25 ep iebey ot SLC42 ' Public Welfare and Public Utility Service Bulletin No. 3 THE ELECTRIC RAILWAYS A Brief Account of the Method of Operation of Transportation Systems in the Cities For Use of Debating Clubs, Oral English and Current Topic Classes Issued by ILLINOIS COMMITTEE on PUBLIC UTILITY INFORMATION 203 South Dearborn Street - - Chicago, Illinois ee ee ee «ag RAS? GR Spl gg A a dead wee. Soha events ole 4 “ a ee ee ee ! - : ‘4 " , 2 - oy ~ re ~ee ; an “he 3 . a s © 2 ~ en . ¥ € * . . « > i ‘ . Ve j ie i » ry e £ 4 “ * - ~ a ha v * , 3 . P z ® z ge ~ “tee Biel 3 ape i = <9 ses * a eae ath gee Spee ye 3 _ eo-ys 12% % c 7 € 2 hae rw > ra s z , } ps - é P| ee : . # ¥ Ry ae RF A Beil Relea MHA: Sie ee 4 4 ~ 2 ‘ dl * oer iN a — ‘ ‘ r + . F sa : i 4 : + : ees, | “ wa i ean 9 ay ke Sane 4 F ay F e 3 5 y<~ r a nae ‘eS ae agit wy . “1 44 4 yoy . 4 i meee ‘ aS 3 —— “ = heen » 43 wt Oe PSs BA peg, te t yr S <_ . Cp ot ha, ah ee See Tae 4S ee Oa OE cit SBRin Asad gp Sk lee ee - sf” > < woe nm - 3 wee ‘ ' re « pee. oa .. -Y ee, " : So ee A, hee . Sat Sot ok ine et - se . & eo E ae Port oy t's 2% ‘ te FE os a - anaes he a age 7 ba + eF Sah ‘ Fuae OF [aves ‘ | * ? . &. ¢ . 4 @) ema re er Se - 4 5 ‘ q a ry - a RS ae ted ee leh HG, me _ G 4 . - Peers sit Sony t ‘ + s z a rt ee eee mabe cl . , ‘ 7 é ° aniee oe i eo i AE . abe Shar ak ae. sft tad = ol ~ ‘ << * ’ a + aoe . . Bo one le pipspsesallt aod mest eaten o> Sl lite n ‘> * Pee any f et a lig eh ASR Ste RS ea oe = THE ELECTRIC RAILWAYS Introductory. In the last Bulletin, No. 2, it was seen how the enormous increase of electricity has led to the development of the Central Stations where elec- tric energy is made from our precious supplies of coal and water-power with a minimum of waste. The present Bulletin shows how the electric railways make use of electrical energy to carry millions and even billions of people—16,000,000,- 000 being the number of passengers carried last year in the United States by electric cars—from town to town, or to and from their business and pleasure in the large cities. It also shows how electric railways came to be built and how their continued development, extensions and improve- ments are necessary on account of the growth of population and industry. Development of Quick City Transportation. The people of America are very insistent upon getting to a place quickly, and being comfortable while they are going. Men and women who can remember conditions forty years ago find much amusement in recalling the way people traveled in cities and towns then. It is laughable today to recall the time when the first horse cars op- erated in a community, but after the first sur- prise and joking had disappeared it was found that this mode of travel was really a great aid in getting around. But it was far from being the kind of travel the people desired. Then, there was invented the electric motor. Then came the first electric car. In 1888, in Richmond, Va., the first electric car line was op- erated, on approximately six miles of track. In 1889 one hundred miles of electric lines had been built; in 1890, 1,200 miles were in operation, and today there are 49,484 miles in service. Inefficient as the early systems were, compared with the present day equipment, they marked a mighty advance, and thereupon there started a new era in city development. From that early day to this, as there have been new discoveries in electrical science, the best brains of the elec- trical field have applied these new findings to the creating in America of what is today the best street car transportation in the world. Not a Simple Problem. But with all this marvelous development, the problem of supplying a community with local transportation service is one of the most com- plex and difficult which human ingenuity has been called upon to solve. Cities have increased in population so rapidly—encouraged in the main by this very improved method of travel—that in no large city in the world has a system of local transportation been developed that has proved entirely adequate. How the Electric Car is Propelled. Let us apply the X-Ray, so to speak, to a modern electric car and see how “it works.” If you have passed by the car barns early in the morning you have noticed the motormen taking out their cars to start the busy day; or you may have passed by the car barns late in the afternoon and have noticed extra crews get- ting the cars ready for the evening “rush hours.” Tracks in the street are a familiar sight; you call to mind long rows of poles on either side from which is suspended, over the track, a shin- ing copper wire. When the cars pass, you fre- quently see sparks and flashes where the trolley wheel (See T. W. in Illustration) rolls along the wire. You may even notice sparks on the track under the car wheels. In stormy weather, you