-
der franchises, approximately one thou
sand in number Many of these fran
chises assume to have conveyed to cor
porations public rights for all time.
There is a great diversity in the condi-
tions contained in these franchises.
These franchises ore property rights,
and apparently cannot be taken from
the companies without their consent,
except by paying them their just value.
"It has been suggested that these
franchises might, in some instances, be
rendered worthless by policy of par
allehng existing lines with competing
roads. Specifically considered, that
might offer some promise, but an ex-
perienced man will know that the law
is not apt to permit to be done in an
indirect manner that which it is unlaw-
fuf to do directly.
"We came to the conclusion that
nothing permanent in the way of
solution with be found until there is
established unified system, including
all the worth while transit facilities
Of the city. The plan of the Transit
Commission provides ar. effective way
to. bring about not only the surrender
of the franchises, but as well the pur-