Evening star., 1935-04-15
STAGGERED-H0UR
W0RKP[ANHA|LED
ASA|D TO TRAFFIC
Officials See Immediate
Benefits as $1,000 Change
Daily Schedule.
NEW SYSTEM COVERS
8TO 9:15 Am. PERIOD
Afternoon Exodus From Town
Will Begin at 4 and Continue at
Intervals Until 4:45.

With 27,G00 Government and Dis
trict employees staggering their hours
of going to work, Washington got a
flying start on its new traffic system
this morning
General approval of the new plan,
worked out by Traffic Director w. A.
Van Duzer with the heads Of l3 gov
elmental agencies, was expressed by
almost all concerned.
Street car line and bus officials
gave the system their blessing.
Commissioner Melvin Hazen said:
although it is a little too early to
pass fair Judgment, indications from
the Traffic Bureau and the Police
Department on the first day are that
traffic was lighter this morning than
usual. The spreading out OF the
hours appeared to relieve the usual
congestion in the downtown section.
II believe the staggered system
will prove a real help. Mass trans
portation will benefit and we may
eliminate the extremely heavy trail
fc of the rush hours.
Streets Less Crowded.
Traffic Director Van Duzer said:
Gas this is a Federal pay day and
also Monday, traffic naturally would
be heavier today than usual, but due
to the staggered hours there was no
severe congestion. At least the streets
were not as crowded as ordinarily. 1t
will take several days, however. to give
the new system a fair test. We also
need to observe the effect during the
afternoon hours before drawing any
final conclusions
Life began earlier and later than
the accustomed o'clock, when the
entire governmental machinery once
was set in motion.
Staggered hours brought the work.
ers downtown to land at their ap-
pointed tasks anywhere from $3.50 to
9:15. They we're to go home any
where from to 4:45 pm.
The Interior Department went the
official schedule one better and went
to work 80 minutes earlier, on VOL
unteer basis, getting to the Office at
8 o'clock instead of the proposed $3.50.
These workers wanted summer
hours" as they had last year-and got
them by their own initiative.
City and government officials were
on the job early to watch the expert
ment Traffic Director Van Duzef
Inspector Lamb of the Traffic Depart
ment and Commissioner Hazen were
keen observers of the early morning
parade.
Bus drivers, motormen and street
car conductors were first to notice the
change in traffic. The load" began
to pick up earlier.
Official Sees Change.
One of the first observers on the
lob was Alexander Shapiro, assistant
manager of the Washington Rapid
Transit Co., who took his post at the
bottle-neck corner of Sixteenth and
Harvard streets, where the Mount
Pleasant traffic meets the flow from
upper northern and Maryland sec
tions. Alexander reported a natural
decrease in traffic congestion at that
point where usually-between $3.50 and
S:45 each morning all is confusion.
Usually at $50 there is terrible
Jam at this corner" Shapiro said.
"It was absent this morning. The flow
of automobiles was set at faster pace
and there we're not so many OF
them"
officials of the Capital Transit Co.
out early to observe the effect Of the
new system, came back with favorable
reports. Cars that usually ran behind
time in the downtown sector were
less slow. or on time. The superin-
tendent of transportation reported
great relief in congestion. There had
been no change of car schedules nor
of buSSes, officials of the company
deciding to wait few days before
making any adjustments.
There was, naturally, some confu
sion among even the workers them
selves who got the hours mixed up
according to observers. For instance,
in the War Department, scheduled to
start work at 8:45, number of sec
tions came to work at different times.
1t Is expected that in the next day or
so these minor differences will be
"ironed out"
Start Home at 4.
Six major Offices saw their personnel
start for the desks at $50. They were
the Emergency Conservation Com
mission, the Office of the Federal CO.
ordinator of Transportation. Inter
state Commerce Commission the first
group at the Internal Revenue Bureau,
the Veterans Administration and the
Federal Housing Administration. All
these workers will start home this
afternoon at o'clock.
1t was at the Internal Revenue De-
partment that the most involved
movement took place. At $50 o'clock
$500 employees reported: at 8:45,
1000 more showed up, and at o'clock
the legal lights in the general coun-
sells Office hung up their hats.
1t happened that the first day of
the traffic change was pay day. In
common with the rest of the Govern
ment, the Internal Revenue Bureau
pay checks were ready for distribu-
tion anywhere from 20 to 80 minutes
ahead Of time-which gave ample
opportunity for many to deposit their
earnings at the lunch hour
Those Government employees who
came to work just Is minutes before
the old schedule, arriving at 8:45,
belonged to the second large group
at the Internal Revenue Bureau, the
Navy Department and the War De-
partment.
At s:15 employees in the following
departments and bureaus reported:
Commerce, N. r. A., Farm Credit,
and members of the General Account
ing Office, now in the old Post Of
fee Building.