Evening star., 1934-08-16
TRANSIT COMPANY |
AND TRAFFIC HIT |
Both Held Equally to Blame
for Poor Car
Service.
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page)
agencies" he said, indicates the low
amount of business handled by these
agencies. In the good old days of
massed transportation in cities the
size of Washington this figure ranged
from 800 to $50 rides per capita. Even
If the estimated taxicab business Of
II per capita is added the total is only
252, indicating that there is large
amount of private automobile trafnc
in Washington"
Density Of Transportation.
On the subject of density Of mass
transportation travel, Sager said that
the Connecticut avenue and Four
teenth street lines carry the largest
volume of passengers, over $1,000 per
day. The Pennsylvania east line, the
Ninth street line and the Columbia
line carry 10000 to $4,000 passengers
per day while other lines show lesser
amounts ranging from 4,600 to $500
passengers per day. The total traf-
fic inbound to the congested area
was 134,093 and the total outbound
was 14O,306.
The passenger cars showed clearly,
he said, the large proportion OF travel
in the congested area comes from the
north and northwest and also shows
the desirabinty of removing some of
the present trafic on Connecticut
avenue and adding 1t to the Pennsyl-
vania line. Removing some Of the
Fourteenth street traffic to the Con-
necticut line and part to the Ninth
street line in order to nearly equalize
the flow of traffic into the congested
district as it enters over trunk lines
Is apparent, he said.
Concentration Approved.
At Yesterdays session Harland
Bartholomew, expert presented by the
National Capital Park and Planning
Commission. gave his approval to the
concentration of public buildings in a
small area.
THE construction of large group
Of public buildings in the new Tri-
angle is, in many respects, a stabiliz-
ing factor in development Of the
business district" he said. THE wide
scattering of public building groups
in Washington complicates the trans
portation problem. 1t is difficult to
devise a routing plan for street cars
which will provide adequate service to
such widely separated areas Of con-
centration as the business district, the
new Triangle, Capitol Hill, the pro-
posed Northwest Rectangle and the
area south of the Mall"
He regarded it as great misfor-
tune" that no attempt had been made
to provide transportation facilities for
the Triangle group, and outlined some
of the difficulties in the way. There
Is no East and West highway through
the business section, he said, a con-
dition which eventually must be reme-
died by building "a new east and west
right of way, probably in the form of
subsurface passageway for street
cars which should ultimately be con-
structed under the Ellipse approx
mately on the line of E street."
Agrees on Other Points.
On a great many points he agreed
with the experts preceding him, such
as the desirability of getting rid of
ouadruple trackage, eliminating the
westward jog Of the Fourteenth street
line to Fifteenth street and the
z-turn Of the Georgia avenue line
at Florida avenue.
His commission, he said, stressed
the necessity of confining the con-
gested business district between Fiji
teenth and Third streets, Pennsyl-
vania avenue and H street, and Of re-
straining its present tendency to spill
over northwestward from these boun-
daries.
One Of his suggestions would re-
serve alternate streets for street car
and vehicular trafic. Thus e street
would be reserved for vehicles and F.
street for street cars, Fifteenth street
for vehicles and Fourteenth street for
street cars.
he said. by encouraging settlement of
the section east of the AnacoStia River
by offering proper facilities, perhaps
over the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge.
Hanna Urges Prompt Action.
John II. Hanna, president Of the
Capital Transit Co., making an OPEN
ing statement for the company,
urged prompt decision on the rerout-
ing, pointing out that whatever plan
was adopted would cost his company
some 81, ,000, 900 to $1,5O0,0OO He op-
posed removing Of tracks in Z street
in the downtown section. He regarded
as essential the construction Of a loop
in the vicinity of Pennsylvania ave-
nue.. Sixth and Seventh streets, and
track connections at Ninth street and
Pennsylvania avenue. Additional
trackage must be set up, he said, to
compensate for the loss of space en-
tailed in the elimination of quadruple
tracks downtown.
John A. Beeler, conSultant en-
ployed by the commission, after de-
scribing his plans, said the bus lines
suggested would call for the purchase
of about 10 buses, about 29 of them
for use in no-rush periods. For the
express bus lines, suggested for Ia
koma Park and Chevy Chase, the
seating capacity would be 40 to A. as
compared with 80 for the other lines.
The pig buses would cost $11 900 to
$12 1000 each and the little ones So, 900
to $4,000, he estimated.