Evening star., 1942-12-19
transportation
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transportation
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ing they could expect q ride to work.
Others, he said, had taken annual
leave anyhow to complete their
Christmas shopping.
He predicted that the real test
Of public transportation would
come Monday morning when men,
bers Of car pools and others who
did not come to work today would
fill the buses.
Traffic Director william A. Van
Duzer, after tour of the. city, dur
ing the rush hour, said public
vehicles were taxed by a per cent
increase over their usual loads.
Pointing out that 60 per cent Of
working Washington normally uses
public transportation, he said Is per
cent Of the working population
walks to work and the remaining
Is per cent previously have driven.
A substantial percentage of the
Is per cent which drives to work
continued to do so this morning,
he also maintained.
They are optimists," he said.
Bus and streetcar dispatchers re-
ported much heavier loads than
usual for Saturday morning, but
agreed that it could have been
worse, and probably will be Monday
If the ban is not lifted.
Few Trouble Spots.
Due to the shortage of manpower,
the Capital Transit was forced to
handle today's load with less equip
ment than was in service last Sat-
urday, but, despite that fact, there
were only a few trouble spots, II
was said.
Last Saturday the company had
$50 buses and 636 streetcars in
operation, for q total of 1,486 units,
while today there was 1886 buses and
634 cars running a total Of 1,470.
From about $40 am. to 8, west
bound movement from Union Sta
ton was heavy, 1t was said, while
from 6:45 am. to 7:15 the lines on
Fourteenth street and G street NV
handling traffic into the southwest
section were badly overloaded.
Extra Buses Called For.
Seventh street and Florida ave-
nue. NV. was another bad spot In
the southbound movement from
about TAO to sos, and it was nee
essary to send in extra buses to
clear up the congestion centering
around Barney Circle-Seventeen
street and Pennsylvania avenue
Sc, from about to 8 o'clock. This
involved both the movement from
Benning to the circle and from the
circle to the Bureau of Engraving.
From 7:45 to $50 the LIZ buses
from Chevy Chase were overloaded
and there was . tieup at Calvert
Street Bridge.
Robert Dougan, director Of public
relations for the transit company
described the situation as "a little
better than any one expected"
Plans to stagger hours in at least
f1ve more Government departments
were held in abeyance pending
further study Of total numbers o1
employees on each of the rush hour
shifts. Both Mr.. Van Duzer and
Government spokesmen agreed that
such change might takes week tc
work out.
Cab Firms Call All Hands.
The cab companies, which shared
the load with streetcars and buses
this morning, requested all avail
able drivers to be on hand durine
the rush hours. Vehicles laid up fol
mechanical difficulties were beins
hastily put into working condition.
In a move to keep all cab drivers
on the street, one cab company for
bade its drivers to park at the CEN
trail office during the rush hours
For the first time, Diamond cat
drivers were instructed by the dis
patcher at Union Station to pick ur
persons along the route they took
with station passengers. The an
nouncement was made over the sta
tion's public address system.
Despite the fact that most COM
panies had almost all their drivers
on the street this morning, they
agreed that the drivers couldn't be-
gin to haul all the people signaling
for cabs during the rush hours.
The department stores were sit
ting tight on recommendations to
change store hours until they de-
termined how long the ban on gas
sales was expected to last. At q
conference Of the Merchants and
Manufacturers Associations De-
partment Store Committee late yes.
terday it was decided to hold UP
any change in store hours, includ-
ing the recommended 10 am. open
ing and Z pm. closing, pending
further developments.
Store ofncials pointed out that the
later closing would work hardship
on store employees, many of then
married women with families tt
look after. Actually only four day,
week are affected for the mex
two weeks, since the large stores viii
be closed on the two holidays ant
will open at noon and close at
pm. On the next two Mondays.
Gas station dealers, meanwhile
4