Evening star., 1959-11-15
TRANSIT
Continued From First Page

But the approach agreed on,
he said, is that the Federal
Budget Bureau will draft legis-
lation, using as a point of de-
parture a controversial legis-
lative draft drawn by the In
stitute of Public Administra-
ton of New York, and Colum-
bia University.
The bureaus intention, SEN
ator Bible said, is to solicit
views from each Federal agen-
,cy and from interested State
and local officials. "From this
process we anticipate an i'm
proved and more generally ac-
cepted bill" he asserted.
Senator Bible noted that his
committee must submit a final
report to Congress by March 80
and that he expected to work
toward approval of legislation
before 1t goes out of existence.
A total Of "a witnesses. re-
flecting almost every possible
viewpoint, was heard during
the intensive six-day hearings
which ended yesterday.
Other Developments
There were these other de-
velopments:
/. The National Capital Plan
ming Commission announced
that Washington attorney Je-
rome P. Alper has been retained
to try to bring together the
various local and Federal view
points in connection with the
new legislation.
2. Mr.. Broyhill told The Star
he feels that only one regional
agency is essential, and that re-
quirements might be met by
the proposed compact. already
ratified by Maryland and Vir-
ginia, to set up an interstate
commission to regulate existing
transit. The best approach to
developing effective rapid tran
sit, the Virginian said. may well
be to supplement and improve
the systems of existing local
transit companies.
8. Harland Bartholomew,
Planning Commission chair
man, defended financial pro-
posals made by the areas Mass
Transportation Survey for de-
veloping a rapid rail transit
system. He said forecasts of
deficits might easily be offset
by fare increases or other steps
beyond the very conservative"
proposals of the survey.
4. Both Mr.. Bartholomew and
District Engineer Commissioner
A. C, yelling conferred inde-
pendently with Budget Bureau
officials over the week end on
the bureaus pending work.
Highways Over-Emphasized
Senator Bible said he was
struck during the hearings by
the dominant sentiments that
highways thus far have been
over emphasized and that rapid
transit should be accentuated.
He praised the Transportation
Survey as a fine work." but
said it may have been a little
weak in not devoting more
attention to the various alter
native plans which must exist.
House members of the COM
mittee were expected to work
closely together and present a
fairly united front in future
deliberations.
Democratic Representatives
Mcmillan of South Carolina
and Smith of Virginia attended
hearings conscientiously
throughout the week, as did
Representative Broyhill.
BY yesterday, Mr.. Broyhill,
whose district would be af-
fected most vitality, had drawn
guidelines for his own thinking
as a committee member.
"We must concentrate on
mass transit, rather than high
ways" he said. with this en-
phasis, we must decide what
can be done congressionally
next session to reduce con-
gestion."
Positive committee recon-
mendations could well be made
to create some kind of regional
agency and to supplement pri-
vate rail and transit lines, he
believed. But he stressed that
cost must be a prime factor in
committee considerations of
both these ideas.
He did not rule out the pos
sibility that long-range needs
might demand a vast public
network.
Passengers a Question
"But the question as we begin
is how many passengers can we
attract to transit" he stressed.
"You're gambling on what
people will do. And a $500 mil
lion gamble now on what peo-
pie will do seems pretty thin
to me-"
Instead, we should gamble
on extended private lines, with
some public assistance, to give
us more sound basis for an
swering that question - how
many passengers can we attract
to transit?"
AS for the immediate future,
Mr.. Broyhill said he favored
pressing for passage of the
resolution to create a transit
regulatory commission by COM
pact. The compact commits
sion would be the single re-
gional agency almost unani-
mously demanded. In his view,
it could grow in powers, in
membership or in responsible
ties through amendments by
successive Congresses.
He saw little use in estab-
fishing a compact commission,
to be succeeded by a corpora
ton, to be absorbed ultimately
by another compact with both
regulatory and oneratipo y,ov,