The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-26
Telephone d Telephone Main 4soo osedssSsSSe$ Main 490o
STREET RAILWAY SITUATION

A\fAAAS w <h 1A VII AOAN
 There is a curious inconsistency in statements regarding the street-rail- way status which must be resolved be- fore the public can give credence either way. In the face of the report that there is in prospect fare reduc- ton to seven cents, there is the state ment attributed to the president of the city commission that the utility is los ing sixty thousand dollars annually. If the utility is suffering such loss the public may be sure that there will be no decrease in fare, unless it be through bargain which would include the banishment of the bus lines.
 So it is presaged that the auto buses, which have been serving thousands of people daily, are scheduled to go. The president of the commission is quoted as saying that he sees no justice in maintaining the streets for the accom- modation of the buses. It is equally as logical for the commissioner to say that he sees no justice in maintaining streets for the accommodation of the taxi-cabs. The ones really accommo- dated are not the bus drivers but the portion of the public which patronizes the buses. Certainly the citizens who ride in buses have as much right to the streets as other citizens, or have they? Let the commissioner answer.
 The question before the commits sion is not whether the operation of the buses reduces the income of the utility, but whether the operation of the buses serves necessary public purpose. There is good reason to be- lieve that if the bus lines were abol- ished municipal transportation would suffer, and the people would be at the complete mercy of selfish private in terest.
 It really appears that the conflict is between progress and the past. The utility has in many respects failed to serve it's public. When there arose need for extensions of service, the utility did not make virture of neces- sity and supplement its service with bus lines, but left that for private en- terprise to accomplish. What the utility has failed to observe is that this is a gasoline age, the day of the motor vehicle. The damage that is done to the utility's patronage is in reality done by the thousands of au- tomobiles that line the streets in every direction and that are parked daily at every mill and factory in this district. The haulage by the bus lines is not a drop in the bucket, in comparison. Why not, therefore, abolish the pri- vate automobile?
 The utility has done little to "sell" itself to the people of Birmingham. It has not made effort to popularize the use of street-car tickets. If patrons of . the lines had been generally induced , to invest in tickets, then they would . ride the street cars in preference to the buses. But, far from seeking to I bring about the general use of tickets, the utility has seemed to be trying to ] obscure the fact that there are tickets : for sale at discount over the cash fare. Certainly there is no specific effort to sel, tickets. It may very well , be that the entire remedy is in the hands of the utility. If it should adopt efficient and modern methods j of increasing patronage and modifying and extending its service to meet new and growing demands for passenger transportation, who can say that the alleged sixty thousand dollar deficit ] would not be turned into an even greater earning? Not the utility, for ! it has not tried.