Evening star., 1924-04-06
SHORT. HAUL TRAVEL
BY RAIL IS SHOWN
Communication Passengers Handled
in 1928 Totaled 446, ,53s, 900,
Substantial Increase.

The number of revenue passengers
handled By the railroads in commu-
tation service in 1928 was 446,5Ss.0e0
says the Railway Age, quoting from
monthly bulletin of traffic statistics
published by the Interstate Commerce
Commission. This service repre- e-...ntsd
the equivalent of carrying $500 eco
passengers one mile, as compared
with 6,131,7S4,000 passenger miles for
the year 1922, These statistics are
regularly published. by the commits
sion," the Railway Age. says, but
they seldom attract much attention,
although to a very large number OF
people the Communication service rep
resents the only frequent direct con-
tact with the railroad business which
indirectly affects them in so many
ways.
THE statistics show that the av-
erage Communication journey last year
was 1893 miles. as compared with an
average of 5S.6 miles for other than
communication passengers. and the av-
erage revenue per passenger mile to
the TdlIFOduS ITotH CufnmutatlOn SerN-
ice was 1898 cents, as compared witt h
an average OF 3.409 cents per mile
for other than Communication passen-
gers. The number of passengers car
ried in communication service was
about "a per cent of the total num-
Der of passengers carried by the rail-
ROADS, although, because of the short
er haul, IL represented only about l6
per cent of the passenger miles, and
the revenue from Communication pas
SINGER service, S6s.967.039, was about
per cent of the. total passenger
revenue, which for 1923 amounted to
I,1+7,365,9ss.
rs is quite common for those who
are urging lower passenger fares to
base an argument on the fact that
railroads voluntarily make rates
lower than their ordinary rates for
excursions or other special occasions
and to contend that the low special
rates prove that the railroads could
handle their ordinary passenger bust
ness at lower rates and increase their
density OF traffic by doing so. Ignor-
ing for the present the question OF
whether Communication service is or is
not profitable, II affords a sufficient
extreme example to illustrate why
the roads can make lower rates for
some classes of traffic than they can
make for others, and the fact that
it is so familiar to a large percentage
them to an understanding of the
larger problem. Communication pas
sengers are ordinarily handled in
rather crowded trains and the vol
ume of traffic is sufficiently regular
that the railroads know what to pre-
pare for and can organize themselves
for it In the same way, a railroad
can organize itself for a special
movement at a particular time and
knowing that it's cars will be used to
capacity, can afford to quote a rate
lower than the standard fare.
while it is true that many rail-
way passenger cars in regular service
are not filled to capacity and that ad
ditional passengers could be taken on
at less than the average expense, any
reduction in the ordinary rate of fare
would, of course, first reduce the reve-
nues of the railroads from the pas
sengers they are now carrying, and
any increased traffic which might be
developed by reason of the lower rate
would naturally distribute itself in
much the same way as the present
traffic is distributed, instead of filling
out the trains on which additional
passengers could easily be accom-
modated."