Evening star., 1937-12-04
TOKEN FARE PLEA
|SF|LED DAyLATE
BY FEDERATION
Commission May Yet Take
Protest Into Account
Despite Ruling.
EXPERTS SAY OBJECTION
DEADLIkE HAD EXPIRED
Clayton Charges No Less Than
Eight Errors in Decision Allow.
ing Sale of Six for so Cents.
BY DON S. WARREN.

BY DUN ,. WARREN.
Bitterly denouncing the increase in
the street car token fare, the Fedora
ton of Citizens Associations today
asked the Public Utilities Commission
to reconsider its rate order-but ap-
parently the petition was filed a day
too late to come under the Public
Utilities Appeal Act.
Yesterday was the end of the 30-day
period allowed under the act for the
filing of petitions for reconsideration
of a commission order, commission
members said, but they Immediately
protested they did not wish to take
advantage of technicality if a way
out could be found, and they said they
would refer the question to legal coun-
Sci before they acted. Commissioner
Riley E. Elgen also declared that if
the Federation lated filed a new petit
tion asking for new consideration
Of the fares of the Capital Transit
Co. it would be carefully studied by
the commission
The commission order granting the
Transit Co. an increase in its token
rate from four for 80 cents to six
for so cents, or from 7la cents to
8la cents, was issued November 8. 1t
went into effect at 1901 am. the
next day. Commission experts today
said that the 30-day period allowed
for filing petitions for reconsideration
was to be counted from the time of
the publication of the ccmmission's
order, not its effective date. and there
fore the deadline was last midnight.
Errors Charged
William NICK. Clayton. veteran
chairman of the Public Utilities Com
mittee of the Federation, who filed the
petition, charged that the commission
had made no less than eight errors
In its decision. He claimed that the
commission erred in making the rate
order effective the day after it was
issued; that it had denied Mr.. Clay
tons motion to make the North Amer
lean Co., "the master and controller"
OF the transit company, party to
the rate case so that it could have
been compelled to furnish required
service; that the commission did not
give due weight to the claim of the
Federation that the transit service does
not measure up to statutory require
ments: that the commission failed to
fix fair value for the transit prop
critics: that the commission granted
the increase of token fare in the face
OF evidence that the company was
already losing passengers; that the
commission had caused an Injustice
to many street car riders by prohibit
Ing the sale of tokens of less than
the number of six at time: that
the commission had refused to con-
slider price of the weekly pass and
had restricted its order to tokens, and
that the lack of proper service by
the company has been demonstrated
by the company's own records show
ing large number of breakdowns of
buses while in operation.
Special attention was paid BY Mr..
Clayton to the requirement that the
tokens be sold in blocks of six and he
protested: "Callous, cold and calcu-
lating must be the reasoning to re-
duce the meeting of the minds of the
commission since these blocks of six
pressed hardest upon those least able
to pay and this Is not the sign board
to prosperity for any company or cor
poration, public or private.
Sale of Two Tokens Urged.
Tokens should be available in
blocks of two, enough for the round
trip ride, plus the usual five or six
transfers in between to complete the
journey. A token user seldom hesi-
tates to ride, dime fare does. The
best company's effort should be to
put tokens in the pockets of the dime
rider. The company needs more rid
ers. not less"
Mr.. Clayton suggested that the rea-
son for requiring the sale of tokens at
six for so cents instead at the rate of
three for quarter was to lessen the
heat somewhat on the hot-spot oper-
ator of the one-man car" Mr. Clayton
said that the one-man car operators
have received no help from the COM
pany or the commission and that "he
certainly should not expect any from
the car riders pocket"
Mr.. Clayton asserted that the great
est percentage of car riders had rather
ride in a $4,000 street car manned by
q motorman and conductor than in
. $4,000 palace car" operated by only
one man.
Taking bitter slap at the commits
sion on the six-for- 50-cents- plan, Mr..
Clayton suggested that If this is in
tended to force token riders into the
10-cent cash class, then why tarry
there9 Nerve up the courage of
your convictions and make full sweep
of token riders by ordering IL tokens
for dollar and send the company
high-crested on wave OF prosperity"