Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-23
Engineer Backs
Streetcar End,
Favors Buses
Letter Held Cheaper
By D. c. ConsuItont
At Transit Hearing
By HECTOR Mclean

A consulting engineer Tor the
District Public Utilities Commits
sion today defended top city OFF,
Gals decision to abandon street
cars before a House Commerce
Subcommittee.
Opening testimony at the last
Of a four-day session, Edward A
Roberts, New York consultant
commended buses are cheaper tC
buy and to operate. Also, he said
abandonment of the street rail.
way system would speed ur
downtown traffic.
He appeared before the trans
portation subcommittee of the
House group, headed by Repre-
sentative Harris. Democrat OF
Arkansas. The lawmakers are
considering bill to establish g
Washington metropolitan transit
authority to take over when
Capital Transit Co. dies by act
Of Congress next August IA.
Warns on etc Buses
Mr.. Roberts said the company
should now be spending SIS mil
lion to replace buses more than
II years old. Therefore, he
warned the committee, the pro-
posed authority should not &C
quire any more etc buses than
necessary.
Mr.. Roberts complained that
an engineering study by w. C.
Gilman & Co.. paid for by
Capital Transit at the request
of the utilities commission. had
failed to discuss savings possible
through conversion to an all
bus operation. The report laid
out a seven-year program for
conversion, to be completed in
1862.
Mr.. Roberts said his own
study showed that Capital Tran
sit could have cut operating
costs $2.9 million in 1855 if ii
had been operating with buses
only.
Bierwagen on Stand
Mr.. Roberts was followed tc
the witness stand by Walter j
Bierwagen, president of the
union Of Capital Transit en-
ployes. whose 52-day strike last
summer lead to legislation kill
ing the company.
Mr.. Bierwagen repeated re-
quests made last week before the
Senate District Committee that
a clause be dropped from the
@bill which would make it a crime
for employees of the proposed
Government agency to strike
Instead, he suggested. there
should be specific provision fol
the authority to bargain collec.
lively with the union and tc
settle all disputes through bind.
ing arbitration.
He said that arbitration!
"corollary no-strike agreement
would be more effective than &
fiat strike ban.
The union leader also urgeC
dropping a clause which woulc
put employees under the Hatch
Act ban on taking part In pol
iticS. In addition, he asked TIT
lawmakers to restrict sharply &
clause which would let the au'
thority hire a subcontractor x
operate all or part of the transit
system. He warned that under
such powers the authority might
evade obligations to deal fairly
with its workers.
Federal Policy Cited
Chairman Harris warned thai
cit has long since been the policy
of the Federal Government MOI
to permit employees to strike, ane
we have never deviated from thai
policy" He added. however. tina
he was Impressed about thu
right Of employees to bargain col.
lectively."
Mr.. Bierwagen was backed III
by George D. Riley, AFL-CIC
legislative representative, wht
said the full labor movement
supports the union requests.
Yesterday, near the end of {
six-hour session, President j. A
B. Broadwater, of Capital Tran.
sit appeared to slam the dool
almost entirely on a suggestion
a.,