The New York herald., 1922-06-01
|. R. T.'S 246 EXTRA
TRAINS now RUNNING
Hedley Gives II in Addition
Cor First Day of New Sub
way Schedule.
B. II. u. INCREASE NEXT
Transit Board Finds IL
Trains Are as Fast as
Subway Locals.
NOT USED AS MUCH
Subway Psychology Given as
Explanation for Prefer
cnco of Crowds.
NOT USED AS MUCH

"One hundred per cent. compliance
with orders That was the report
made by the field inspectors sent out
by the Transit Commission yesterday
to check up every hour of the first
days operation of the Interboroughs
new subway schedules.
The new service order. which took
effect at o'clock yesterday morning,
added 246 trains daily and many addi
tional cars. officers of the 1. r. T..
reported that these were absorbed INTO
the system without any traffic friction
and that the lines were all running
smoothly and with appreciable added
comfort to the public.
AS a matter of fact, the company's
obedience of the service order was
about 107 per cent, for, in order to
facilitate the working out of the new
schedule, Frank Hedley, president of
tie Interborough, voluntarily added
seventeen daily trains to the 246 de-
Inanded. OF these eleven were oper-
ated on the West Side and six on the
Lexington avenue line.
Mr.. Hedley told George McAneny.
chairman OF the Transit Commission,
that new student trainmen and motor
men already have gone into training to
qualify themselves to man the second
stepup in subway service. This will be
effective on September IS, when III
more trains will be operated. with the
aid of the 300 recruits now drilling.
Open Bids for 100 Cars.
Officers OF the Interborough to-day
will open bids from eight manufac-
turing concerns for the first 100 new
steel cars of the $50 which the COM
mission has directed it to purchase for
the further betterment of the service
Delivery will be gradual during the
coming two years. When the final in
stallment of these cars goes into opera
tion the Interborough subway service
will have about reached its capacity.
From that day forward improved con-
ditions will be measured virtually by
the adequacy of new subway construc-
ton. Chairman McAneny declared
Orders for improved service on the
B. r. T. subways probably will be made
public within a week or ten days. They
will be no less sweeping than the bet
terments made effective yesterday
Subway psychology came under the
microscope when the commission. with
Gen. Lincoln c. Andrews, it's chief ex-
ecutive officer, presiding. resumed it's in
yestigation into service on the Inter-
borough's elevated division. George O.
Redington. counsel for the commission.
contended that the annual $4,000. OOo
deficit Of the Manhattan IL" could be
modified II the management sought more
revenues by giving to the travelling pub
lie better service with shorter in
tervals between trains.
George Keegan, Mr.. Hedley's chief
operating agent, disputed this theory
Such a policy he conceded, might
slightly swell gross receipts. but not net
revenues. 1T Is not good business pol
icy,' he added. ito spend ten dollars
for the sake Of getting one"
l Subway ychoIogy.
Daniel L. Turner. the commissions s
consulting engineer. insisted that the
elevated service really should be very
superior in order to induce its greater
use, because naturally he said. people
fiow to the subway
Cross-examining Mr.. Turner. Arthur
g. Peacock. attorney for the I. r. T.,
suggested: There is a matter of psy-
chology. Is there not. in the question of
riding on the elevated or the subway?
A man comes out of his house in the
morning and there is an elevated and
subway equi-dstant from him. He Is
confronted by the elevated stairs at the
beginning OF his journey. Isn't II a fact
that the average man goes down into
the subway
''rthink he prefers to-"
When Mr.. Keegan followed Mr.
Turner In the witness chair he cited the
fact that the Lexington avenue subway
and the Third avenue elevated lie par
allel one another only one block apart !:
that the IL" operates trains at Tess than
two minutes headwsy. and that in a
long trip from the Harlem River to the
City Hall the running time of suway
end elevated trains Is approximately the
same. Yet the subway trains are packed
while the elevated cars often have va
cant seats. THE records clearly show
that a majority of the people prefer the
subway" said Mr.. Keegan, though why
they do don't know"
do you thing there is psychological
element in there. causing them to go
TO the subway on their journey?'
I'm no student OF psychology" re-
FLIED the practical operating man. but
there surely is something. IL may be
due to the fact that in the subway. on
account OF the noise and the columns
flashing by at such close intervals, they
imagine they are moving faster than
they are on the elevated. suppose, as
Mr.. Peacock has said. this town IL
speed mad But as n matter OF fact
the local running time on the elevated Is
fifteen miles an hour, including stops,
and 1t Is Just the same on The subway"
In a trip between 125th street and
City Hall. he said, the difference in time
is not more than three minutes. yet the
moment the Lexington avenue subway
was opened n substantial proportion Of
the old patrons OF the Third avenue
IT, deserted II for the newer attraction.
.--Ae transit Commission denied an APP
plication by The Bronx Traction Com
pany to abandon portion OF It's route
and franchise in Morris Park avenue
from BronxGale avenue 20 Williams
bridge road.