Evening star., 1955-08-23
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gineers from carrying out their
improvement plans, he said.
Mr.. Mclaughlin said the Com
missioners believed 1t would be
feasible for a new company to
buy Capital Transit buses. An
all-bus operation probably would
call for 10 additional vehicles,
he said.
The invitation to applicants
for a new franchise said the
P. q. C. would make available
at its District Building offices
statistical. economic. engineer
ing, financial and other data
which may assist evaluation of
the prospects for operating in
the District.
Applicants must be prepared
to furnish all of the property,
facilities. equipment and serv-
ices that will be required to pro-
vide the mass transit service, :"
the notice said. There is no
requirement to purchase any
part of the property, facilities
or equipment of Capital Transit
Co."
p. u. C. Asks Details
Applicants were told to pre-
sent MANAGEMENT experience in
transportation operations, pro-
posed method of financing. num-
ber. type and size of buses, gen.
eral administrative and mainte-
nance plan. routes. schedules.
proposed fare structure, esti-
mated cost of operation, esti-
mated gross revenue and esti-
mated net income.
Recommendations to Congress
will be made after public hear
ings are held by the P. U. c.
The Commissioners have said
there are half a dozen" groups
already interested in operating
in Washington. They are re-
garded as good prospects. Mr..
Mclaughlin said.
Only one of them has heen
identified. A syndicate headed
by Louis Burman, Washington
builder. has expressed an interest
in operating if it can buy Capt.
tai Transit at q figure less than
the s14.4 million asked by Finan-
cier Louis E. Wolfson, and can
get certain financial operating
concessions asked Of the Com
miSsioners.
Miami's Transit Woes
Others outside city government
circles have not been so conf
dent of attracting investors in
a business having its ups and
downs. mostly downs.
They point to the efforts of
another city, Miami, Fla, to re-
place a company whose fran
chise is expiring October 8. The
present company decided to pull
out when the city government
refused to grant certain conces-
SionS.
Transit firms in So cities were
mailed invitations to consider q
franchise in Miami. AS of this
week, only three had replied. all
negatively.
The present Miami company
turned down a city proposal for
a 7 per cent return before taxes,
q 5 per cent gross receipts tax
and an annual adjustment to
compensate for losses.
All-Bus Trend Is National
Washington's intention of
going all-bus follows a national
trend. Many large cities either
have junked, or are junking
streetcars for a more econom-
ical, faster bus operation.
Passenger loads on most
streetcar and bus routes picked
up today, the second since the
strike ended. Some drivers said
it looked like old times.
One driver on the Chevy
Chase buSline said he had a
full bus of seated passengers on
an early morning trip today,
whereas he carried only about
80 on two trips yesterday.
Drivers on the Georgia and
Alaska lines said their passen-
gers were from one-third to
equal the number in pre-strike
days.
Capital Transit reported all
drivers were on the job and that
all routes were running "rea-
sonably we'll"