Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-08-19
Dropping Of Streetoors
Remains Burning Issue
Continued From First Pag,

JUG JuQACu ShCCb CaAo 4uC
present bus feet includes 877Il
vehicles. The new 51-passenger
General Motors diesel buses gen.
orally bought by other cities as
competitive to streetcars in
carrying capacity and comfort
cost about $4,000 each-figur-
ing to q new capital investment
cost Of about Sill million. III
smaller buses were bought, more
Of them. Of course. would be
needed.
The question facing the Dis
trict. the Capital Transit argu-
ment goes, is whether under to-
days conditions the city-or any
new investor-would realize suf-
ficient profits from an all-bus
operation to make attractive Cd
the big capital investment in new
buses and 90 the lost life still
in the street car system.
Company officials say the an
swer is no.
Some out-of-town officials fiat
" contend that, under virtually
any conditions, the thing to do
is scrap streetcars and move to
buses. Others say they'd want
to know more about Washing
tons problem before comment
ing.
Study Seen Necessary
Donald Hyde, general man
ager of the municipality operated
Cleveland Transit System. and
a consultant for the Washing
ton areas current two-year
transportation study. said the
question posed by Capital Transit
officials is one in which the
study should take a major in
terest.
THE question of buses as
against Streetcars can't be over
looked" Mr.. Hyde said. We're
bound to get into it in the study"
Mr.. Hyde, who also is president
Of the American Transit Associa-
tion, said his own Cleveland Sys-
tenn has swung entirely to buses {
or rapid transit. Eleven years
ago, the system had % street
rail lines. 1t got rid of the last
one in February. 1854. II
In Detroit. where officials are
converting from rail to rubber il
as swiftly as they can, officials !
say remaining streetcars are
costing them 20 cents more a
mile to operate than buses.
Lee j. Nowicki. general man.
ager of the Detroit Department. /,
of Street Railways, estimated
that he could save $4,000 week
in operating expenses if his re-
manning 1863 streetcars-all new {
Pee models travelling 10000 {
miles a day-were buses. i
Mr.. Nowicki, whose system
also is municipality operated,
said that If it were his private
business he would run every one
of our streetcars into the stor-
age yard-we'd write of the cost
very quickly with buses"
Twin Cities Junk Rails
In Minneapolis. Fred Ossanna, |,
president of the Twin Cities
Rapid Transit Co.. said his firm
last summer completed q swift
two-year junking of an entire :,
400-track-mile, 750 streetcar sys-
tenn. He said he was confident
that "our savings on buses" will
Justify a staggering $12.5 million
write-off Of streetcar equipment Il
and a SIS million investment in
new buses and equipment. (
E. C. Giddings. Capital Transit
vice president, commended that
there are factors in the Min
neapolis, Cleveland and Detroit /
conversions which don't apply
in Washington.
One of the most important, he
said, is that each of the three
cities had either equipment or
rtack facilities which were OBJ 4
solete to the point that major :
expenditure would have been re-
quired to put them in shape If
they hadn't been junked. !
In the late 1940s. Mr.. Gid1
dings pointed out, Capital
Transit faced a similar situation
on its H street-Benning street.
car line. Rather than recon-
struct the track. the entire line ,
From Fifteenth and New York
avenue NV. to Seat Pleasant,
Md.-was ripped up and con- /
Yerted to a bus route.
But the point is that the rest ,
of our system is not in that con-
dition," Mr.. Giddings said.
"None of our track system. for
several years, at least. would re-
quire that kind of drastic action.
Our policy has been that the
streetcar is only obsolete when
the economics of the thing die
tate it," II
First Look Deceiving
Money-wise, a flrst-look COM ,
parison of Capital Transit'S
streetcars and buses is deceiving.
Washington's streetcars. for 1
example, are the big money
makers. The bus system since
1916 has been a deficit operation. -,
Last year, streetcars brought inI {
$1.09 per mile Travelled in pas
senger revenues. Buses brought h
only So cents per mile. Before !
taxes. the streetcar system I
showed an operating income Of {
$1.9 million. Buses showed a $1.2I
million deficit. h
Capital Transit officials. how ]
ever, pointed out that these fig-
ures, by themselves. can't be
taken at face value. One reason
the streetcar revenue are up is
because the rails largely are in
high passenger concentration
areas. Many of the bus lines are
feeders" run through less
densely populated areas. How
much of the difference is attrib-
- q la1n "a Ahir nna,nn L. .,nlrrn.,..