Evening star., 1924-03-04
{ STREET RAILWAYS
-. PASSING CRISIS
More Passengers Than Ever
Riding in Spite of Autos.
Securities Improve.
by J. G. ROYLE.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March 4.-The electric
railway industry is over the crisis
of its illness and now is on the mend,
B. c. Cobb, vice president OF the
Holden, Pyl, Hardy Company Of New
York. who is REGARDED as an expert
in public UTILITIES securities. told
street ra.foad men today in st.
Louis. Naturally progress has not
.beeI SO rapid as that made by power
end light companies" he continued,
but the latter were not so hard hit
by unfavorable conditions. e..
Il do not mean to say that every
individual company's troubles are
over, but electric railway securities
are now beginning to attract atten-
t!on, and many investors heretofore
not receptive are looking them up.
Proof Of this is shown by some Of the
successful electric railway financing
recently in San Francisco, Baltimore,
Boston. Philadelphia and st. Louis"
Heavy Outlays Reported.
Mr.. Cobb AIDED that s2S2. 900 had
been expended last year tor MAIN
tenance. extensions. new equipment
expenditures totaling s262,00O.000 al
ready were on the program for this
year.
1.-The electric railroads carried nearly
16.0o0.o 100000 passengers in 1929.
more than In any year. since the in
dustry was born" he said. ut is sig
nfficant that this record was made In
a year in which automobile produc-
tion reached its highest point so far.
for it proved conclusively the eco
nomic need of the service rendered
One thing we have learned and the
public. too. That Is that the street
railway industry cannot now be run
upon a fixed rate Of fare. The fare
in order that the company and the
public may serve and be served.
Less Worry Over Automobiles.
us the trend toward Increased
traffic and increased net earnings 60
Ing to be permanent? l grant that
passenger business. but 1t is my pre-
diction that the heaviest effects Of
this form of competition have been
seen. There seems to be no satura-
tion point so far as ownership Of cars
is concerned, but there is fast devel-
oping a saturation point of another
character-namely, road saturation.
"As a result. there is growing
tendency on the part OF automobif1sts
again to patronize electric railways,
owners whose occupations do not
make it necessary for them to use
motor cars in the transaction of their
daily business. 1t takes time for the
habits of the public to change, bVt
q change in it's riding habits Is going
on right now. People who formerly
rode in the electric railway and later
on forsook 1t are now coming back.
BusseS Can't Replace Electrics.
"The motor bus supplies a very
definite need. but busses can never
handle the volume of traffic the cleo
trio railways are moving daily. Ex-
perience has demonstrated that the
bus is of more value in supplementing
electric, railway service than in su-
perceding it. a check made in Grand
Rapids, Mich, showed that passing
street cars occupieu G3 per cent of the
street space devoted to vehicles and
the automobiles II per cent. while the
automobiles carried only about one
half as many people as the street
cars. Figured another way, this
means the automobiles took seven
times as much street space per pas
senger as did the street cars.
The various factors mentioned are
some Of the reasons why the outlook
for the electric railway industry
seems more encouraging than for sew
erai years. A credit basis is fast be-
coming established which will enable
electric railway companies to more
and improvements"