Evening star., 1961-04-10
Planners Back
Switch to Aid
City's Center
BY GILBERT GIMBLE
Star Staff Writer

Plain citizens today attacked
D. C. Transit Systems request
to convert its remaining street.
car lines to bus operation but
the move was favored by Down.
town Progress planners who feel
the switch will help revitalize
the city's commercial center.
The. citizens arguments
against buses ranged from the
discomfortS of bus fumes to the
need for rapid rail transit.
Their testimony was given
before the District Public Utili-
ties Commission at a public
hearing called to study D. C.
TranSit's petition asking it be
permitted to end streetcars on
the Mount Pleasant, Fourteenth
street. Eleventh street and U
street routes.
Strongly backing the COM
pany's request was a letter to
the P. U. C. from o. s. Col
clough, executive committee
chairman of Downtown Prog
reSS.
Called Desirable
Abandonment of the street.
cars would be a desirable fac
tor in the revitaliation process
for downtown Washington
Mr.. Colclough said.
I He said streetcars on six
tracks in the middle of main
streets are incompatible" with
a transportation system neces-
sary for a healthy downtown"
Continued use of streetcars
would prevent establishment Of
one-way streets and would
seriously reduce the traffic
carrying capacity of the streets,
the statement said. New devices
probably will eliminate the dis
comforts of bus exhaust fumes,
Mr.. Colclough stated.
But in the main, the wit
neSses at today's hearing, visibly
irate, challenged the streetcar-
to-buS switch as against the
public interest.
Buses Faults Aired
With the hearing audience
frequently bursting into ap-
plause, the witnesses told the
p. U. c.:
Buses cause riders to get sick
J and their use results in a
"sadiStic treatment of the pub
, lic."
Despite new aforementioned
buses, compared to streetcars
they are full of noise and fumes.
Use of buses has not resulted
in cheaper transportation; in
stead, the cost of public transit
continues to rise.
Increasing use of buses will
continue to pollute the city's
air, and one witness envisioned
District residents walking the
streets with oxygen tanks on
their backs"
Mrs. Thorn P. Starkey, of
2480 Sixteenth street NV, at
tacking the argument that new
type buses provide comfort
able and more efficient ride
than streetcars, brought laugh
ter when she pointed out:
"Alr = conditioning does not
remove odors, you merely chill
them"
Offers Bit of Verse
She completed her testimony
with a long poem on THE For
gotten City" which ended this
way: ...
We're a nation on wheels,
regardless the cost-Natural
powers of locomotion, COM
pletely are lost.
Although we may have post
nasal drip, and a wheeze-
spare us just a bit of oxygen.
please"
Homer L. Litzenberg, repre-
senting the Adams-Morgan Re
habilitation Conference, urged
that conversion to buses be
postponed at least until a study
of future rapid rail transit
needs is completed.
He argued that the past win
ter'S streetcar tieupS during the
severe snowstorms could have
been caused by lack of first
class maintenance" of the
tracks. He pointed out that the
remaining streetcar lines served
the busiest sections of the city.
The P. U. c. has received,
however. a consultant's report
urging that it allow the switch
to an all-bus operation "as
quickly as practicable"
The D. C. Transit System
wants to abandon the street.
cars by January, but Congress
has said that future rapid tran
sit needs should be considered
before any move is made.