may have noticed, simultaneously, violent blue and yellow flashes at the trolley wheel and on the track under the car wheels, giving evidence of the electrical energy passing from the wire down the trolley pole to the electric motors which make the car wheels revolve. You naturally wonder what this energy looks like, how it acts and where it goes. No one ever saw the electric current, but an inventor, named Michael Faraday, noticed that when current was forced through a wire it would move a neighbor- ing magnet sideways; and that when the posi- tion of the magnet was changed to the other side of the wire the movement of the magnet was in the opposite direction. The Motors. Faraday arranged the magnet so that it moved around and around about a shaft; then, instead of one wire and one magnet, he added‘ many more about the shaft, and so produced a rotating motor. This is the electric motor that turns the wheels of a street car,—a motor, which, though very intricate, is so compact that it can be built into the truck of the car. (See M. in illustration.) The Path of the Current. Where does the current go? You have seen the sparks under the car wheels on the track, and you probably have already guessed, correctly, that the current passes down the trolley pole (T. P. in illustration) through the car, the motors and wheels into the rails and the ground, finding its way through the ground (which is also a conductor of electricity) back to a copper plate buried in the ground at the power house and connected to the generator, thus making a com- plete loop, or circuit, for we have found that a complete circuit must be provided or the current cannot be forced to flow at all. The car com- pletes the circuit from trolley wire to rail. You may wonder why no shock is received when you step on the rail carrying current back to the power house. Were you tall enough to touch the trolley wire at that time you would complete the circuit in the same manner as the car does, thus furnishing a path to the rail for the current, from which a shock would be received. Workmen are careful, while working on charged wires, that their bodies do not form a path to the ground for the current. Protective devices, such as insulated platforms, rubber gloves, etc., interrupt the circuit through which the current would otherwise be carried. A bird alighting on a charged wire does not receive a shock because it is in contact with only one side of the circuit. The Controller and the Starting Resistance. This brings us to the explanation of the motor- man’s controller (C. in illustration), which is simply a device for opening the circuit (break- ing the flow of electricity), to stop the car, or closing it (completing the circuit), to start the car. You have noticed when the motorman starts his car that he turns the handle of his controller a “notch” at a time as the car speeds up. If he did otherwise, the immense power available from the trolley wire would cause the motor to spin the car wheels, like a steam locomotive whose engi- neer has opened the steam throttle too wide. The first slight turn, or notch, of the controller completes the electric circuit, allowing the cur- rent to flow and start the motor, but, before the current enters the motor it is led through a num- ber of thin iron grids (See R. G. in illustration), like lattice work, whose long path offers a large resistance to its passage and keeps it small in amount. The next slight turn of the controller shuts or cuts out some of this resistance, shorten- ing the resistance path and therefore letting more current flow through the motor, and so on, with the next notch, until all of the resistance is “shunted” or cut out of the circuit, and the full pressure of the electric current is available to make the car run at full speed. The Air Brake. Did you ever notice a steam locomotive pant- ing like a runner just after a race? You may be surprised to learn that the “pants” in this case are not from the run but from the stop. When the engineer of the Twentieth Century Limited, running at full speed, turns his air brake handle into the position called ‘“Emergency,” some 96,000 horse-power are instantly loosed by the air brakes in stopping the wheels. The com- pressed air used to apply the immense braking force is automatically replenished by the air pump on the locomotive, and it is this air pump that puffs or pants after a stop. The air brake also necessary for the heavier types of electric cars is an identical apparatus, and equally as efficient. This air pump (A. P. in illustration) is driven by a small electric motor; doubtless you have heard it humming away after a stop or two, storing compressed air in reser- voirs, available for instant use (A. R. in illustra- tion). The brake valve handle which the motor- man turns with one hand, is