Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-16
Absorbing BUSES
AID TO TROLLEYS
Million a Day Being Spent on
Street Railway Lines,
Showing Prosperity.
BY j. G. ROYLE.
Snecial nienatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The star.
NEW YORK. June 16.-The cleo
trio street railways of the united
States are spending million dollars
day in extension, improvement
bettermcnt and new equipment. rms
is the most conclusive answer that
can be given as to the future OIL
street railways of the country.
The figures give evidence that the
corporations themselves are conn
dent of the ability of the roads to
make money 1t indicates that the
tinanciers of the country agree with
them to the extent of being willing
to underwrite the new financing
necessary. and that the investing
public sees sufficient safety and profit
To buy the stocks and bonds offered.
It has not been a task of super
latiVe difficulty to raise the nlllloH
dollars per day. according to oIlclals
of the Electric Railways Corporation.
Much of the money has come dlrect
from the patrons of the roads, VINO
have become share and bond holders
AS well as passengers. and VINO are
tboro1,ghlv familiar with the prob
LENS Of the transportation companies.
Increase In Passengers.
These investors are taking full &C
count of the increase in the NUMBER OF
passengers carried. In the last ~
months street railways when report
so per cent of all the railway traIilc
of the United States carried 25f ,OVV'ooo
more passengers than in the previous
annual period. This gain mas Deen
due to some extent to the industrial
activity throughout the country. More
passengers are always carried when
Industrial plants are operated at a
high percentage of capacity.
For this reason the increase as COM
pared with the 1926 fiscal year has not
been uniform throughout the country.
The New England roads have not
Drofited as have carriers in some other
sections, owing to the spottiness of the
textile industry and uncertainty IN
the other manufacturing lines. Some
of the agricultural centers also have
fallen behind.
Another factor which has aided in
strengthening out the affairs or the
traction companies has been the
absorption of bus lines. Many bus
lines operated by Independents have
failed owing to inadequate financing
and have been taken over by the
street railways and run in conjunction
with the rail systems. The traction
companies now operate about 5000
buses. Some of these are not making
big profits, but at least they have
eliminated competition.
Selling Freight Service.
Freight and express traffic on in
trurban routes has grown rapidly this
year. This is not new development.
The companies have always offered
this service, but are just finding out
how TO sell it.
The most important factor in the
situation, according to street railway
men, is the graduated fare. Execu-
tives of the Electric Railway Associa-
ton believe this will be feature of
electric transportation for some years
to come. The plan now going forward
is to provide an advantage to the regu-
lar rider as compared with one who
uses a street car only when his auto
mobile is out of commission. The To-
cent fare for the casual rider Is re-
garded as not far off. The regular,
however, will be carried for a little
more than half that amount. The gen.
eral fare for the companies as a
whole now is IA cents.