Evening star., 1948-07-24
Strange Tuq-of-Wor

IL Is well LlldG Tic lug Ol wal Oct"Ceu
the District Public Utilities Commission
and the Interstate Commerce Commission
over who is "boSS" of the Capital Transit
Company in the Pentagon ticket case is
to be decided in District Court The
Capital Transit Company is strictly in the
middle of this interjurisdictional struggle.
It is in the absurd and intolerable posi-
ton of being forced to choose between
conflicting orders of the two regulatory
bodies. 1t is impossible for it to comply
with both orders. 1t cannot obey one
commission without disobeying the other.
So it has appealed to the court for
declaratory judgment.
The strange impasse is an aftermath OF
the wartime arrangement by which the
Capital Transit Company extended its bus
lines across the Potomac River to the
Pentagon and certain other war offices in
Arlington. After the war the transit COM
pany abandoned the Virginia service, but
the ICC issued an order requiring it to
honor the special interzone tickets by
which passengers from Virginia buses
could transfer to Capital Transit, and vice
versa. The tickets, sold in books, cost
1873 cents each, of which Capital Transit
was allotted 5.83 cents and the Virginia
lines rs cents. Recently the ICC refused
a Joint petition by the District and Vir-
ginia companies to abolish the transfer
plan, but granted them an increase to 16
cents a ticket. OF this amount, Capital
Transit was to receive 7 cents and the
Virginia companies cents.
In effect, then the ICC has ordered the
Capital Transit Company to give prefer
entail rate to Pentagon employees on Dis
trict buses that no longer cross the river
The District PUG contends that the 1CC
has no authority to issue such an order,
since Capital Transit does not operate in
interstate commerce insofar as Virginia
is concerned. The PUG has directed Capt.
tai Transit to cease and desist" honoring
the Pentagon tickets and to accept nothing
less than ten-cent cash fare. The COM
pany has decided to obey the PUG and
wait for developments.
This is muddle that does not make
sense. 1t should be cleared up as soon
as possible, in the interest of both of the
commissions, the bus companies and the
passengers. The chief interest of the 1CC,
apparently, is to protect Pentagon en-
ployes from paying ten cents to cross the
Potomac on Virginia line and then hav-
ing to pay an additional ten cents to the
Capital Transit Company for the District
fare. Twenty cents, undoubtedly, is too
much fare for the average ride involved.
But that Is an incidental question. The
real issue is whether the ICC or the PUG
is to have the controlling voice over this
one phase of Capital Transit operations.
As The Star has said before, the imbroglio
suggests the urgent need for creation by
State compact of Metropolitan sArea
PUG, fully authorized by Congress and
the States to deal with utility problems
mutually affecting the District and adjoin-
ing counties. Such a commission could
consider the plight of the Pentagon en-
ployes and fix legal fares and transfer
arrangements that would be binding on
the Virginia and District bus companies
alike. The ICC and the District PUG
should be glad to be relieved of any
responsibility in such troublesome cases.