Milford chronicle., 1926-08-13
THE BUS-CANEER HAS TAKEN
THE ROADS
(From Philadelphia Ledger)

SOnNSAA4SASCs III many P4USCo ~ 10 {
necessity, and it has come to stay.
There is, however, no reason why
it should become a bus-caneer o.
the highway and be permitted tt
drive other traffic from the roads a:
old-time buccaneers drove Other
traffic from the seas. Nor is there
any reason why any public conven.
ience should become a public NUS.
ance.
That is what the notorious now is
in central Philadelphia and on hun
dreds of miles Of streets and open
highways. Market street, near City
Hall, is little more than a big bus
terminal for common carriers rum
ming in all directions.
They stand along the street as
leisurely as passenger coaches stanG
in the railway yards. Some of them
stay until loaded, whether this is a
minute or an hour. Sidewalks are
cluttered with their drivers and
"barkers." They make it impossible
for private cars to reach a curb TO
load or unload passengers.
Market street congestion is we'll
nigh outrageous. Chestnut street is
almost as bad where sightseeing
and passenger busses have calmly
taken all the room they want. Com
mercial and private cars are being
driven from the main thoroughfares
by the bus-caneers.
The notorious has come so quick
ly that it has overwhelmed traffic Of
ficials and State Public Service Com
missions. In a few months it has
taken possession of the highways.
Anybody with a little capital or
credit can get into the business. 1t
is full of irresponsible concerns and
wildcat" operators, all using high
ways built by the public for their
own private profit.
The bus-caneer has captured the
roads and streets and made them
his own. In the open country bus
ses are running wild. Between Phil
adelphia and shore points these big
engined, heavy, broad-beamed cars,
packed with passengers, tear along
at fifty miles an hour. Speed limits
mean little. Lives and property of
their own passengers and of others
on the road are menaced. They en-
danger each other and everybody
and everything else on the high
ways.
On narrow roads, the private car
must take to the ditch or take the
consequences. The speeding bus
cancer apparently has cowed State
as well as local police in many Sec
tions. If there is a smash-up, the
victims sometimes find the total A.
nancial responsibility of the bus
cancer is very small, regardless how
many may be dead or injured.
This new and often irresponsible
industry is Gripping old and re-
sponsible systems. Street-car lines
are beingjunked. Old fare rates are
being wiped out, and the ten-cent
ARE is coming everywhere the bus
comes. The unregulated notorious
S wiping out millions in railway in
Mr.. Dice, president of
he Reading Railway, has warned |
Atlantic City and other shore points
hat regulation must come or both |
he railway and the points it serves
will suffer.
In its own defense the public
must regulate the notorious. Feder-
i control of this interstate traffic
will come, but local regulation can
lot be postponed. The States and
titles must act to end congestion
nd danger, to protect their high
7ays and to enforce responsibility
pom this new industry.
Congestion must be checked on
treets and crowded highways. There
) no more reason for permitting
to use the streets as ter
linals and storage tracks than for
the Pennsylvania to park
he Broadway Limited" on Broad
treet. The bus is a common car
Ter. 1t must find its own terminals
n privately owned ground.
Notorious speed must be sharply
egulated. Bus sizes must be draa-
cally limited. The drivers should
E taught that public highways are
OF speedways. These steel-bodieo
assenger tanks" powerful, wide
nd long, should be held down to
speed less than is permitted for
le easier zraked, lighter and more
lsily handled private car.
The bus is rapidly destroying q,
'ads built by the public and is pay
g very little for their use. It must
" a tax sufficient to make good the +
image it is doing to the highways. i
asst, but not least, the notorious ,
ust be made responsible for the E
yes and limbs of its passengers and :
r a permanent service to the pub f
:. ?