Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-06
CAPITAL IS AHEAD
IN BUS FACILITY
Report of Commissioner of
Internal Revenue Shows
Service Is Among Best.

That Washington is one Of the fore
most cities in the development of city
and interurban bus service Is shown
by report from the Office of the
commissioner of internal revenue.
The report is for the fiscal year of
1925 and shows that throughout the
United States there were l65,372 mo-
tor vehicles I'm use engaged in carry
ing passengers for hire. OF this mum.
Der, al SAG were cars carrying seven
passengers or less while 23.523. or
approximately II per cent. had a ca
pacity Of eight or more passengers.
In Washington, however. ii is
found that 81 per cent OF all the pas
senger cars for hire are OF the large
capacity type and IS. per cent have
a capacity of I passengers or less. ac-
cording to the report. This high per-
centage of cars with a large passen-
ger-cauying capacity is due, accord
ing to Henry r. Trumbower. econo-
mist Of the Bureau OF Public Roads,
to the development of interurban as
well as city bus services.
New Jerseys Case.
The report shows that in II States
the large-CapaCity cars used for hire
amount to over 20 per cent of the
total number of cars used as common
carrier passenger cars.
The extent to which these large
capacity busses are used" adds Mr..
Trumbower, depends upon the de
velopment of bus service. In New
Jersey. where 80 per cent of the pas
senger cars for hire are all. Of the bus
type. a very extensive notorious ser
vice has ben developed in the urban
and suburban sections of the northern
part of the State. Where there are a
number of large cities and where the
population is very dense the bus ser.
vice is primarily urban and sub
urban"
The internal revenue law provides
that owners of automobiles for hire
with a capacity from to passen.
gers shall pay a yearly excise tax of
so ia the Federal Government and
those owning automobiles for hire
with a capacity of s or over pay an
annual tax of $50. For the year men
toned, the Government collected a
total of $1.S3S.079
Mr.. TrumboWer calls attention to
the fact that the ratio OF passenger
cars for hire to the total population
of the country is one car for every
$50 people. The ratio of the number
OF hiring passenger cars to the pop
ulation differs in the several States
ana also IN various SeCUOnS Oh tne
country.
The variation ranges" says Mr..
Trumbower, from 442 in the New
England States to S66 in the West
North Central States, the average for
the whole country being 6S6, At first
glance it would appear as if the num-
Der of persons per car were smaller
in those States where the population
is most dense. That holds true for
the New England and the Middle At.
lantic group States, which contain
many cities where the number of taxi
cabs operated is naturally large.
96.475 Owners Taxed
''On the other hand. in the Noun.
tain States the number of persons per
car is $50. Just slightly higher than
in the Middle Atlantic States. where
the ratio of persons to cars is $40. In
the Mountain States this ratio is
less than in any one of the other
groups of States except the New
England and the Middle Atlantic
groups"
The report also disclosed that 96 ATS
owners paid the tax on the total of
1882 taxicabs and busses. averaging
about II cars to proprietor. In spite
of the fleets of taxicabs owned by one
individual or by company the aver
age number of cars owned by an
operator is less than two.