Evening star., 1937-11-08
ONLY COURT ORDER
CAN SHIFT FARES,
OFFICIALS IMPLY
Commission Unlikely to Call
Rehearing Without Strong
Evidence.
6-F0R-5 -50-CENTS RATE
DEFENDED BY KEECH
Says No One but Casual Riders
Would Gain by 3-for-25-Cents
Charge.

From the attitudes of Chairman
Riley E. Elgen and Vice Chairman
Richmond B. Keech it appeared un-
likely today that anything short of
a court order can compel the Public
Utilities Commission to modify its
recent order fixing the sale of transit
tokens at six for so cents.
BY the same reasoning it was ap-
parent that the commission may re-
fuse rehearing of the transit case
except under unusual pressure and
the presentation of new and convinc-
ing evidence. Both officials joined to-
day in saying:
IF and when the Federation Of
Citizens Associations files petition
in accordance with the law for q re-
hearing on the order of the Public
Utilities Commission, the maximum
that any member of the commission
can say at this time is that it will be
given very careful consideration"
Official Statement Withheld.
In anticipation of such a petition
from William NICK. Clayton, utilities
chairman of the Federation, which
voted this course of action Saturday
night, an official statement was with
held.
1T would not be right nor should
the commission be expected to say in
advance what it intends to do about
this" they stated. Under the law,
Mr.. Clayton or any other representa-
tive of a public group would have 80
days in which to file a petition, but
this must be accompanied by suf-
ficiently strong new evidence showing
the need for rehearing.
Mr.. Keech, especially, defended the
new tariff, changing the token rate
from 4 for 80 cents to for so cents.
and indicated there is no warrant for
modifying it so that 25 cents would
purchase three tokens.
THE only persons who would bene-
fit by changing the rate Of three
tokens for Csc would be the casual
rider" he said.
Does Not Favor Change.
''I. for one, am not in favor of per-
mitting the casual rider to jeopar-
die the service for all other classes
of riders who use the service daily"
Mr.. Keech said one of the main rea-
sons for charging so cents for six
tokens was to reduce the number of
transactions. thereby helping to speed
up car and bus service"
Both Mr.. Keech and Mr.. Elgin
denied the need for a specific deter
mination of the valuation of the
Capital Transit Co., as demanded by
the Federation. The Federation's
utility chairman came in for sharp
criticism from Mr.. Keech.
During the hearings on the rate
case" he said, Mr.. Clayton made an
issue of this and other failures he
charged against the Public Utilities
Commission, and asked for the op-
portunity to file brief This oppor-
tunity was granted and the time also
extended. The hearings were ended
June %, Mr.. Clayton being given two
months in which to file his brief with
the commission. He has not done so
yet. and I don't really know whether
he intends to file one"
The chairman and vice chairman
said the commission had taken two
months to consider all the questions
involved in the rate case. They de-
Tended the technical" valuation of
S23,0O0,000 as advantageous to the
public, "a position they have always
maintained"