Evening star., 1924-12-08
DISCUSSES FUTURE
OF TROLLEY LINES
Electrical Expert Says They
Should Control All Extra
Bus Service.
BY j. c. ROYLE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star
BOSTON, December S-The largest
holders of street railway securities in
this country are the people who ride
on the cars, and the imperative
necessity of protecting those invest
ors, even against themselves, was ex-
pressed today by Lucian c. Storrrs
of New Haven, former president OF
the American Electric Railways AS
sociation.
His utterances here before the New
England motor transport conference
which may be taken as an official ex-
preston from the electric lines of the
country, pointed out that the loss In
scrapping street car lines superseded
by busses must be met out of bus
earnings, and that when these losses
are included in bus fares it Will mean
higher rate of fare than that now
charged on electric lines.
Declares Public Must Pay.
THE superseded physical property
has a definite value which Is repre-
scented by issues of stocks and bonds
he'd in large quantities by the pub
lic," he said. 1T will be necessary
to permit net earnings by any new
service of an amount in excess OF
the allowed fair return sufficient to
amortize the physical value SO super
seded over q term of years"
Mr.. Storrs also outlined what he
declared were the vital principles to
be followed in connection with fu-
ture local transportation. 1T is the
duty of electric railway companies,
he declared. ito supply all necessary
local service in their respective terri
tories whether by street cars or busses
ha riuNt Of ntrfp railupVg t(
control all local service without COM
petition when they do 1t properly.
Place of BuSses Unsettled.
"Experience proves that busses
cannot supersede electric cars ir
handling mass transportation, al
though busses may be advantageous
ly used in many ways. Although
electric roads are operating busses
widely, their experience has not been
sufficient to determine what is the
real pace of the bus in local trans
portation, in view of the fact that
half the daily street car riders. mum
hering about 20,000.000 people, are
moved during the peak load hours
of the day.
Explaining that his company OPP
Grated busses on large scale. Storrs
emphasized the fact that these pas
of 100000 per hour during the rush
period. This mass movement" he
added, lis the real problem an one
that only large capacity cars oil
trains can cope with. Try to visual
ize the effect, in streets already con-
gested to the point of saturation, OF
attempting to move this load by
busses alone. The development OF
the motor bus, however. has been an
efficient aid in providing improved
service.
Extensions to New Areas.
"The flexibility of this transporta-
tion unit, which is not confined to
fixed routes. makes it possible to ex-
tend service into areas that have
developed since street railway track
age was constructed and by co-ordi-
mating with street car service to give
better facilities to communities in
volved
THE full utility of busses. how
ever cannot be determined until Sc
rious efforts have been made to CO.
ordiate the two types of service
The hundreds of millions of dollars
spent in improving the highways
have made possible a more recent
facility for the conduct of transpor-
tation.'
The value of the electric railway
plants of the country, he explained
constituted per cent of the national
wealth, or over $500, 900. 900, and thai
It's investment must be protected
The merchants of business sections
depend on reliable transportation &c
bring customers to their stores and
development of residential districts
would be impossible without adjacent
means OF transportation. Such trans
portation. he alleged, could be sup
piled only by responsible organiza-
tions and not by individuals.
Special Field for Busses.
There is a field for the develop
ment of a high grade of bus service
than is possible in mass transporta-
tlon." he concluded. This is a de
luxe service at rates considerably
higher than traction fares. The good
will of the community is the great
est single asset in transportation
utility and no steps can possibly be
taken that will be productive of sc
large a measure of good will thar
the active development of transpor-
tation service necessities"