probably as fa- miliar to you as the controller handle which he turns with the other hand. The valve thus op- erated allows the air under high pressure to flow from the reservoir (A. R. in illustration), to the “brake cylinder.” From this point the operation AREER Return Circuit —" to Power Hause HOW A MODERN ELECTRIC STREET CAR OPERATES 4 is simple; the brake cylinder is a cylinder per- haps 8 inches to 14 inches in diameter. The air is admitted rapidly at one end through perhaps a l-inch pipe, and drives slowly before it a “pis- ton.” If the pressure in the l-inch pipe is 70 pounds, the pressure against the piston (in the case of the 14-inch piston) is multiplied 196 times to 14,000 pounds, and it is this immense force, further multiplied perhaps 10 times by lev- ers, which presses the iron brake shoes against the wheels and brings the car to a sudden stop. Sounds involved, doesn’t it? A photograph of the bottom of a car would present to view an array of apparatus, complex, it is true, but neces- sary to make the operation of the car simple and safe, and each piece of the apparatus could be explained as simply as the motor or controller, or the air brakes. The Amount of Power Used by a Car. To start an ordinary car requires 15,000 times as much electrical energy as that which bright- ens the filament of the ordinary incandescent lamp, or drives the ordinary fan motor. If the car is also heated by electricity the en- ergy used for that purpose is from 25 per cent to 50 per cent as much as is used by the motors to propel the car. Third Rail System. Another method of carrying current to the electric car, is known as the “third rail system.” Instead of an overhead trolley there is a third rail on which no wheels pass but a contact brush draws the electric current from the third rail into the car to the controller in the same manner as the trolley wheel does in the trolley wire sys- tem. The Remarkable Efficiency of Electric Railway Motors. The electric railway motor is vastly more effi- cient than the finest steam plant or gasoline en- gine; in fact the electric motor wastes only some 25 per cent of the energy fed to it, using 75 per cent in useful work turning the car wheels. The best steam turbine or gasoline engine wastes 75 per cent of the total heat energy fed to it and can use only 25 per cent. How an Electric Railway is Operated. Team work, the same kind of team work learned on the football team and on the baseball team, takes the foremost place in the operation of an electric railway. The fact that a man hold- ing the lowest position in the employ of one of these privately operated companies can rise to be president of the road or hold others of the highest positions, results in these employes striv- ing hard. Efficiency and hard work count on the great electric lines, for unless an employe is capable no influence or “pull” will help him. This reward for the efforts and the fascination attend- ing the furnishing of the public with so impor- tant a service perhaps accounts for the saying “Once a railway man, always a railway man.” The dispatcher is the quarterback of the trans- portation team. He appoints the crews each to their task (the railway man even uses signals) and sees that they take the cars forward at ‘the best time to do the most good. The American people are a riding people and as you know serv- ice’ is mostly needed in the morning and at night, during what are called by railway men the “rush hours.” (See “car service diagram for typical city electric railway.”) No two consecutive days seem to be alike. It is difficult to foresee delays and keep the cars on their schedule, but the dispatcher must do everything possible to maintain a satisfactory schedule with the tracks and cars that are pro- vided by the money risked by investors in the enterprise. The Chicago Loop District. To give an idea of the local transportation traf- fic which moves into and out of a small area morning and evening, at the “rush hours,” no city affords a better example than Chicago with its “loop district.” This district is less than a square mile in area. It is that business section of the city, for the most part retail, which is sur- rounded by the elevated structure upon which elevated electric street cars run—the third rail system. The loop section, as has been said, is less than a square mile in area, while the city contains one hundred and ninety-nine square miles. More than 62 per cent of all the passengers carried daily on the Chicago Elevated Railroads enter the loop, and of that number over 51 per cent enter in one hour in the morning and leave in one hour in the evening. The crossing at Lake and Wells Streets on the elevated, in Chicago, has been called the busiest railroad crossing in the world. Unques- tionably it is entitled to the honor for in the morning