Evening star., 1933-10-25
A New Deal for Car Riders.

In the first statement of policy OF
the new Capital Transit Co., which
on December takes over operation of
the merged street car lines, President
Hanna recently outlined some of the
plans under study for improvement of
service. These include purchase of new
equipment, rerouting of lines expert.
ments with zone systems and lower
fares during certain hours of the day.
The plans are merely under study, how
ever. Mr.. Hanna naturally refrains
from making any promises until the
study is concluded. The cost to the
company is mentioned as one i'm
portant element Of the study.
At the outset of its operations it
would obviously be good policy for the
new company to view its responsibility
as new deal for the street car and bus
riding public. That should be its funda-
mental conception of the merger. The
Mr.. Hanna estimates 1t as representing
about forty per cent of those who enter
and leave the business section-deserves
new deal. The old cards are pretty
well worn. The winning hands may
not have been with the companies in
the past few years, but they assuredly
have not been with the street car
riders.
The new company is in the business
to make money. 1t cannot make money
without patronage. increased patronage,
from the public That patronage
will be withheld and will shrink
unless the merged operations Of the
city's mass transportation agencies
assume the hopeful aspects of a new
deal. The initiative for increasing
patronage and new business rightly
rests with the transit company, not
the public. If the attitude of the
new company is to wait for economies
and increased business to provide the
revenues with which helpful expert
ments in service improvement may be
undertaken, the new company will be
starting off on the wrong foot at the
very beginning. The company must
stimulate business. 1t must resort to
devices that will popularize street car
riding. Granting the inequities Of some
Of the features Of competition with the
taxicabs. the time has passed for the
street car companies to view those
inequities as lesSening their response.
bility to the public. The inequities will
be removed before the inequities remove
the street car lines. The merged com.
pany will have gained considerable
ground if it energetically enters the
transportation field as a competitor and
forgets the gloomy contemplation Of
wrongs.
The new company is now negotiating
the purchase Of the bus line, at cost
Of 100000, or something over. At the
same time the preparation of deficiency
estimates for this fiscal year, and the
regular estimates for the next fiscal
year, reminds the taxpayers of the as
sumption of financial burdens hitherto
borne by the companies, which may
amount to more than hundred thou
sand dollars year. The lone, tangi-
BILE saving to the public from the
merger, written into the agreement, Is
the abolition Of the transfer charge
Free transfers between the street cars
will save the street car riders about
$4,000 year. The savings may be in
ceased by broadening the free transfer
privilege, extending it in some cases
to the buses.
The public, however, is paying for
the merger and expects something to
come from it. What it will be remains
to be seen. What it should be is
adequate service on all lines, arranged
to suit the needs and the convenience
Of the passengers, providing not only
mass transportation, but rapid trans
portation. Mr.. Hanna and the new
company have the good will and the
best wishes of the public to begin with.
They are valuable assets. worth in
creasing