Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-23
Competition Must Be Fair,

Inc hearings on the taXtcab situation
have served chiefly to emphasize the
seriousness of the blow that this form
Of competition has dealt the street rail-
way lines. The contrast has been drawn
between the fixed financial burdens of
the street railway lines, such as the four
per cent franchise tax on gross re-
ceipts, the payment of salaries to cross
ing policemen. the assessments for
street paving, the assumption of finan-
cial responsibility for safety Of passen-
gers and property, etc, and the virtually
unregulated status Of the taxicabs,
where there is nothing to require the
assumption Of any important or fixed
responsibilities. The picture in black
and red had been drawn to show the
effects Of this unregulated competition,
with the taxicabs taking away some
100000 passengers a year from the
traction companies and contributing to
the sustained and increasing loss of
revenues that is putting the car COM
panies In the hole.
have been shown the effect of the
cheap taxicab on the transportation
habits Of the public The taxicab has
been popular, as shown by the increas-
ing patronage it is enjoying. The rates
have been acceptable. The convenience
and the advantages of the taxicab have
found ready response from the riding
public. And the operation Of a taxicab
has provided an employment outlet for
hundreds Of men who otherwise might
be pounding the pavement in search
of Job.
Turning again 70 the street cars,
their method Of making up for losses
Of revenue In the past has been con-
fined. as far as the public knows, to
asking for higher fares and putting into
effect certain economies that make this
form Of transportation more unpopular,
whereas the effort Of the taxicabs has
been TO reduce rates and to make every
possible bid toward satisfying and
catering to the wishes of the public.
And, whereas the street car companies
have always been the powerful, vested
interests, enjoying the advantages as
the disadvantages Of protected monop-
olies, the taxicabs are in many cases
owned and are operated by the men
who are trying to make a bare living and
a. mill 70 inlok
1t. According to the figures submitted
yesterday by Mr.. Bachman, the Public
Utilities Commission accountant, they
are not succeeding.
But If the taxicabs are driving the
street cars to the wall, and the figures
certainly indicate that such is the case,
the city is confronting a condition that
requires the best efforts of the authori-
ties to forestall. The street cars are a
basic necessity in the life of the city
1t is impossible to conceive their re-
placement, at this stage Of the game, by
taxicabs. The city cannot get along
without street cars. but If unregulated
competition Is permitted to exist indef1-
nitely 1t must either get along without
street cars or take over their operation.
The taxicab should be recognized as
new form of competition, definitely
established. no matter what its effect
will be on other agencies. But its as
sumption of an important place on the
transportation map requires that it be
placed under the same sort Of regula-
ton and control that now apply to the
street car companies or other common
carriers. Competition must be reduced
to something that approaches a fair
basis at the start. Somebody, of course,
will be hurt. The authorities will have
to direct their efforts toward arriving at
action that will serve the greatest con-
venience of the majority.