Evening star., 1943-05-23
By JAMES Y. NEWTON.

hf JANALo L NEW 1o1\.
The Office of Defense Trans
portation last night ordered a
cut of 40 per cent in truck, bus
and taXicab mileage in the East
as a further move to conserve
limited supplies of gasoline in
the District and States of the
critical area.
ODT stated that tomorrow it viii
issue an order. to become effective
May q, curtailing drastically deliv.
cries OF such less essential COM
modities' as beer, liquor and other
beverages, ice cream and flowers
Delivery of other more essential
things also will be limited in the
shortage area.
So that a breakdown of vita,
transporta ton may be prevented
officials said a priority list is being
prepared by the War Production
Board which will enable essential
commercial services which could not
continue under the 40 per cent cut
to obtain additional allotments OF
gasoline.
The reduction in T rations, eff
fective at midnight tonight. was
made by extending from June sc
to July Is the valid period for all
gasoline allowances for the second
or current quarter of the year
Third quarter T rations. which
would have become good on July
now will not be valid until July
rs. The remaining coupons in a
ration book must be stretched" an
extra 25 days.
May Drop 100 Buses Here.
Coming few days after the
latest ban on nom essential driv-
ing by all motorists. the new gaso-
line conservation move was ex-
pected to throw further great
load on the East's already over
taxed transportation systems. Cou-
pied with curtailment of home and
retail deliveries. the order threat
ened to affect many aspects of life
in this area.
Although Official notice of the
order had not been received. a
spokesman for the Capital Transit
Co. said that it might be necessary
to remove as many as 100 buses
from Washington streets and make
other radical changes in schedules
If the move proved as drastic as it
appeared.
He said some lines, such as the
new crosstoWn service on Military
road, may have to be eliminate 1
entirely while service would be re-
duced in outlying sections and at
the ends of all lines. The company
already has on paper plan to re-
duce bus service by 30 per {. mt
which was prepared some time ago
at ODTs request.
Virginia Lines Curtailed.
Upon hearing of the ODT order,
officials of the Arnold and A. B.
& w. Transit Co. announced that
service today would be curtailed
greatly. The lines serve nearly all
of nearby Virginia. A. B. & w.
will eliminate nearly third of its
buses, while Arnold will cut service
20 per cent. Schedules for Monday
had not been worked out late last
night.
Observers were certain, however.
that it was not the intention Of
the Government to disrupt trans
portation services as completely as
indicated by first reading of the
order. While there was no imme-
diate indication from WPB what
services would be included on the
priority list for extra gasoline, one
official said he believed that vital
city and intercity transportation
as we'll as vehicles used for food
deliveries, emergencies, and farm
trucks would be placed at the top
Of the list.
ODT. in announcing the cut in
commercial vehicle mileage, warned
that it would be followed by a sys-
tematic tailoring of all T rations
in the shortage area to carry the
reduction into the last half of the
year If necessary This will be done
by careful examination of all GER
tificates of war necessity. which