Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-11
NO MORE BUSES THAN NECESSARY

TI
buses. There is danger in adopting the policy of giving permits
to everybody that asks for Them and trusting to competition to
settle the rivalry and make the proper adjustment in the matter of
buses on any particular line.
Take the matter of congestion alone. The street and main
highways are already crowded with these enormous vehicles, stop
ping at frequent intervals, blocking traffic, and otherwise causing
Inconvenience on the road. While the buses may be considered
a necessary evil, it is the duty of the authorities to keep down
their number as much as possible and issue permits only to those
that are deemed absolutely essential for carrying the passengers on
a particular route.
Take the proposed Keyport route which seems to be the bone
Of contention at the present time. Any line running between this
city and Keyport must pass through South Amboy. But there are
already eleven buses operating between this city and South Am
boy. There are at present four buses operating between this city
and Keyport, making fifteen buses that are almost constantly
crossing the bridge between Perth and South Amboy. One of
the proposals before the Board of Aldermen is to issue eight per-
mts for the Keyport route and two more for the South Amboy
route. These ten added to the eleven already being operated to
South Amboy would make twenty-one buses going back and forth
across the bridge, thirteen of them going no farther than South
Amboy and eight of them continuing on to Keyport, provided they
.aond all get permits to operate in that municipality. With the
bridge already congested with traffic, for the aldermen to DELHI
eratly issue permits to all who ask for them, thereby greatly
"uNA5 w 'o h""A Va 'Nf"
eddy detrimental to public welfare.
Again, by issuing innumerable permits for buses on any one
line causing ~cut-throat competition, the public is bound to suffer.
With no one line making any money it stands to reason that there
would be a constant race for every nickel, and the owners could
not afford to spend much money on improvements. The. vehicles
would become dilapidated and out of date, but would continue in
operation giving the people deplorable service. When it comes
to the survival of the fttest, conditions get pretty bad before the
weaker ones give up. 1t is poor public policy to encourage such
a condition.
Those who are most familiar with the traffic between this
city and Keyport as far as buses are concerned, declare that four
buses are all that can be supported successfully. This gives a
half hour service between the two places. Keyport, it is under
stood, recognizes this fact and will not issue more than four per-
mits for buses to run to Perth Amboy. At the present time there
are four buses operating between this city and Keyport, but they
are all owned by one man. This man has the four permits as far
as Keyport is concerned, but as yet Perth Amboy has issued no per
mits whatever for the Keyport route, the buses now running being
allowed to operate temporarily by. the Board of Aldermen.
Two bus owners have applications before the aldermen for
permits to operate buses between this city and Keyport. The
owner operating the four buses now, naturally wants to keep his
four buses running. AS he already holds the only permits that
have been issued by Keyport, and as Keyport declares it will not in
crease the number of permits, he want four permits for Perth
Amboy. He then would have a monopoly in Keyport. The other
applicants suggests that two permits be issued to the man now
running the Keyport buses, and two permits be given to the new
applicant. 1t is maintained that if the new applicant can secure
two permits in Perth Amboy there is a good chane of Key
port taking two of the permits away from the man now operating
four buses and dividing the permits between the two owners, SO
as to have a healthy competition. If it is competition that the al
dermen want, this would seem to be the thing to do. It is the
recommendation of the bus committee.
But whatever the outcome, the aldermen should not adopt
tie policy of issuing promscuous permits, encouraging ~cutthroatI
competition, clogging up the highways with unnecessary vehicles,
and making it impossible for any of the operators to give decent
service. Such a policy would encourage any irresponsible person
to get a permit to run a bus for a time, only to drop out when the
vehicles was worn out, or quit the route when he saw a more lucra-
tive field. In the meantime, with none of the bus owners able to
secure a living income, the route would be in a deplorable shape.
The public in general as well as the bus owners must be given con-
federation in such a matter -essssmvYY re~-,~r uynsf