The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-10-13
RAPID PACE IN UNITED
STATES A MERE CRAWL
SURVEY SHOWS THAT WITH
ALL OUR RUSHING WE DO
NOT GET VERY FAR.
GOVERNMENT MAKES SURVEY
Pedestrians Travel 81 Miles an Hour,
Motor Passengers ST. Miles. The
Cost Per Mile of Various Modes of
Travel Are Strikingly Shown.

Cost Per Mile of Various Modes of
Travel Are Strikingly Shown.
The supposedly killing pace of the
modern American city actually comes
down nearly to a crawl, if the travel
habits OF Washington citizens, as
shown by a transportation survey, are
any criterion, says the Washington
Post,
According to data cards collected by
the United States survey engineers
from 10000 individuals the effective
overall average speed of travel be-
tween residence and business is as fol-
lows:
For those whose daily trips between
| home and office are two miles or less
the walkers average 81 miles an hour,
street car riders go A. miles, motor
bus riders As miles, and automobile
passengers 81 miles.
For those who travel from two to
six miles between home and business
the average pace is IL miles an hour
for the street car riders, rs miles for
the motor bus passengers, and 100
miles for the private automobile user
These averages represent the day
in and day out experience of approxi-
mately one-half of the working popu-
lation OF Washington said Major
William E. R. Covell assistant engi-
neer commissioner of the public utili-
ties commission, District OF Columbia
under whose supervision the traffic
and transportation survey has been
made by Mcclellan and Junkersheld
Inc, New York, at the expense of the
North American Company.
by means of questionnaires, dis
tributed to 125,000 persons and an
swered by 100000, many interesting and
surprising facts have been learned
about the travel habits and transporta-
ton requirements of Washington citi-
zens.
Only 20 Per Cent Walk.
1--WE learn that 40 per cent OF the
workers in this city of half a million
population have no regular use for
public transportation facilities. 20 per
cent walk to and from their work and
100 per cent use private motor vehicles.
Another 20 per cent of the wage earn
ers use suburban lines, which leaves
40 per cent to be provided for by the
street car systems and motor buses.
The survey included comprehen-
sive analysis of costs to the public tor
various kinds OF transportation. The
analysis shows that regular street car
riders, who use tokens at less than the
cash fare pay the street car compa-
nies 2.44 cents for every mile they
travel; regular bus patrons pay 800
cents a passenger mile, while the
Washington taxi rate averages Z5.9O
cents a passenger mile.
The cost of driving a private auto
mobile, assuming an average load OF
I1.o passengers a vehicle as shown by
vehicle check, is estimated by the
engineers at $3.50 a passenger mile.
One OF the things brought out by
the survey which presumably is ap-
plicable in every American city, is the
amount of room required on the
streets for each passenger carried by
private automobile and by street car.
Based on average load throughout the
dav the automobile needs forty-six
square feet of space on the city streets
for each passenger, as against ten
square feet passenger for the street
car 90,
During rush hours the automobile
takes up fifty-one square feet OF space
A passenger, against seven square feet
a passenger for the street car, as au-
tomobiles average fewer passengers
and street cars average more passen-
gers a vehicle during rush hours than
throughout the day.
Streets Used as Garages.
The extent to which Washington
automobile owners use the streets as
all-night garages were brought out
during the survey by careful count
made by the police department. Warn
ings that such a count was to be
made were first published in the news
papers so that most of the cars which
had homes were placed under cover.
On the night of the check-up no
less than $4,000 of Washington So
900 registered cars were found to have
no other roofs than the stars. Police
estimate that on ordinary fair nights
during the summer months between
q. 600 and $4,000 motor vehicles are
parked on the pavements.