Evening star., 1945-12-19
|PrinceGeorges
UNIT 10 Support
BUS Rerouting
Proponents Have
Chance Today
At PSC Hearing
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BALTIMORE, Dec. 19.-Advan-
tages Of proposal to reroute Cap
ital Transit buses in Prince Georges
County will be presented before the
Maryland Public Service Commits
sion today by the County Inde-
pendent Trades Association, follow
Ing hearings yesterday, at which
the proposed rerouting plan was
termed an inconvenience to the
public.
The hearing was called on a petit
tion by the Independent Trades
Association. requesting the COM
mission to order the transit company
to make the changes. Yesterdays
session, which was given over to
the objectors of the plan, was a
continuation of hearings recessed
November 81. Under the plan buses
would end at the Mount Rainier
Terminal.
Principal witness for the objectors
was Luis Granados, Riverdale, who
said the change would create great
inconvenience to riders, since it
would increase travel time to and
from work, force a change in
schools for many children and Gre
ate severe traffic hazards"
Plan Previously Proposed.
Mr.. Granados contended that the
Identical plan had been proposed
by the transit company itself in
1899 and again in 1912, and that
his organization objected then on
the same grounds.
Mr.. Granados was followed by
Mark M. Morgan, Riverdale, who
declared that he had canvassed the
maj ajority" of Riverdale residents,
and had not yet met one who favored
the change.
Another witness, M. M. Rice, Riy-
erale Heights, who described him.
self as War Department trans
portation expert, was asked by Stew
art Purcell, chairman of the COM
mission, if he had considered the
project as an expert.
EAPCAS DASdppIOtCS.
Mr.. Rice replied. II have, and I
disapprove. High-speed trolleys
would be some improvement over
the present equipment. but / doubt
| If traffic conditions would permit
them to travel much faster than
the present cars. I heartily ap-
prove service to new communities,
but this should be accomplished by
other means than jamming more
buses into an already crowded ter
minal."
Arthur w. Brummell, Washington
newspaper employe, declared under
questioning. THE circuitous route
proposed here is not as conducive
to rapid transit as its proponents
would have the public believe" add-
ing that District Of Columbia pa
irons disapproved because. trolley
loading platforms already are over
crowded, and the plan would require
many persons who formerly came
into Washington on the bus to use
trolleys.
A study Mr.. Br,lmmell conducted
showed, he commended, that trolleys
running from Mount Rainier to
Washington were already crowded
and the congestion could not be re-
lieved by running cars more fire.
quently as they already run approx
mately once minute.
Police Chief Testifies.
Nouor Iyora1I norlxov
dale. counsel for the Independent
Trades Association, then called
Henry Caspare, jr., chief Of police
Of Colmar Manor, who testified that
the Barney Street Bridge over which
the new route goes and which oppo-
nents had called a traffic hazard
had been the scene of only three
accidents in the past year, and that
two of those had been the result of
drunken driving.
He also stated that the Thirty
eighth street corner leading to the
bridge could be widened enough to
allow buses to make the turn with
out taking up two lanes of traffic.
Fred w. Cast, president of the
Cheverly Citizens Association, said
the new route would require two or
three transfers for passengers trav-
cling into Washington, and called
the Mount Rainier terminal "inade-
quate."
Walter F. Mulligan, president of
the Prince Georges County Civic
Federation, read into the record
statements by the countys Cham
Der Of Commerce Committee on
Utilities and the Civic Federation.
Capital Transit" the Chamber
OF Commerce statements read, "is
hiding behind the skirts of the In
dependent Trades Association. To
paraphrase Genesis, the voice is the
voice of the Independent Trades As
sociation, but the hand is the hand
| of the CanitaI Transit Con