Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-04
School Children's Car Fare.

II ths street car companies, after put
ting sensitive ears to the ground, had
voluntarily announced a few months
ago that they would reduce fares to five
cents for school children between the
ages OF seven nd sixtee-., and accom-
panied the announcement by a blare of
trumpets suitable or such occasions.
they would have saved themselves con-
siderable money, Inconvenience and. in
addition, garnered some of the public's
good will which seems to be sadly con-
spicuous oy its absence in Washington.
But the sentiments represented by
such voluntary action on the part of the
car companies are obviously alien to
their hearts. The companies preferred
to wait until Congress legislated a three
cent fare into existence and left the
Public Utilities Commission with the
duty on its hands Of prescribing the reg
ulations putting the reduction into
effect. Now that those regulations have
been announced, their effectiveness and
their sympathetic reception by the pub
lie depend upon the action taken bv
the street car companies.
The immediate difficulties are appar-
ent. The street car companies must
sell their reduced fares to school chill
dren IN wholesale lots. The children
must buy them, after receiving proper
Identification certificates from the
teachers, at points designated by the
street car companies. The location of
such points remains to be announced.
II there are enough of them, conven-
iently located to the child patrons.
there may be no trouble. If the chill
dren are required to walk any great
distance to and from distribution points
in order to ride to school, there are
going to be immediate complaints from
the parents.
The tickets will be sold only in thirty
cent and $1.2o lots. Some families may
have difficulty in raising the thirty cents
necessary, and even though these be
few and far between, there will natu-
rally follow the protest that while Con-
gress ordered three-cent fares, the chill
dren cannot ride unless they have thirty
cents.
The regulations have manifestly been
issued in an effort to save the street
car companies the inconvenience that
would lie in making change and ac-
cepting three pennies from one class
Of riders while taking q dime or q
token from another class. They have
also been issued with the desirability
in mind Of properly identifying school
children and keeping out those who
crash the gate under false pretenses.
But with compulsory education, re-
curing all children between the ages
Of seven and sixteen to attend school,
proper identification Of children on
their way to and from school should
not require the submission of docu-
mentary evidence every time a child
pays his fare. And If this is true, 1t
is hard to understand why q street
car conductor should not be allowed
to accept three-cent cash fare or
sell tickets. A few children who are going
elsewhere than to school might escape
the payment Of the regular fare. But the
expense of such losses would probably
be Offset by the savings to the COM
panies in not having to maintain an
adequate distribution s-stem for the
sale Of tickets of thu street cars.
Some Of the difficulties may be
adjusted, however, after a fair trial
under the Public Utilities Commissions
c-ters. In the meantime the intima-
ton from the car companies that a
higher adult fare may be sought to
make up for the loss of revenues from
reduced school fares can only be in
terpreted as a move on the part of the
car companies to court more trouble.
They seem TO welcome trouble, even II
they do not thrive on it.