hour of maximum travel sixty-four southbound trains and fifty-eight east and west bound trains cross it, or one hundred and twenty- two trains, or five hundred and ninety-six cars, in sixty minutes. Maintaining the Road in Operating Condition. The maintenance forces, consisting of the track men, the shop men, inspectors, electricians and others, are the “trainers” of the railway team. It is their work to keep the system in as perfect working order as circumstances will permit. For this purpose there is an endless stream of sup- plies coming and leaving the storerooms, The storekeeper of one of the large electric roads in Illinois says that he has to keep in stock 15,000 different kinds of articles for the main- tenance of the property, varying from a track spike to a complete railway motor. The smaller lines are not a great deal better off in this re- spect, especially if they are compelled to operate the older and more troublesome types of equip- ment, on account of being unable to attract in- vestors’ funds for new and improved equipment. Rolling stock (as the cars are called), track trolley wire and electrical equipment, are sub- ject to particularly heavy wear and tear and the pole lines, buildings, bridges, etc., representing a considerable investment, also require a large ag- gregate of painting and repairs. The painting of cars costs between $50 and $100 per car every year, if the original wood and steel is to be pre- served. The mere inspection of cars, in order to insure the safety and reliability of all parts, may cost $300 per car each year under favorable cir- cumstances. The renewal of worn out brake shoes, which press down upon and stop the wheels, is often the largest single item of expense on a small property. What the Cars Cost. The modern pay-as-you-enter street car or in- terurban car does not represent so much money considering the number of passengers carried as a costly limousine, because the limousine is de- signed to create luxury for a small number of persons, while the street car is designed to carry a large number of persons comfortably and safe- ly. Nevertheless the trolley car with its steel construction, its intricate machinery and care- fully fitted parts, represents quite a snug sum of money. They cost from $8,000 to $18,000, which is twice or even three times that of five years ago. The modern interurban cars cost $25,000 each. In addition to the city electric railway lines, there are electric interurban systems traversing the state, linking up the cities with smaller com- munities and the family districts. These have proven of great benefit to the state, providing transportation for many communities not served by the railroads, developing cities and towns along their tracks, and giving frequent and ef- ficient service. These interurban lines employ larger cars than the city lines and do both a passenger and freight business. In some lo- calities they haul the mail. On a number of lines the same conveniences exist as on the railroads, such as dining, sleeping and parlor cars. At the present time there are about 1,625 miles of interurban tracks in the state. A recent innovation in several cities and towns has been a type of car known as the “safety car.” This is operated by a single employe, who acts both as motorman and conductor. This car is smaller than the “two-man” type of car, has four wheels and is equipped with elaborate safety de- vices. It was originated when the high costs of operation of the heavier and larger car necessitat- ing two men for operation, caused electric rail- way experts to investigate how expenses could be reduced and yet a good and efficient service for the public be maintained. ; Safety First. Every street railway system, as you know, has as its very first aim, the safety of its passengers. Every company in fact, has its “Safety First” organization, which it holds responsible for its safety measures. How one of the large companies has succeeded can be seen by the fact that in a period of over twelve years it has carried two billion passengers without a fatal accident while on their trains. To accomplish a record like this requires the active co-operation of every employe, foreman, and “head of department” in the work of doing away with dangerous conditions and the setting up of safety regulations as well as help from city authorities and the public. The War Has Created a Hard Problem for the Street Railway. To anyone who has worked in the different departments of an electric railway it is a source of pride to consider how the expense of upkeep and general operation (including taxes) per mile can be kept anywhere near equal to the passen- ger fares collected per mile, and leave a balance if possible to pay the interest on the money in- vested in the enterprise. Certain it is that the young people