Evening star., 1927-09-22
BUS-CLOGGED CITY
WITHOUT TERMINAL
ASL|NES INCREASE
26 Companies Operate In
District. Encroaching Upon
Public Space.
PEDESTRIANS MENACED
BY TRAFFIC IN STREETS
Lone Waiting Room" Offers
Scanty Accommodation FOR
Hundreds of Travellers.

operating bus lines out of Washington
from 10 separate terminals and find
ing the business profitable to such an
extent that new lines and more busses
will be added every year, necessitating
further encroachment upon public
street space with resulting impedi-
ment to already crowded traffic. the
District Commissioners and the Public
Utilities Commission are facing a prob
lem which they hope will be solved by
private enterprise. But with the eX-
ception of one futile attempt on the
part of former Commissioner Bell, ap-
parently nothing is being done or
planned at the District Building which
will hasten the solution.
The chief element Of the problem
lies in the lack of union bus terminal
to serve not only as a parking space
for the scores of buses which now
occupy the streets conveniently and
generously set aside for their exclu.
sive use, but to lessen the discomfort
and confusion now experienced by the
bus patrons.
Two and possibly more real estate
firms have been Investigating a num-
Der of downtown sites which might
prove suitable for bus terminal, and
one or more promoters are in the field
hoping to interest sufficient capital to
make possible the building and opera
ton of a terminal. Something may
come Of their efforts, but there is moth.
ing definite to show that there will.
Central Terminal.
mission has let it be known that il
a suitable terminal is built, busses will
be so routed that they will be brought
to the terminal. The question of COM
pelling the buses to use the termin-
al and pay for the use seems to rest
upon the willingness of the bus COM
panies. But if the terminal is built
officials of the Public Utilities Com
mission contemplate no great diff
Guilty on this score. The bus COM
panies would probably be only too
glad to have a central terminal and
pay to use it.
Washington now has what is polite
ly known as a bus terminal, the ex.
lstence of which is due to Commission
er Bells agitation in favor of the prof.
ect. This terminal consists of that
portion of the city's highway system
designated as Little Ninth street and
extending the short distance from
Pennsylvania avenue to Louisiana
avenue; waiting room provided with
few benches. a soft drink stand,
quick lunch stand and crowd of un.
comfortable-lookin bus patrons; a
colored porter in a white jacket who
officiates at the arrival of the tnconl-
ing busses, and a fruit stand, which
also sells peanuts. Complaints have
70 iCfr inf EITfl
about the unpleasant odor which at
times pervades the waiting room
and the sidewalk in front Of it, as
well as the uninviting surroundings
for the woman passengers who must
wait at night, without escort, for
the arrival of the next bus.
Little Ninth street is narrow
thoroughfare and paved with cobbles.
There some 205 busses arrive, park
and depart every day. During the
morning and evening rush hours the
street is nearly filled with chugging,
impatient vehicles, waiting to receive
their passengers. At almost any time
during the day there will be found
from 10 to dozen busses waiting
along both curbs from Pennsylvania
avenue to Louisiana avenue. and some
of them wedged in the middle of the
street. The busses now have COM
plete and unchallenged monopoly on
Little Ninth street, although the pro-
prietor of wholesale fruit firm on
one corner declared that when the
Florida fruit begins to reach Wash
ington in carloads late in the year
some of the trucks are going to need
a portion of Little Ninth, and, as he
pays 5000 a month rental for his store,
he feels entitled to what he needs.
The picture of truck drivers and bus
drivers jockeying for parking space IS
highly amusing and satisfying to the
owner of a small automobile, but
should prove discomforting for bus
passengers. In addition, the days OF
this bus terminal are already num-
bered, for it lies within the fateful
triangle of future Government build.
ings.
Patrons Wait on Streets.
In addition to the Little Ninth street
terminal, established by the old Public
Utilities Commission by rerouting the
buses to it, when the waiting room
was opened by two enterprising young
men, there are a number of other So
called bus terminals which boast no
or waiting rooms, but
jealously guard the parking spaces
set aside for them on the
public street and marked off by beau
tiful and awe-inspiring white lines
painted by the Traffic Bureau and
adorned with mo Parking" signs.
One Of the terminals Is on the west
side of Twelfth street. opposite the
Raleigh Hotel, and is used by the
ousses from Washington to Frederick
and other points in Maryland.
Another is on Pennsylvania avenue
in front of the New Willard Hotel.
and is used by the large busses be-
tween Washington and Annapolis.
Washington and Baltimore and Wash
ngton and Philadelphia. These buses
are so large and their parking space
so situated that when they start they
necessarily must back out into the
pedestrian lane across Pennsylvania
avenue and into the automobile traffic
IN Fourteenth street. The other day
the driver of one of these monster
vehicles playfully tried to back into
the uniformed attendant who stood
at the rear Of the bus and directed
The .maneuvs-, and in so doing came
within inches of striking an absent
minded lady pedestrian, who suffered
under the rather amusing impression
that painted lanes for pedestrians
really mean something in Washington.
There are other bus terminals at
he W., B. & A. station, used by the
Tidewater Lines, Inc, from Washing
ton to points in southern Maryland: