Evening star., 1948-02-13
Expert Seeks TO Put
ARNOLD Lines Back
On Profitable Basis

The Washington, Virginia &
Maryland Coach Co. is in mighty
bad condition" but putting it on
it's feet is not an impossible" task,
in the opinion of transportation
expert who has undertaken the
project.
The expert is Marmion D. Mills,
who in the last Is years has reor-
ganized 20 transit systems through
out the country and put them on
a paying basis. He was hired to
take over the complete manage
ment" of the company, better known
as the Arnold Lines, by the COM
pany board of directors at the sug-
gestion of Buffalo bank which
holds a mortgage of almost 81 ,OOO,-
900 on the firm.
Arnold Lines, which serves points
in Arlington and Fairfax Counties
has been under fire by the Airing
ton Public Utilities Commission and
civic and conmuter groups since
early last year. In December, How
ard H. England, longtime general
manager, resigned and the firm an
nounced a reorganization. Follow
ing this, the PUG requested the
Interstate Commerce Commission to
postpone indefinitely a hearing set
for january 27 into the adequacy
of the lines service and the ICC
did soY ~es I aik
Complete Survey Started.
"Tre company is in mighty bae
condition" Mr. Mills declared yes
terday. 81 hope the residents o.
Arlington will give me reasonable
chance to see what can do with it.
Mr.. Mills said he has started
complete survey to learn how the
company can be operated prof
itably."
81 will have a plan in month o.
six weeks" Mr.. Mills declared, "ane
then it will be up to the directors
to authorize placing it in effect"
Pointing out that the compan!
lost about $4,000 in 1947. approx
imately $1,000 of it in December
Mr., Mills said his study will INCLUDE
an analysis to find out if costs art
excessive.
High Maintenance Cost Cited.
With only few days on the job
Mr.. Mills already has determined
that the maintenance costs are tht
highest I've ever heard Of HI
said that in January only three o.
the II routes operated by the com.
pany paid their way. OF the 400, ,0O(
miles run in that month, only
! 10000. or less than AZ per cent
were profitable, he said.
| Mr.. Mills declared that mileage
must be trimmed at times wher
the public is not riding and in
creased during periods when the
load makes it necessary.
"You can't operate a taxi service
with 4O-passenger Buses" Mr.. Mills
asserted, adding, however, that he
did not intend to decrease service
on the lines which are paying.
One bright spot in an otherwise
dark picture, he said, is in the mat
ter of breakdowns. He said the
company hired maintenance man
about eight months ago when
breakdowns were averaging one
every 500 miles. BY October the
rate had decreased to one in about
$500 miles because of improved
maintenance and partly as the re-
suit of the addition of number OF
new buses, he said. Bad weather
increased the rate to one breakdown
in every 1850 in December, Mr.
Mills added.
Mr.. Mills was vice president ano
general manager of the Seattle
(Wash.) transit system Immediately
before the war.
During the war, Mr.. Mills served
as a colonel in command of the
Mount Rainier (Wash) Ordnance
Depot. He lives in the District will
his wife and a daughter, Mis-
Louise Mills.