Evening star., 1925-09-13

Continued from First Page9
of the time required for passengers to
get on and Off Of cars of various types,
the engineers reached the following
general conclusions:
Time for Steps.
"That the average time for a stop is
26.1 seconds, 21.3 seconds Of which Is
taken for passenger interchange and
As seconds for delays due to other
causes. The average time per pas
senger for boarding or alighting IS l.S
seconds.
with respect to passenger inter
change. better time is made on the
pay-within type OF car than on the
Center-door or Qne-man types. The
average stop for busses, based on 329
observations. is 23.3 seconds. 16.7 sec
onds being consumed by passenger in
terChange. The average time per pas
senger boarding or alighting is 81 sec
onds."
Another study showed that the ~ush-
hour service of the Capital Traction
Co. requires approximately twice the
number of cars used in base service,
while the Washington Railway and
Electric Co. uses approximately three
times as many cars in rush-hour serv-
ice as in base service.
Less Cars Used.
The report on the street railway
situation in Washington in 1913, made
by Mr.. John A. Beeler," the engineers
recalled, showed that at that time
the Capital Traction Co. schedules
called for the operation Of 231 cars
during the period Of maximum serV-
ice in the afternoon, and Washington
Railway and Electric Co. schedules
called for the operation of 354 cars
during the same period. At the pres
ent time the Capital Traction Co.
schedules call for the operation of six
more cars than in 1918, and Washing
ton Railway and Electric Co. sched-
uleS call for the operation OF II less
cars than in 1918, q net decrease of
less than per cent. During this
period the facilities of the street rail-
way companies have been materially
increased by the operation of motor
busses, the two companies now having
4S vehicles of this type.
Revenue Passengers Decrease.
I'm 1924 the revenue passengers
carried by the combined street railway
systems were approximately 10 per
cent less than in 1918"
A COMPARISON Of the Beeler report
with present-day conditions shows, the
engineers say. approximately the same
concentration Of street railway service
in the downtown district, but without
the serious delays and congestion
which occurred in 1918. The engineers
express the belief that the improve
ment in operating conditions down
town today, as compared with 1918, is
due in large measure to changes in
routings, car stops and other sugges-
tions made in the Beeler report.
Commenting on the routing OF car
lines in Washington. the report says:
AN examination of the Individual
railway lines of the two street rail
way companies shows that routes Of
many types are used. Some Of these
routings as well as certain other
features of operation are the results OF
the Independent operation of two sys-
TENS Among these may be mentioned
the following: Through routes, over
lap routes, U-shaped routes, Wildcat
trips, operation over jointly owned
or rented trackage, indirect routing
and duplicate trackage and stub-end
terminals in the downtown district.
Permits of Economy.
"As many through routes as pos
sible are used by both companies.
Such a system of routing permits
of economical operation if the service
requirements on the two ends are
substantially the same.
Good examples of through routings
are the George getoWn-SeVenteenth and
Pennsylvania avenue southeast line Of
the Capital Traction Co. and the
Georgetown-Lincoln Park line of the
Washington Railway and Electric Co.
These two lines serve residential sec
tions at either end, the central por-
ton of the route passing through the
downtown district"
The engineers included in their re-
port an analysis of the accident re-
ports of the two street railway COM
panies for the year ended May 81,
1925. The report shows for those II
months: Washington Railway and
Electric Co., 2,741 street accidents,
and Capital Traction Co., $500 street
accidents. Discussing accidents, the
report continues:
january Worst for Mishaps.
1.-THE worst month for accidents, ac-
cording to the records of the railway
companies, is January, when one-siXth
of the years accidents occurred. The
worst month for the bus company was
April. when a little over one-ninth of
the years accidents occurred. How
ever, this company has been increas-
inc IT'S ODeratiOnS, so that the true