Evening star., 1936-05-23

Continued From First Page.)
Keech pointed out. results in a vicious
circle of traffic evils.
If the busses and street cars are
slow in operation, due to traffic con-
ditions," he said, 1.-The result is that
more people resort to taxicabS and
private cars in the hope of securing
faster transportation.
The average large bus or street
car, however, carries about 80 times
as many people as the average pas
senger car. If street car and bus
service could be Speeded up and in
other ways made attractive to the
public the result would be an in
crease in the total number of pas
sengers This, in turn, would tend to
reduce the number of vehicles on the
street and offers a solution to one
phase of our very difficult traffic
problem"
Commissions Views.
In a recent statement the commits
sion said:
The transportation of large
volume of persons can be accomplished
most economically to them and to
the District government through the
maintenance of adequate and speedy
street car and bus service. However,
this can be done only by allowing
these public vehicles free and un-
obstructed movement.
If public mass transportation We
hicles are given clear right-of-way,
the resulting speedier service will in
duce more people to leave their private
cars at home, thus relieving the park
ing problem in the congested section
of the city. On the other hand, II
the patrons of the mass tranSporta-
ton system are forced to resort to
the use of private vehicles, higher
taxes will be required to finance the
construction and maintenance of the
facilities in the public space over
which such transportation moves.
The automobile carries an average
of IA passengers. This is equivalent
to saying that the average street car
carries as many passengers as 80
automobiles. Movement through the
congested section of the city during
rush hours is slow and difficult,
whether by private or public vehicle.
Future prospects indicate no i'm
provement in this respect; on the
contrary. traffic congestion becomes
more intense.
Large busses should be used in
express service during rush hours to
supplement the street car service,
stopping only at limited number Of
points accessible to the largest pos
sible number of patrons"
Entitled to Preference.
Many persons believe that In the
past adequate attention has not been
given to the great public interest in
volved in mass transportation, and
the commission now clearly recognizes
that in some circumstances buses and
street cars are entitled to a certain
preference over private automobiles.
"A public vehicle, travelling on a
route fixed by public authority and
serving as means of transit for so
or more persons, Is unquestionably
entitled to more expeditions treat
ment than private vehicle, which
could be operated on any one of a
number of arteries" the commission
said.
I'm approaching the problem Of
effecting speedier movement of street
cars, it must be realized that mass
transportation and general vehicular
traffic are directly related Any at
tempt to accelerate the movement of
street cars, which would adversely
affect general vehicular traffic, would
be detrimental to the service sought
to be improved.
"As far as practicable, the princi-
pal automobile traffic arteries should
not be encroached upon by tracks.
In addition, it is the aim of the COM
mission to diminish, If possible, exist
ing encroachments of general trafic
upon arteries used for street car and
bus service. A segregation of certain
streets for general vehicular traffic
and others for mass transportation
vehicles would result In the freer
movement of traffic generally and
tend to promote the safety of pedes-
trians."
Lights Need Adjustment.
These sentiments are indorsed by
transit company officials, but the Lat.