Evening star., 1942-01-20
Private Industry
Is Called on 10
Stagger Hours
Bourd of Trade Asks
Steps to Help Ease
transportation Jam

transportation Jam
The Washington Board Of Trade
today urged private business con-
Germs in the downtown area tC
stagger the working hours of EN-
ployes to assist in relieving the
heavy demands upon mass trans
portation" facilities.
Request for q staggered hour sys-
TEN came at an Executive Com
mittee meeting of the board yes
terday.
A resolution adopted by the COM
mittee stressed that many employees
who used their automobiles to reach
offices will depend now on street.
cars and buses in order to conserve
tires and warned that the heavy
future demands upon mass trans
portation will make it extremely
difficult to transport those en-
ployes."
Complications Increasing.
The shift of Federal agencies to
an eight-hour work day also will
bring new transportation problems.
the resolution pointed out. The
resolution follows:
Whereas the nuuber Of en-
ployeS going to and from work IN
the downtown area (of both the
Federal Government and private
business) now follows e pattern
which creates high peaks difficult
for public transportation facilities
to handle, and
Whereas the shift of Federal
agencies to an eight-hour day will
further accentuate these peaks, and
Whereas, because of an increase
in the number of employees in the
downtown area, and a decrease in
the number Of private cars and
taxicabs (due to limitations on tires
and new cars), the heavy future
demands upon mass transportation
will make it extremely difficult to
transport those employees to and
from their places Of business:
Therefore be it
Resolved, That the Board Of
Trade requests private business
establishments in the downtown
area to stagger their hours of en-
ployment in order that the num-
ber of people coming into and leav-
ing the downtown area shall be
more evenly distributed over a
longer period of time, and authorizes
its special committee to seek the
cooperation of employers in effect
ing a staggered hour system based
on studies now being made by the
Department of Vehicles and Traffic
and the Washington Board OF
Trade"
A. A. A. Warns of Chaos.
At the same time the American
Automobile Association warned that
Washington faces q breakdown Of
its transportation system greater
than ever befell any city in the
United States unless immediate
steps are taken to care for the
goings and comings of the hundreds
of thousands of Government en-
ployes here and on the way here.
Business life of the city, as well
as the Government war effort,
already is feeling the effects of the
inadequate transportation system"
the A. A. A. statement said. Hun
dreds of thousands of vital man and
woman hours are being lost to the
victory drive because of the inability
of workers to get to their Offices on
time 1t is doubly tragic when it
is realized that these hours are be-
ing lost at the beginning of the
work day, when minds of workers
are at their best to accomplish the
maximum.
This is the situation today. What
it will be when an estimated $780,
600 new workers get to Washington
can be anticipated only as a grue-
some nightmare, filled with block
long lines Of standing buses, hordes
of workers standing on street cor
ners, passed up by public vehicles
already overloaded and the army Of
taxicabs which usually cruises the
streets all standing idle on lots
Declaring lit is job for the Gov
eminent" the A. A. A. added: "A
survey of all transportation facili-
ties used by workers to get to their
jobs-private car, taxicab, streetcar
and bus-would seem to be logical
first step. coupled with definite in
formation on what would happen II
the mass transportation system were
called upon to carry the added load
when other elements are depleted
for one reason or another"