Evening star., 1943-04-03
Suggestions for Reform of Transporta ton
In Wartime Washington Proposed.

In Wartime Washington Proposed.
To the Editor Of The Star:
Thousands of man-hours each month
are lost and thousands of tempers
strained by the actions of the many new
users OF buses and streetcars in WASH
ington. With carriers as crowded as
they are, it is deplorabe that so few
people go out of their way to make
things easier for these new riders, who,
by the way, are not all newcomers to
town. many are long residents Of the
city who for the first time must get
along without the use of their autOmo-
biles The ignorance and confusion evil
dent on all sides is partly the fault Of
the passengers and partly the fault of
the Capital Transit Co. In an effort
to lessen the burdens Of both, let me
add a few suggestions to the many al
ready advanced for easing the crowded
transportation problem.
To the passengers: Each one Of us
must realize that when we come to a
strange city it is our duty to learn as
much as possible about its street system,
its facilities and its transportation in
the shortest possible time. In Washing
ton this is very simple: Take a few
minutes to learn the numerical and
alphabetical arrangement of the streets,
learn how the number of sylables usu-
ally determines in what "alphabet' the
street is located and above all, get
free streetcar guide map from the Cap
ital Transit Co. and study it diligently.
This map shows all the bus and streetcar
routes. all the streets and most of the
important places in the District. No
one with this map can possibly get lost,
Take a few minutes to learn what routes
take you to and from work learn the
numbers of these routes and learn from
this map what the various red marks
mean when found on the route number
of the bus or car. When these few
elements are mastered you will find the
transportation system of Washington
quite a logical arrangement and not at
all as complicated as it seems at first.
Much time and confusion can be elm
mated if you learn to use the transfer
privilege. 1t takes hardly any more
time to transfer than it does to get off
one car and on another Every evening
I watch people standing on a crowded
downtown corner waiting for full bus
to stop and take them all the way home,
while they ignore half-empty buses be-
cause they do not go to the end of the
line. Learn to take car or bus which
goes part of the way and then transfer
to another to complete your trip-it will
save you time and probably you will
be able to have a seat all the way
home.
You already have been asked thou
sand times to pass all the way back in
the car and leave from the center door.
This should be continuous process, so
that at all times as people leave from
the rear, room is made for others to
enter the car. would like to add that
when you know you are going to buy
pass, have a bill changed, purchase
tokens or tumble in your purse, be con-
siderate enough to enter the car last so
all the other passengers do not have to
walk around you as they enter.
To the Capital Transit Co.: You are
doing splendid job in wartime WASH
ington, but there probably are few
supplementary things you could do to
help alleviate the ever present confusion
For one thing, do not be afraid to ad-
vertise the streetcar guide maps. They
are almost a necessity for a newcomer,
yet not once have / heard an operator