Evening star., 1948-06-19
Capital Transit
|AsksPUCf for
'15-Cent Fare
Petition Also Seeks
Price of $1.85 for
Weekly Pass

The Capital Transit Co. has
asked the Public Utilities Commits
sion for permission to raise street.
car and bus fares to Is cents and
the price Of weekly pass to $1.S5.
The long-expected petition for
rate increase was filed with the PUG
late yesterday by F. G. Await, tram
sit company attorney.
Under the proposal, tokens would
be sold at the rate of two for 25
cents, adding az cents per ride
to those who do not buy passes
or pay cash. Three-cent school
tickets would remain at the same
price, and free transfers still would
be issued
Revenue for Deficit. y
The rate increase would bring in
about s2,555.000 a year additional
revenue, company officials esti-
mated. .....-. WIKI
This sass, 900 would be used to
make up an expected $685., 900 deficit
facing the company this year and
to give the company a return of
81, 10000, which is about the 71a
per cent allowed by the PUG on the
$50, 10000 rate-base formula which
has been set up, the petition stated.
The petition said the transit
company ended 1947 with a $90,60O
deficit, following the wage increase
granted to about 5000 employees
which added about s2,300,000 to op-
Grating costs. Since then, another
wage increase has been granted the
workers, which will go into effect
on July !. This increase will add
another $1.100000 to the company's
present $15,000,000 annual payroll,
the petition stated.
mo Choice" Says Merrill.
E. D. Merrill, president of the
Capital Transit Co., said:
I'VE were reluctant to ask for
an increase, but we had no choice. !"
The petition said the company
must pay increasing prices for ma
terials and supplies and cited the
increase in the price of buses from
$l2,500 before the war to $17,500
today. 1t estimated the company
should purchase up to 100 new buses
year to keep the fleet up-to-date.
This will be the transit company's
second request for rate increase
in a little over year. In May, 1947,
the PUG allowed the company to
raise the price of weekly passes from
$125 to $3.50 and discontinue the
sale of tokens at the rate of three
for Is cents, substituting straight
10-cent cash fare.
Living Cost Rise Cited.
The petition pointed out, however,
that District transit fares have in
creased an average of is per cent
since 1889, while other cost of living
items have gone up an average of
10 per cent.
The PUG order to increase the
rates in May was based on findings
of serious decrease" in the COM
pany's income, caused by a decline
in passenger revenues and a drastic
increase in operating expenses, the
petition stated The trend has con-
tinued in an aggravated form and
further increases in the fares are of
urgent necessity" the petition
added.
Company officials said that, In
the first four months of this year,
72,901 900 passengers were carried,
and buses and .StreetcarS operated
1855 900 miles. This is an II per
cent decline from the figures in the
first four months in 1947, when 3D.
926. 900 passengers we're transported
and 16,346, 900 miles Travelled.
The decrease In the miles operated
which means actually that less
service was offered to the public
followed the decrease in passengers,
company officials explained. This
was part of an economy drive to
obtain more efficient use of vehicles,
they added.
Rainy Day" Dividend.
Although the transit company did
not earn any money for its stock
holders in 1947, it did pay its usual
dividend of 81 per share on the
100000 shares of stock outstanding,
company officials stated. This was
paid out of undistributed earnings
of prior years, which had been put
into rainy day" fund.
| If it did not have such a fund, it
could not have paid the full interest
on its 100000 in bonds outstand-
ing in 1947, it was asserted.
The new wage rate which goes
into effect on July will bring the
top rate for streetcar and bus oper-
ators to $1.45 an hour. The union,
Division $50. Amalgamated Associa-
| ton of Street, Electric Railway and