Evening star., 1937-11-14

commission DelleVeS 1t was JUSTIFIED in
granting it. The investors, whose
money has carried the company
through long period of adversely,
feel they are entitled to some return.
even though it may not amount to
what the courts have construed as
fair and reasonable" And some of
the car riders apparently feel they
have been outraged.
+ There's no mystery about the fail
ure of the Capital Transit Co. to
make money. incidentally. it has
cut only one dividend melon since
the merger in December, l932-a di-
vidend that gave the owners Of the
240,000 shares of common stock
exactly ST a share.
Indirectly, it was the merger that
led to the company's present finan-
cial condition, and its demand for
increased fares
|; SS,OO0,080 Spent.
When the company was born back
in December, 1888, it had silver
spoon" in its mouth-a surplus re-
serve of about SS,0O0,000. That's
gone now, and, in addition, huge
chunks have been cut out of the
operating revenue to give the public
what the merger promised-improved
service.
Altogether, nearly S8,000,O0o has
been spent since the consolida ton to
improve service. Track changes alone
cost nearly $3,000,000 About $780,
600 went into new buses and new
cars.
These factors alone. however, were
not entirely responsible for the plea
for higher fares. Labor costs have
mounted tremendously. Taxes have
gone up and are going higher next
year under the Social Security Act.
And, above all, the company wants to
continue replacement of obsolete
equipment.
One glance at the company's net in
come statement indicates, its present
financial condition In 1884, the first
year under merged operation, the net
income was $976,104 Last year it
was S29,918. In fact, records show
the company made profit in only
six months last year. The other six
it operated in the red. But in 1884
each month showed net profit. 1t
ranged from a minimum of Sal, ,431
to maximum of $106,924.
81 Pass Abandoned.
A petition for increased token fares
was first filed with the commission
about midyear of 1886. At that time
the company had gone through three
improbable months, and the future
did not appear any brighter Specifi-
cally, it asked for a token fare of
8Hs cents.
The commission was slow to act. 1t
felt certain valuation studies should
be completed before the fare case was
considered. When January of this
year started with the commission still
struggling with the valuation case, the
company abandoned the experimental
81 pass in an effort to check declining
revenues.
The wisdom of such a move was
seriously questioned. The commission
could not stop it officially, since the
company had adopted the plan volun-
tarily to attract riders.
Six months passed. The fare in
crease petition had not been acted
on. Meantime, the company's financial
condition had not improved. 1t re-
turned to the commission with an
amended petition. This time it asked
for token rate of 834 cents instead
of 81s cents. Coupled with the new
petition, however, was request that
the token fare be made applicable to
all operations, whether street car or
bus, and that free transfers be issued
on payment of a token fare.
And five months later. on November
3, the commission solved, for the time
being, the fare problem It decreed
six tokens for so cents-not three for
Is cents. Therein lies much of the
criticism of the new fare order.
(TomorroU: Why Sir Tokens for