now going to school will soon be interested, directly or indirectly, in these prob- lems of the present day. A great many will take their place in the electric railway industry, bring- ing to bear their technical knowledge in the de- velopment of better transportation, and more valuable still, their knowledge of the value of team work and fair play. Many others will also invest part of their savings in electric railways, either directly or through the banks and insur- ance companies and trust companies with whom they deposit their savings. How Electric Railways are Supervised. Being a convenience designed for all of the people, bordering close to an absolute necessity (no one wanting to go back to the days of the ox cart or horse and buggy as a method of ordi- nary travel), it was found necessary as the elec- tric railway industry grew, to have it controlled by some form of government regulation. In most states this has taken the form of regulation by state commissions, which act much as the Fed- eral Interstate Commerce Commission does in regulating the railroads. These commissions have several fixed rules to abide by which may be summarized as follows: 1—See to it that the public is given adequate and unbroken service at a just rate of fare. 2— Protect the investment that has been made by the thousands of persons who have loaned the money that makes possible the furnishing of service. 3—Correct situations that hinder con- tinuous development and improvement of lines and equipment, as such untoward conditions would be against the public good. 4—Judge all matters coming before them impartially and without prejudice, for if either the companies or the public are dissatisfied with a decision, the courts may be asked to review it. During the war period these commissions faced a difficult situation. The tremendously in- creased costs of labor and materials could not be met by the 5-cent fare which companies generally had established away back when no one could foresee such a catastrophe as the European war. It soon became apparent that a crisis had been reached, which permitted of only two answers: either to raise fares or permit the transportation lines to be wrecked. As the latter would have been disastrous to any community to the point of entirely disrupting business and affecting all property values, whether invested in a business or in a home, the first course was necessary. It became the regulatory authorities’ duty to deter- mine what the increase in fare should be that would permit continuance of adequate service. The situation became so serious that President Wilson appointed a commission to investigate the entire electric transportation situation of the country, this being the first time in history that the government had been asked to investigate the condition of any branch of the utility industry as affecting the good of the nation. It was found that under past rates, the surplus earnings of the roads available to pay interest on money invested in the lines had been so inadequate that one-sixth of the roads had been forced into bankruptcy or had been abandoned and the tracks torn up. Practically every electric line in the country was found to be in financial troubles. While the fed- eral government gave no direct aid, the changed conditions resulting from the government inves- tigation, as well as those by other regulatory authorities, was such as to bring public apprecia- tion of the situation faced both by the companies and the public. As there are in Illinois 90 electric railway sys- tems, in which $456,200,000 had been invested up to the end of 1919, the majority of those secur- ities being owned by thousands of citizens of the state, there was considerable concern over the problem, particularly as it resulted in a refusal to loan money for use in the public service by the transportation lines. Regulatory authorities all over the country have been confronted with the same problems as in Illinois and every effort is being made to correct the situation and bring about prosperous conditions such as will enable development to continue. There is the division of the army which fur- nished the brains that built the road; the still large section composed of the investors or stock- holders, who furnished the money with which to build the actual properties ; the debtors—or bond- holders from whom the road has borrowed money, and the employes who actually operate the road and furnish the service obtained by the public. Where the Passenger's Fare Goes. When you hand a street car conductor your fare, where does it go? How does the company have to divide up your money in order to meet the expense of giving you the ride? As has been previously explained it takes a small army of persons, all working at some defin- ite task, to make possible your ride. Each per- son