Evening star., 1924-10-15
HINTS H|GHERFARE
IN CHANGE OF CARS
President Ham of w. r. & E.
Tells Hearing 0ne-Man
Car Economy.

An intimation that higher car'fare
might be asked for IL one-man cars
are ruled out of use was made by Will
liam F. Ham, president of the Wash
ington Railway and Electric Company,
at the public hearing at the District
Building today on the question of
whether the number of such cars
should be increased.
After Mr.. Ham had presented testi-
mony for more than an hour to show
that street car traffic is falling off
rapidly on both the Washington Rail-
way and Electric and Capital Traction
companies, William NICK. Clayton,
spokesman for the Federation OF .Cfti-
zens' Associations. interrupted with
this query:
mfr. Ham. do you believe the fare
should be increased?"
Il would prefer not to have to raisa
the rate" the president of the COM
pany replied. .Whether that is pos
sible or not I don't know. The loss
of traffic has been beyond our ex-
thing is going to happen. If the
commission and the public do not
sustain us in trying to operate as
economically as possible. / presume
an increase in fare will have to be
asked for"
Ten More One-Mnn Carx.
The purpose of the hearing is to
decide whether the w. r. and E.
should be allowed to install 10 more
one-man cars. Mr.. Clayton followed
his first question by asking Mr. Ham
If he would suggest additional one
man cars in case passenger travel
continued to fall off in future. Mr..
Ham said he thought the use Of one
in Washington.
William S. Torbert of the Rhode
Island Avenue Citizens Association
asked Mr.. Ham If he considered the
use of two-man cars extravagant.
The witness replied he did If one
man could do the job satisfactorily
This brought from Mr.. Torbert the
observation that it was wasteful to
operate two-man cars for so many
years.
The president of the Washington
Railway and Electric replied that
methods change with passing time.
When trainmen's wages were 25
cents an hour, he said, it was not as
necessary to economize in operation
as it is now with wages UP to SIS
cents an hour. All other lines of in
seek labor saving methods to meet
increased costs of doing business, he
added.
After reciting the facts brought out
at previous one-man car hearings, MIR
Ham declared the main objection was
the crowding of passengers near the
front door because of the necessity
of boarding and leaving the car at
the front end.
Objection Is Removed.
1.-The company, he said, has de-
veloped one-man car with auto
matte rear exit to remove that OBJ
lection, and said the ten new cars
asked for would have that rear exit.
The testimony disclosed that the
Washington Railway and Electric is
now operating 20 one-man cars. This,
Mr.. Ham said, results in saving of
$15S,777 a year within the District
If the ten additional cars are au-
thorized it would bring about a
further saving of $4,000 a year.
The principal contention of Mr.. Ham
throughout his testimony was that
the steady falling off in street car
riding with a consequent reduction
in revenue, makes the operation of
one-man cars necessary in the in
terest of economy.
In 1871, the witness teSt1neQ, the
w. r. and E. system carried 78,1I1,-
TAO passengers in the District, as
compared with 72.223,000 in the IL
months ended August 81 last, fall
ing off of 5.SS7,s11 passengers in the
three-year period.
The w. r. and E. earned a rate
Of return of 3.S4 per cent on the
commissions valuation in the -
months ended in August, he said.
Considering the w. r. and F.. and
the Capital Traction earnings to-
gether, he said, the rate of return
for the IL months ending in August
was 5.25 per cent on the combined
valuation of the two roads.
Questioned by a citizen In the
audience as to the reason for the
falling off in passengers, Mr.. Ham
said It was due, first, to the increased
number of private automobiles, to
lhe establishment of motor bus Lines.
the growth of the taxicab business
and the fact that Washington has
settled back from its wartime rush
of business.