Evening star., 1925-09-16
COST OF OPERATING
AUTO IS TWICE CAR
FARE, REPORT SAYS
Expense of Running Machine
Is $500 a Year, Nearly
II Cents a Mile.
2 OF 10 WALK, 2 DRIVE,
5 RIDE IN STREET CARS
Fifteen Minutes Is Average Time
1900 Automobiles Take to
Get to Work.


The cost of running a private auto
mobile is more than double the cost
of riding the street cars, figured on a
per-passenger per-mile basis, the engi-
neering firm of Mcclellan & Junkers.
field contends in the final and most
important chapter of its report on the
transportation problems of Washing
ton, submitted to the Utilities Com
mission today.
Throughout the survey the engineers
have confined themselves to state
ments of fact without attempting to
draw conclusions, but officials at the
District Building who have followed
the inquiry believe that a study of
this great mass of data will indicate
the desirability of a merger Of the
railway lines.
Costs Compared.
In bringing the survey to a close.
the engineers declare that the relative
cost of the various means of trans
portation is as follows:
If you ride the street cars and use
tokens, the cost per mile is PA cents.
If you ride the street cars and pay
the cash fare, the cost per mile is
293 cents.
If you ride the motor bus on tokens
the cost is 3.66, and on the cash fare,
4.07 cents.
If you maintain a private automo-
bile and allow for an average of 1.9o
passengers to each auto entering the
downtown section. the cost is 5.85
cents per passenger.
If you use taxicabs, the cost per
mile is 1880 cents.
BY appealing to all persons employ
ed in Government departments and
downtown business establishments to
fill out questionnaires. the engineers
found out just how many use each
! means of transportation. and this is
what the cards showed:
Half Use Street Cars.
| That of every 10 persons employed,
! 2 walk to work, 2 ride in automobiles,
| use the street cars and l uses
| suburban and interurban railways and
busses. This means that 10 per cent
Of the workers who answered the
questions are either motorists or walk
ers who never use the public trans
portation facilities. The engineers say
they obtained completely answered
! questionnaires from SS,252, or about Is
per cent of all the employees in the
! Government and other downtown
establishments.
An interesting fact developed from
the study of these cards is that 1900
persons living within one mile of the
downtown section come to work in
automobiles and that the average time
it takes them is Is minutes.
The thousands of automobile owners
in Washington will study with in
terest chart prepared by the en-
gineers showing that it costs $690.S0
a year to maintain an auto, which is
11.49 cents per mile, based on an aver
age of 5000 miles a year. A table
printed elsewhere in this issue shows
the average automobile budget on
which this cost per mile was based.
$4,000 Private Cars.
These items of cost, of course. will
vary for individuals, but the engineers
treated the problem from the stand
point of averages.
In determining the unit cost of op-
Grating an automobile the engineers
automobiles in Washington, including
the metropolitan area, and that, ac-
cording to tax assessments, they rep
resent an aggregate value of S32 000,-
900, or about S400 per machine.
Then they found that the gasoline
tax collections for a year ending in
May were S701, 500, indicating gaso-
line sales of $4,000 gallons. Figur-
ing Is miles to the gallon for all
classes of cars, this much gas would
operate 525 10000 vehicle miles, or an
average of about 5000 miles per car
per year. They calculated the operat-
ing expenses for a car to be S69030
a year, divided into 5000 miles, gave
the per mile cost of 11.49 cents.
Car-Riding Habit Low.
The report reveals the fact that
the street car riding habit, which
means the average number of rides
each person makes in a year. is lower
in Washington than in most large
cities, due to the proximity of the
residential sections to the business
area and also due to the amount of
automobile parking space available
downtown. The engineers found that
in 1924 there was a total of 146, $685.
946 revenue passengers. Based on a
population of 496,2O0, the engineers
| computed the revenue rides per capita
at 284.
The engineers estimate the total
employed population in Washington to
be 100000, including domestic ssrv-
ants OF that number about 65, 900
are in the Federal Civil Service. The
80 900 persons who answered the
missionaries which enabled the en-
gineers to determine how the work
ing population of the District travels
represent rs per cent Of all those en-
ployed in the Government and III
downtown private establishments.
Many Work Here.
It is stated in the report that the
National Bureau of Economic Re-
search found recently that the Dis
trict Of Columbia has a higher ratio
at working population to total popu-
lation than any State in the Union.
Summarizing the data furnished by
the 10000 persons who answered
missionaries, the engineers say:
These two summary tables show
that more than 20 per cent Of the
working population surveyed travel
to and from their places Of business
by means Of automobiles. and approx
imately % per cent walk to and from
their places of business. These two
groups, aggregating approximately 43
per cent Of the working population
covered by the survey. represent
those individuals who make no reg
ular use Of the public transportation
facilities.
..Of those individuals who travel
regularly on existing railway and
bus lines, the largest number make
use of the facilities Of the Washington
y