in this army must be paid a wage and should obtain his just share of the fare you pay. The chart (The Electric Railway Dollar), takes a dollar paid in by car riders and divides it in the manner it should go if all in that army were be- ing paid their wages and the expenses of the road were being fully met. It was the failure of the roads to earn sufficient money, in the last sev- eral years, experts say, to pay all of these wages and expenses, as outlined in this chart, which led the serious financial trouble affecting the entire electric railway industry of the nation. This, they say, was due to the roads charging a fixed fare, generally 5 cents, and not being able to fix the prices they have to pay for money loaned to them and for wages, fuel, equipment and the many other expenses. This situation became so serious that 460 cities of the country found it nec- essary to increase the price of fares to help out the roads, but in many instances this aid came too late and the serious trouble spoken of be- fore resulted. This worked a great hardship upon all other business and upon the public. Not only did it result in poor service to the public, but because no one would loan the roads any more money inasmuch as they could not pay in- terest, but the building of lines, extending of tracks to neighborhoods that needed car service and the buying of cars and other equipment, was forced to stop. The chart prepared by experts indicates how an ordinary company would divide a dollar received in fares were it prosperous and growing and fully able to pay all of the wages and expenses. It shows that the dollar is divided into three big divisions, which are as follows: I—W AGES TO EMPLOYES (34 cents of each dollar): This represents the number of cents of each dollar that would be paid as wages to motormen, conductors, track men, shop men, office employes, etc. 2—INTEREST TO INVESTORS (37 cents, or 7.4 cents per year for each dollar the road costs):—This is the number of cents that would be taken from each dollar to pay the wages, or interest, on the great sum of money the company has to spend to build the tracks and roadbed, put in trolley wires, buy street cars, build car barns and power plants. As the car company owners, who are known as the stockholders, must in- vest $5 in property for each $1 they can expect in a year in fares, it can be readily seen that the cost of building an electric railway prop- erty is tremendous and that if a fair wage in the shape of interest is not paid, the money can- not be obtained but would go into other busi- nesses where there was a better chance of making a living, or profit. 3—GENERAL EXPENSES (29 cents) :— This includes such items as depreciation, taxes, rentals, miscellaneous expenses, injuries and damages, materials and supplies and power. We will take them up in order and see what they mean. (a) Depreciation:—There is_ constantly wear and tear on tracks, cars and plants and there must be constantly repairs, as well as entire replacement of parts. If this were not carefully attended to the cars, machinery and tracks would soon be merely junk. (b) Taxes:—The street railways are heavy taxpayers, particularly so when the amount they take in as fares is considered in proportion to the great sums they must invest in property. From the fare of every car rider a certain amount must be taken to be turned over to the city, county, state and federal governments as the share of taxes all industry of a commun- ity must pay. This money is used, in the case of towns and cities, in making streets, laying sewers, building sidewalks, maintaining a pol- ice force and paying the salaries of men elected to office, such as the mayor, city attorney, aldermen, etc. (c) Rentals:—This item includes rents the average company must pay for tracks, lands and other facilities not directly owned. (d). Miscellaneous expenses :—This includes items of operation such as office expenses, etc. (e) Injuries and damages:—In spite of “safety first” efforts, street cars will bump into, or be bumped into, by automobiles, wagons, THE ELECTRIC RAILWAY DOLLAR. How Experts Say a Dollar in Fares Would be Divided by an Average Prosperous and Growing Company Able to Give Good Service and Paying All Necessary Wages and Expenses. PON I a6 ay WOULD GOTO THE INVESTOR FOR see ww > AMOUNT PAID FOR LABOR, OLELE RNA LRP IEG: HIS MONE Y.THERE MUST BEINVESTEO IN TRACKS, CARS AND OTHER EQU/P- —\CEIVED INA YEARS RV A\TIME 5 THEREFORE THE Xo < NIBOVE 37 CENTS WOULD RETURN TO THE vain DNHIS B85, 7.41% A YEAR. etc. There are sometimes other accidents, this being an unavoidable result of the neces- sity that in furnishing transportation the tracks must run through streets largely used, so as to make them immediately available to the greatest number of people. (f) Materials and supplies:—The