Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-08
CITIZENS DEMAND
MORE, SHOULDP PAY
FOR It, HANNA SAYS
One Man Cars Could Be Used
ProfitabIy, Traction Presi-
dent Declares.
TRAFFIC TANGLES HELD
CAUSE OF PART OF LOSS
Passengers Want Two-Man Service
and Speed, He Contends at
Fare-Raise Hearing.

One-man street cars could be used
profitably on some of the lines Of the
Capital Traction Co., John H. Hanna,
its president, said today at the hearing
before the Public Utilities Commission
on the compary's request for 10-cent
carfare. The company has not bought
any new equipment since 1919 because it
feared that two-man cars would be
obsolete when bought, he said.
However" Mr.. Hanna continued. "I
am not arguing for one-man cars. The
Capital Traction Co. tries to furnish the
people with the kind of service it wants
and the people of Washington seem to
want tWo-rnan cars and as far as we are
concerned, they shall continue to have
them. But they should realize that two
man cars cost more to run than one
man cars and they should be ready to
pay the difference
The cross-eXamination of Mr.. Hanna
today was conducted by Peoples Coun-
sci Ralph B. Fleharty: William NICK
Clayton, counsel for the Federation of
Citizens Associations. and E. c. Riegel
of the Washington Consumers Guild.
1t covered large variety of miscel-
,aneous information.
Traffic Congestion Blamed.
In some of his answers to questions
Mr.. Hanna blamed the decline in traffic
on his company's line partly on the
reduction in speed due to the increased
use of traffic lights and to the increased
congestion on the streets caused by pri-
vately owned automobiles. People want
speedy service, he said, and it is get
ting harder to have such service on
street cars
He said the company's loss in traffic
r:as mainly III the city; that its subur-
ban lines not only did not show de-
crease, but some of them actually
showed an increase.
He said that the company's charter
gave its cars the right-of-way on its
rails but that sufficient attention had
net been given by the Police Depart
ment and the traffic directors Office to
the problem Of public transportation,
with consequent slowing up of the cars.
Hanna Sees Decline Continuing.
MIR. Fleharty asked Mr.. Hanna
whether he thought the downward trend
N the number of passengers carried by
street cars in Washington would con-
tilue or whetEer level had been
reached.
IT think the trend will continue
:,cwrward," replied Mr.. Hanna. But
1 have no definite information on that
point
IIr. Hanna said the percentage Of
token users has been gradually falllng
off and the reason, in his opinion, is the
increase in the use of automobiles by
people going to and coming from work.
More and more people have quit
using street cars as a regular means OF
transportation" declared Mr.. Hanna.
1T is the regular users of the cars who
are more likely to buy tokens. Our
loss of passengers is almost entirely
due to the use of private automoblles.
The Washington Rapid Transit Bus
Line, according to Mr.. Hanna, took
away many street car passengers, wnen
it was established, but he thought that
the loss on this account to the street
Car company had not been so great
during the last four or five years.
The Washington Rapid Transit Co.
is a direct competitor of our company"
Mr.. Hanna said.
Attorneys File Exceptions.
The Capital Traction Co.'S president,
replying to further questions by Mr..
Fleharty, said that he did not believe
that the immediate falling off in pas
sengers that has followed fare increases
in the past is permanent.
Attorneys for the two street car COM
panies noted exceptions this morning to
the order of the Commission making
the Washington Rapid Transit Co. a
party to the present rate case.
IF we could put on modern cars and
, improve our service, we could get many
OF our passengers back" insisted Mr..
Hanna. Gar lines in other cities that
have improved their service nave m
traffic
II do not believe the one-man cars
would cure all our troubles here" con-
tinued Mr.. Hanna, taking up that sub
| ject. But I do know there are car
| lines here where one-man cars should
be operated The trend in other cities
! is toward one-man cars. The reason
| the Capital Traction Co. has not in
stalled any of them is because pubic
| opinion in Washington, as expressed by
Mr.. CLAYTON and others, seems to be
against them"
In making any comparison Of street
car rates in this and other cities Mr..
Hanna said that it should be remem-
bered that in most of the other cities
one-man cars are in general use and
also that overhead trolley lines are
! widely used.
Extra Cost Is Cited.
ct am not arguing in favor of one
man cars, and am certainly not argu-
| ing in favor of an overhead trolley sys-
tenn for Washington" declared Mr.
Hanna. But, of course, the extra cost
must be taken into consideration. It
costs about three times as much to lay
| the conduit system that We have in
| Washington as it does to construct the
overhead trolley system. Our under
ground cables. feeders. car barns and
other things for the conduit system
cost more.
washington has this system and
| Washington wants 1t, but all these
| things must be considered in comparing
| fares here and in other cities"
Several times in the past, Mr.. Hanna
explained, he had believed that the loss
of passengers on the street cars had
stopped and he had made calculations
based on that theory.
But I am not going TO do It any
more, because I was wrong" declared
MIR. Hanna. I'm 1926 we felt very good
when we thought the loss in passengers
/ had stopped, but the total began to drop
again. It certainly was not due to any
| increase of fare then. I don't know
what the reason was"
Mr.. Fleharty suggested that If the
| falling of In passengers is to continue
indefinitely. fare increase would not
solve the difficulties, because it would
be Offset by loss in traffic.
''Yes, If the decline is great enough,
that would be true" agreed Mr.. Hanna.
But, nevertheless, we would be better