Evening star., 1960-01-10
Continued From First Page

II on q Gus.
At sos am, the bus pulled
out and headed into town on
Macarthur boulevard.
From Glen Echo to the Dis
trict line. he experienced a
sensation totally different from
anything he had felt before
when being transported. He
was definitely jostled, up and
down and side to side.
Now and then he caught a
glimpse of the streetcar tracks
below the winding road. They
were straight and true and un-
used. And the bus proceeded
at a deadly pace compared to
the days of the streetcar.
About IL minutes later, at
Macarthur and Manning place
NV he transferred to a bus
marked "D-3" which was
headed for Ninth and Consti-
tuition avenue NV.
This bus, longer and heavier
than the shuttle, and old
enough to have been owned by
both Louis E. Wolfson and o.
Roy Chalk. wound down Mac
Arthur boulevard and finally
took its place in the colossal
morning traffic on Canal road
up to M street.
And up above the road, across
q trestle. the transit rider could
again see the Cabin John tracks
straight and true and unused.
At 9:04 a.m.-59 minutes
from Cabin Johnnie got of
the bus at Ninth and Consti-
tuition avenue.
Then. on the way back that
night, a trip which ended in
another shuttle bus, he found
it had taken him Just about
l hour, or 10 minutes longer
than the streetcar.
The trip had cost him no
more. But it took about 10
minutes longer each way; there
was that business about get
ting and holding on to the little
transfer and, of course, the
shuttle bus ride.
There was one good thing
about the trip-almost.
SkipS Washington Circle
On the way back, the bus
had avoided Washington circle.
1t had turned off Virginia ave-
nue. and had run north on
Twenty-second street, tn e n
turned west on L street and
eventually had moved up M
street in Georgetown.
Getting around the circle
had always been a trial for
streetcars, a delay sometimes
for as much as five minutes.
The bus had crossed Penn
sylvania avenue, and then re-
turned to it-by way of L
street-all in about two min
utes. But its time had been
held up, unfortunately, in the
run UP Twenty-second which
was-and is-being dug up in
spots for q new water main.
From the bus, it looked like the
work Of q streetcar lover.
The transit rider who lived
near another terminal--one at
Georgia avenue and Eastern
avenue N.W.-timed his trips
also.
He found. after the change
from electricity to gas and
diesel. there was actually little
change in the time it took him
to get TO Seventh and Pennsyl-
vania--about 50 minutes. In
some spots, going up hills for
one thing, the streetcar was
faster. In others, where the
bus driver kept to the right and
zoomed past left-turners, the
bus was faster. But in the end,
it was about the same. He
looked forward to summer
when his trip to and from work
would, in most cases, be air
conditioned.
Confused on Speed
But what was confusing to
the transit rider was his ex-
pectation that the buses would
be faster. Experts said they
would be. They also said buses
were cheaper.
Commissioner Robert E. Nc
Laughlin. for example, had
pointed out that the cost-per-
mile to run a streetcar is
higher than that for buses and
imposes a higher fare level or
all riders Of a system operating
both buses and streetcars.
Mr.. Mclaughlin had added
that bus riders were substituting
the comfort of streetcar pas
sengers.
But as D. C. Transit con-
verted three more of its street.
car lines on January 3, leaving
the system with only four more
streetcar lines to close by 1868
"a term of the franchise
awarded Mr.. Chalk by Congress
there was a hearing before
the Public Utilities Commits
sion.
Transit officials were asking
permission to Immediately
charge 5 cents more in rush
hours. Also. by next Novem.
ber, they asked that the fan
go up to Is cents at all hours.
What, the transit rider might