electric railways are heavy buyers at all times. This money goes for the hundreds of things needed to keep the tracks in good condition and the cars moving. (g) Power:—This is the money spent for electricity, either through developing it at a power plant owned by the railway or buying it from an electric company. It is the price the companies pay to “make the cars go.” Electric railway experts say that had the dollars taken in as fares from riders been suf- ficient to be divided as outlined, there would have been no financial trouble, and the public would have been spared the hardships that have re- sulted. The high prices for everything the elec- tric railway companies had to buy, however, soon forced an average division of the dollar received as follows: Wages of employes:—Out of each dollar taken in 48.53 cents was being paid out as wages to employes. General expenses :—For these purposes 42.90 cents had to be spent of each dollar of riders’ fares. Interest to Investors:—Instead of receiving 37 cents out of each dollar, only 8.57 cents was paid, or 28.43 cents per dollar less than should have been paid. In other words the electric railways were earning just 28.43 cents per dol- lar less than they should have been if they were to pay all of their just wages for both labor, capital and expenses. With 8.57 cents out of each dollar being paid, it can readily be figured what wages capital was being paid and why it went on a strike. As has been stated investors, who are the owners, spend $5 for tracks, equipment, etc., for each $1 they may expect back in a year in fares. Their wage comes out of the $1. In other words the 8.57 cents was being earned on $5. This would amount to wages of but 1.71 cents on $1. It can be seen that would not do, because any savings bank would pay 3 cents wages, or interest, on any money deposited by a thrifty person with it, or 1.29 cents more per $1 than the electric railways were earning and able to pay. This was much less than a government bond would pay. That being true thrifty people would not lend their savings to the electric railways, because they could not expect a just wage in the shape of in- terest for the use of the money. In other words it was proven that the electric railways must earn and pay the same wage for money as other businesses, which varies from 6 to 8 per cent. Experts say that this would amount to about 37 cents on $5 and that unless that amount is paid, the railways can not expect people to loan them money. That would stop the building of more lines and prevent development of the existing roads. The Rush Hour Problem. The chart headed “Car Service Diagram for Typical City Electric Railway,” illustrates one of the most difficult problems that the electric railway companies have to face. That is the “rush hour” problem, involving the few hours of the morning or late afternoon when people are either rushing, as a body, to get to work, or in the same fashion, to get home. If there were a steady flow of car riders over the “waking” period of each 24 hours, the trans- portation problem would not be difficult. But that is not so. The result is the companies must purchase large numbers of cars and other equip- ment as well as have large forces of employes, who can be used only these “rush hours” of the day, tying up great sums of money in an invest- ment that is idle and lying in the car barns 20 out of each 24 hours of the day. As an illustration of this big problem the chart represents an actual city company compelled to use a maximum of 450 cars in its “rush hours” and applies particularly to all industrial com- munities. The number of cars actually necessary to handle traffic at various given hours during the day is indicated, this showing the two “peaks” or rush periods. The chart shows that at 5a. m. but 30 cars are sufficient. At 6 a.m. people are starting to work and 120 cars must be on the lines; by 7 a. m. there is a great rush on and 390 cars are needed; at 7:30 a. m. the “peak” is reached and 450 cars must be in operation. But this rush only lasts less than a bare hour, but this extra equipment must be there during that time. By 9 a. m. 210 cars will haul all passengers wanting transporta- tion and by 10 a. m. 120 cars are sufficient. From 10 a. m. until about 4 p. m—6 hours— only 120 cars are needed, as compared with 450 cars during the “rush hour,’ and the rest are idle. About 4 p. m. the shoppers start home and again the idle cars must come out of the barns with their crews. By 5 p. m. 360 cars are needed and by 5:30 p. m. the number must be 435 cars. These cars are needed only about half an hour, for by 6 p. m. the demand has been reduced to 420 cars and by 7 p. m., when the majority are home at the evening meal, it is only 180. By 8 p. m. the demand has dropped to 120 and by 9 p. m. to but 90 cars. From