Evening star., 1928-04-29
ROUTING PLANS UNDER MERCER
YET TO BE TACKLED BY EXPERTS

Commission One of the reasons that
Congress created this commission was
to rid its hands of tedious details. Con-
gress reserved to itself the right to pass
upon merger plan, but left 1t first to
the Public Utilities Commission to eZ-
anime and report upon it. After
lengthy hearings and no end of give
and take. the commission approved the
modified merger plan. Now the House
subcommittee is examining the plan all
over again. and when it concludes the
merger must run the gantlet Of the
House itself, Senate subcommittee and
then the Senate. One therefore finds
reason to ask, Why the Public Utilities
Commission?
The question is pertinent, fer If the
merger Is approved the Public Utilities
Commission will assume greater impor-
tance than ever before The merger
proponents are now engaged in running
series of interesting advertisements in
the newspapers to enlist the support Of
the public in the project. The casual
reader might interpret from these ad-
vertisements that the merger will bring
the traction millennium to Washington
overnight. While some Of its details
bear scrutiny there is no logical opposi-
ton to the merger itself. But the mere
approval Of a merger Is not going to
change conditions here overnight. When
the merger Is approved the Public uGn~
ties Commission will have its hands
full. There Is a great deal Of talk now
about the blessings of rerouting. But,
as surprising as 1t might be, there has
been no definite rerouting scheme ap-
proved by anybody. An advertisement
points out that when the Government
completes its triangle project there viii
be the problem of moving 25 .00O or more
persons morning and evening from a
limited area. This can be accomplished
more easily by merger and unified oper-
alton than without. Without the merg-
er the street car lines and bus com
panies will be continually lockeying 70
get the business. While every one con-
cedes the logic of this argument, il is
surprising to find that no scheme has
yet received careful consideration b.
those who eventually must decide how
the traction lines, under unified con-
troll. are to handle this immense prob
lem. Various plans have been suggested
some Of them rather fantastic But
little consideration apparently is being
given the details.
The interesting part Of the merger 70
the public is whether the cars will be so
routed as TO enable passenger to ride
| from one part of town to another with
out numerous changes. The financial
arrangements. the interest Of minority
stockholders and the possible manipula-
tions Of the power trust"-these are
the battles for the lawyers and account
ants. But If one now asks whether,
under the merger, 1t viii be possible to
| go from Fourteenth and streets TO the
Bureau Of Engraving and Printing with
out a transfer, the answer is, That
hasn't been worked out"
Several plans for rerouting have been
| proposed. But there is wide divergence
OF opinion about whether they would
| work and how they would work. One
| thought Is that the best way 10 get the
rerouting plan in shape for adoption is
to watch the flow Of traffic after the
merger, when passengers take advantage
OF the free transfers. This. it is con-
tended. would be better than making a
plan in advance that might have 70 De
revised In practice. But one does not
envy the Public Utilities Commission in
its task OF approving the new routings.
When street car stop is changed from
one block to another there is sometimes
an uproar that can be heard all over
town. What is going to happen when
scores OF changes Of every sort are
made? The Public Utilities Commission
NlA nave 70 act Win SklI1 BACKBONE
and mailed fist. And what is going
to be the cost Of making these changes?
In 1920 1t cost the Capital Traction Co.
$66,000 TO renew its crossings and
switches at Fourteenth and Z streets.
In 1919 the same company spent s4S COO
IN merely renewing parts of its cross
ings at Seventh street and the Avenue.
The most simple changes In trackage
layoutS run. into money
The riding public has been told that
it win benefit immensely by the re-
routing. But the details OF the proposed
rerouting are yet TO come. When they
do the riding public viii speak with Q
loud voice. The Public Utilities Com
mission viii do well to assemble all the
experts Of the Fine Arts Commission.
the National Capital Park and Planning
Commission and the Public Buildings
Commission, plus any traffic engineers
temporarily idle. and set them 70 work
in advance OF the storm