Evening star., 1936-05-29
BY JOHN H. CLINE.

The one-man street car. subject Of
many a bitter controversy in Wash
lngton, may offer the Capital Transit
Co. a way out of the numerous diff
culties now hampering its mass trans
portation service.
One of the principal complaints
has been that most of the street cars
now in service are old and lacking in
the proper accelerating and braking
facilities necessary to efficient, speedy
service. On the other side Of this
picture, however, is the company's
financial position. Its books show
that the bus and street car lines were
operated at loss for the first three
months Of this year, condition which
has made company officials reluctant
to invest large sums Of money IN new
cars, even II they should be able to
make the purchase on longtime
credit basis.
Another factor deterring the off,
cials from buying new cars is their
belief that most of the models mar
keted recently have been but little
better than the old cars.
Has Opportunity to Buy so.
The company now has an oppor-
tunity to buy so used one-man cars
at low price.
These cars have been in use in
Providence. R. l.. where trolley buses
have been substituted throughout the
city. Each car will cost approximately
81 900, and will cost from S2,100 to
$500 to recondition, making a total
average cost of about s4,25O per car
On this basis all of the cars will cost
only s2l2,5O0, although their cost new
would be about S750,000.
william B. Bennett, assistant to
the president Of the transit COM
pany, said "A of the new cars would
be requirements, and that six would
be added to the II now in service if
their request for permission to use
the cars Is granted by the Public
Utilities Commission. The company
is also seeking permission to convert
the 20 new cars now in service on
Pennsylvania avenue to one-man op-
Grafton.
These requests have been attacked
by Peoples Counsel william A. Rob-
erts as move toward complete sub
stitution of one-man operation for
two-man service.
One-Man Cars Held Dangerous.
A number of civic organizations and
William NICK. Clayton, chairman of
the Public Utilities Committee of the
Federation of Citizens Associations,
have expressed strong opposition to
any extension of one-man operation.
Their principal contentious are that
operation Of street cars by one man
is dangerous and has a tendency to
slow down the service.
Both of these views are disputed
by Bennett.
"Our statistics show" he said, that
from an accident standpoint the one
man cars now in service have had q
better proportionate record than the
two-man cars. We are now making
an investigation to determine how
much time Is lost in one-r1an opera
ton as against two-man cars, but we
have reason to believe the difference is
very slight, especially in the con-
gested area"
Bennett pointed out that the one
man cars are used exclusively in
Pittsburgh and Kansas City, and to
q large extent In Milwaukee. In
many other cities, he added, more
than half the cars are of the one
man type.
The cars from Providence are from
eight to nine years old, he said, and
have normal life of about 20 years.
In the reconditioning process they are
being equipped with new type gears.
which, he said, will make them
operate more quietly.
Tests Indicate Satisfaction.
when we first put one-man cars
on the street." Bennett said, I'VE
made the mistake Of using cars that
were not designed for one-rnan opera
ton. These new ones were built for
that purpose, and from tests of one
that has been In service from the
Bureau of Engraving to Catholic
University, we have every reason to
believe they will prove more satis-
factory to the public and the
operators"
In addition to public dissatisfaction
with the physical condition of many
street cars nov In service, other COM
plants against the service included
allegations of. overcrowding, improper
spacing of buses and street cars, as
sertions that in some cases the