Evening star., 1942-09-17
PUG Considers
Decision on
Express Bus
Hearing Closes;
MoryIonders Protest
Alaska Ave. Plan

AIdSk0 Ave. Plan
With record before it that is
weighted with conflicting figures
and arguments on how to conserve
tires and buses, the Public Utilities
Commission today considered its
answer to the proposal for express
service for upper Sixteenth street
Hearings were concluded late
yesterday after spokesmen for 25,OOC
persons living in the Silver Sprine
area protested against the proposed
abandonment of the Alaska avenue
section of the So bus.
Abandonment of this service be-
tween Georgia avenue and Sixteenth
street had been urged by PUG wit
nesses as means of forcing many
residents of North Washington to
ride Georgia avenue streetcars in
stead of the proposed Sixteenth
street express buses.
Plan "Not Flexible Enough"
General opposition to the pending
proposals as whole was expressed
by F. w. Lovejoy, executive secre-
tary of the Washington Regional
Committee of Defense Transporta-
ton Administrators, who told the
commission he could not see that the
plan was sufficiently flexible" to
conform to the riding habits of the
public and doubted it would result
in any real" saving in bus mileage.
Explaining there will be but a
limited amount of new bus equip
ment available, and that consid-
Grafton already is being given to
possibilities of pooling buses of all
companies, Mr.. Lovejoy said the
Sixteenth street express bus plan
was trend away from such a pool
ing. He said the only merit he
could see in the plan, from the
viewpoint of the Office of Defense
Transportation, was its value in re-
ducing bus miles travelled.
Mr.. Lovejoy added that a uues-
ton Of saving six to eight minutes
on a trip from Eastern avenue to
Washington, taken alone,
was OF little concern to the ODT
IN its effort to conserve buses and
tires. He said the convenience of
certain sections of the riders was
not a thing the ODT would get
very excited about" and warned
that as the war goes on all would
have to accept more and more in
convenience.
Questioned by Hankin.
Under questioning by Gregory
Hankin, PUG member, Mr. Love
JOY agreed that one ofythe obiec-
tives of the ODT was to shunt bus
riders to rail services wherever pos
slble. Mr.. Hankin has been argu-
ing that abandonment of the ilp-
per end of the So line was neces-
sary to keep the proposed Sixteenth
street express buses from bleeding"
passengers from the Georgia ave-
hue Streetcars. &
Protests of the Silver Spring rep
resentatives over the Alaska avenue
route elimination were presented
oy Joseph E. Hayes of the Allied
Citizens Committee. When he Of
tered survey figures about the num-
bers of Marylanders using the So
line, Mr.. Hankin objected that the
was not an expert. Mr.
Hayes agreed, but said his group
asked the commission to consider
his committees survey for what if
was worth.
AT this point S. r. Bowen, COM
pany counsel, recalled that Carl w,
PUG engineer. had been
permitted to testify at length in
favor OF the proposals, although he
nad not been qualified as an expert
On mass transportation manage
nent, and Mr.. Hayes was allowed
TO continue. He reported that his
group found that 1874 Marylanders
board District buses at the Georgia
avenue terminal in the morning and
hat 1872 are discharged there in
5he evening, to transfer to Marv-
land shuttle buses or to private cars.
Mr.. Hayes declared the PUG
origin and destination survey fig
Tres were not a correct basis for
1eclslon and argued this was SO, if
Tor no other reason, because many
thousands of persons had been
transferred in Government Jobs or
70 military service since the PUG
survey was compiled.
Savings Claim Disputed.
Mr.. Hankin later argued that
il 900 miles of bus travel would be
saved each year only by reason of
eliminating the Alaska avenue sec
ION OF So. Dean j. Locke, company
engineer, took issue with the esti-
nate, suggesting that substitute bus
service might be necessary.
Mr.. Harris then ATTEMPTED to show
hat the origin and destination
1gures were not as dead as dodo,"
oy showing how nearly his theoreti-
al calculations agreed with actual
transportation figures reported by
Mr.. Locke. AS to the riders carried
On Alaska avenue run, he said his
were only per cent
above those of Mr.. Locke. AS to
counts at Scott Circle, he said his
1gures were 14.8 per cent higher,
,ut later it was brought out that
1e had omitted counts from two
survey areas because he had not
yet had time to figure them, and
le agreed inclusion of these would
nave increased his percentage of
error.
James H. Flanagan, PUG chair
nan, remarked that If there were a
5 per cent error as applied to the
'ity as a whole, it would be an error
hat should be considered.
Mr.. Hankin and Mr.. Harris, how
'ver, agreed that it would make no
Inference in the case of the Six
eenth street bus proposals since it
vas based on the idea of starting
With a minimum demand number of
express buses, the number to be in
creased or decreased as actual ex-
oerience dictated.
n