St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1962-05-18
It traffic separation points.

at traffic separation points.
For layman to raise an eyebrow in this
direction of a highway engineer is a great deal
than effrontery. At the risk of committing
something approaching blasphemy, we again point
out that what is going in the Twin Cities through
way is engineering folly which shall regret for
all time to come
The candidates in the ST. Paul election who were
vocal about this problem were defeated This makes
it less responsibility of the elected officials in
the ST. Paul city government and in the Minneapolis
government, no less responsibility of the Twin
City Rapid Company and no less a responsibility Of
the Railroad and Warehouse Commission. Indeed,
after the highway department, the responsibility
begins with the Commission.
Things have been pretty bad for many, many
years. with respect to mass transportation in the
cities, and the Commission can scarcely dodge its
responsibility for this. The commission stood by dur
ing the dismanting of the old street railway system
and the thevery for which various persons are now
serving facing Jail terms The commission has
neglected the need for integrated metropolitan
system Of transportation, allowing the Twin Cities
Rapid Transit to discontinue and curail service so
that the establishment Of a hit-and-miss group of
independent carriers, serving some communities and
negleCting others, became inevitable. It has allowed
the local carrier to abdcate the job of express trans
portation between Minneapolis and st. Paul to a
regional carrier the Greyhound lines, which now
provides 80 to 40mnute service, with about 10 to 25
minute Roadway during weekdays, between down.
town Minneapolis and downtown st. Paul. 1t has
allowed the progressive reduction and deterioration
of service and increase of fares to the point where
it is both prohbitivey time-consuming and prohibi-
lively expensive for the ordinary rider to make any
but minirnal use of the service.
1t may be that all of this Is an inevitable result
Of assigning responsibility of major Importance
to agency that Is already overburdened with re-
sponsibiites If such is the case, the plan for a
metropolitan transit authority which has been ad-
vanced by many thoughtful persons may be the
answer.
An authority with adequate power could change
the transportation picture in the area. Adequate
power would include the authority to regulate taxi
cabs, for example, and do away with the ridiculous
and costly multiplicity Of regulating authorities
that limit and restrict ta1cicab services between
municipalities. Adequate power would include the
right of the authority to provide transportation
service on its own, in the Chicago area, when
private agencies prove unwilling unable to give
service. Adequate power would include the resources
to carry on long-range studies and planning-an
area now left to agencies lacking either the power
the function to order changes and improvements
in service.
The two political parties are now engaged in
creating their platforms for the coming elections
The transportation problem is a Twin Cities area
problem but it is also legislative issue, since the
State Legislature holds the ultimate authority In
deed it the legislature that took the regulating
power away from the cities in the first place. and
gave it to the Railroad and Warehouse Commission
Any realistic political platform in the coming
election will have something to say about this mat
ter. strong, effective plank will propose some
thing along the lines outlined in this editorial. A
weak plank will recognize the problem and temper
ze about solutions.
We hope that both parties will adopt strong
planks on this most vital issue which affects the
daily lives of so many urban residents