Evening star., 1931-06-26
TRANSIT LINES ASK
COURT TO REMOVE
SCHOOL FARE CUT
Companies Estimate Yearly
Losses viii Be About
$4,000.
NOONAN BRANDS MOVE
"BETRAYAL OF TRUST"
Petition for Further Reductions
Filed With Com
mission.

MISSION.
The Capital Traction. Washington
Railway & Electric and Washington
Rapid Transit Cos. today filed petitions
in the District Supreme Court asking
the court to Vacate the. order OF the
Public Utilities Commission setting re-
duced rates of car and bus fare Tor
school children. Pending the decision
of the case on the merits, the court Is
asked to suspend the operation OF the
order.
At the same time. the presidents Of
the three concerns issued written state
ments to the press defending their ac-
tion on various grounds. principal
among which was the charge that II
the commission reduced the fare for
school children, it should have in
creased other fares to make up for
the losses engendered by the reduction.
Charge Betrayal.
John ]. Noonan, whose fight in Con-
gresS was directly responsible for the
passage of the school fare act under
which the commission issued its order.
also came forward with statement
accusing the company heads OF a
betrayal of trust" and charging that
they had told Congress they would not
object to the reduced fares
The situation is complicated by the
tendency before the commission of
motion by Peoples Counsel Richmond
B. Keech for a rehearing of the case4
Mr.. Keech objects to the school fare
order because it does not go far enough,
while the company heads are attacking
it because it goes too far, and reduces
their profits. The commission will have
the motion before 1t at its meeting
next Monday afternoon.
Returns Are Reduced.
The substance of the objection of all
of the carriers to the order, as outlined
in their petitions, is that they were
making less than reasonable return
on the value of their property at the
time the order was entered and that
the effect of the order has been to
reduce their return still furthr.
All claim that 3 cents is below the
actual cost of carrying a passenger.
The order, therefore, they say, is a Vio-
lation of their rights under the Con-
stitution, in that it takes away their
property "a reasonable return on their
values) without due process of law.
William F. Ham, president OF the
Washington Railway &c Electric Co., in
his statement in support of the petit
tion. said:
AT the several hearings held before
both the House and Senate District
Committees as we'll as at the hearing
before the Public Utilities Commission,
in the matter of the reduced rates of
fare for school children, officials OF
this company testified there was no OBJ
lection on the part of this company to
such action by Congress, provided that
the rate of fare be reasonable and be
left with the commission SO that that
body could then adjust fares charged to
other riders in order to offset the loss
ateTll
reduced fares for school children.
Adjustment Asked.
Promptly after the passage OF the
above order of the commission of March
3, 1881. the company requested the
commission to take necessary steps to
adjust rates of fare for other than
school children in order that the COM
pany would not sustain a further de-
pletion of it's revenues which were then,
and had been for some time, wholly
inadequate for its needs. In reply to
our request the Public Utilities Commis-
sion stated there were no facts available
to show what. II any. effect the reduced
rate for school children had upon the
revenues of the company and that 1t
did not consider any action OH its part
y to modify fares for other than school
children would be justified.
THE result of operations for a IT,
month period under present conditions
shows a return of only 3.14 per cent on
the inadequate fair value as determined
by the Public Utilities Commission as Of
July l, 1914, with additions to date.
Losses Are Outlined.
"The bill sets out that since the put
ting into effect of the said rate of fare
each school fare collected hereunder
has been 1912 cents less than the
amount of the actual operating ex
penseS and taxes incurred per pay pas
senger in the performance of said serv-
ice. That since March 10, 1881, the
company has collected an average OF
1O.O33 school fares per school day, or
at the rate of 1,765 ,808 per annum.
That, based upon 176 school days "a
year, the actual loss to the company Is
1912 cents per school fare collected, or
an annual loss to the company OF $T0,-
1879 less than the bare operating
costs of performing such service. That
the average fare received by the COM
pany in the District from other than
school children since the putting into
effect of the Scent school fare Is 8.202
centes, or 5202 cents in excess Of said
Scent school fare. That the loss OF
revenue to the company from such re-
duced fares for school children will
amount to S91, ,857.33 per annum, based
on the estimated number of school
GdIGS COIISCI6Q per
President John H. Hanna of the Capt.
tai Traction Co wrote: THE company's
posi.i ion as stated frequently before
committees of Congress and before the
commission was that it did not object to
the commission being given authority to
establish reduced school rates provided
that in fixing such fares proper con-
sideration be given 10 their effect upon
the revenue. and provided that all fares
be so adjusted as to permit the COM
pany to maintain and improve its serv-
ice and give its owners reasonable re-
turn on their property.
Put Loss at $4,000.
''The companys appeal is made at
this time because three months expert
ence with the school fare has clearly
proven that the annual loss in revenue
resulting will not be less than SAT 900,
and that this amount taken away from
its already greatly inadequate earning is
a greater burden than the company
should be in fairness asked to bear or
that could be eXacted under the pro-
visions of the Constitution. which pro-
tects citizens from the taking of prop
erty without Just compensation"
President E. d. Merrill of the Wash
ington Rapid Transit Co. said: This
company, has not been and is not now
opposed ITO the principle of a reduced
fare for school children. This, however
does not relieve us of the necessity for
earning a proper return on the fair
value of the property used in the serv-
Zee of the public. We have not in the
past anSSe'are not now earning such a
return. In fact, for the year 1880 the