that time on until 5 a. m. the next morning it drops gradually from 90 to 30 cars. Efforts to bring about an even traffic on street railway lines, such as would “iron out” these two “rush hour peaks” have been unsuccessful, inas- much as the public demands transportation when it wants it, and not as the companies would like to give it. In the typical case cited by this chart it is shown that the riding demand on the part of the public results in 80 cars out of each 100 being used less than four hours a day. The company has to pay just 4s much for these cars as it does for those that “work” and earn 24 hours a day. Picture a factory in which 100 men are employed, 80 of whom work and produce less than four hours a day, but all of whom demand wages for a full day’s labor that they do not perform, and you have a similar situation to that involving this idle equipment problem of the electric railways. CSR Se&RVICE DISGRANM FoR TYPICAL CIrTy ElecTRIC RAILWAY MLUSTRAJING THE LARGE INCRERIE (N CARS NECESIARY FO CARE (OR RUSH NovR TRAFFIC A 5 OP AN ON WO a PS LUNG pope bail | ube Pe ee LMI LAL LAL /Z0 30 60 Jo ‘ v 8 x q SN Ry = ae Wn ey v) ZL FANS A Zs CAAA ACA 5 CE LI RE ST LO et WLM A ee A WALLATEA DAMN, | FPP DD ac ai) AO, ARTI OTI AON NON VL AAALAC AAC CASO, MLM LALLA LAE LEMUL LA LLLLLL ALLL MLL EME LS bg ° LALA LALLA LALLLES INL AALS ULLAL LL ek TIME OF DAY. Some Electric Railway Facts. Illinois is served by 90 electric railway com- panies, they having 3,841 miles of track. Stretched out in a straight line these tracks would reach from New York to San Francisco. and then on out 655 miles into the Pacific Ocean. The investment they represent totals approxi- mately $456,200,000. * * % The Illinois electric railways carry more than two billions of car riders annually. The Chicago street car lines, alone, last year carried approxi- mately 1,300,000,000 riders, this being ten times the number hauled by the Pennsylvania Railroad and 50 times those who rode on trains of the Bal- timore and Ohio Railroad. Chicago, alone, has enough electric railway tracks to reach from that city to New York and out into the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles. As a whole the electric roads carry ten times as many passengers as the steam rail- roads, billions. in 1919 the number exceeding sixteen How riding on street cars has increased :—In 1890 there were but 32 rides per inhabitant in the country in the full year; in 1902 the number was 61; in 1907 it was 85; in 1912, 100; in 1917 it was 109; in 1919 it was 114; in other words in 1919 the total number of “fares” in the country divided by the number of men, women and chil- dren, averaged 114, this big total resulting largely from the fact that workers ride back and forth every working day of the year. * * * In 1888 there were but 8 miles of electric street railways in the United States—or the world, for that matter, as this country was the pioneer. In 1919 there were 901 companies in the United States operating 49,484 miles of track, or nearly enough to circle the earth twice. * * * = About $6,000,000,000 has been invested in street railway property, this coming from approxim- ately 550,000 investors—men, women, insurance companies, savings banks, etc. About $800,000,- 000 of new money must be had each year to build new tracks and buy equipment to keep pace with the rapid growth of the country and this must be obtained from the savings of people who will loan it in return for the interest they expect to receive on their money. * %* * There are over 300,000 employes, this includ- ing motormen, conductors, shop men, track men and executives, and probably as many again in the industries that make the equipment and sup- plies needed to keep the lines operating. * * * In developing the electric railway as a means of transportation, the United States was not only the pioneer, but has kept far in the lead of any other nation, there being far more track mileage per inhabitant; far superior equipment; greater speed and more comfort in riding, as well as lower fares. How to Use this Bulletin. Debating: Suggested topics for formal or in- formal debating: 1—Resolved: That the Aeroplane will replace the Steam Railway. 2—Resolved: That aside from long distances, Electric Car Travel is Preferable to Steam Travel. Rhetoric, Oral English, and Current Topics Classes: 1—Make a three minute review of this Bulletin. 2—The Value of Street Car Service to this Community. 3—How does electricity propel a street car? 4—The street car and retail trade. 5—The value of the Interurban system. 6—How the Local Car System Operates. 7—The Street Car and City Expansion. 8—Can the Truck and the Automobile Dis- place the Interurban? MAY, 1920 For Additional Bulletins Please Address: Illinois Committee on Public Utility Information 203 South Dearborn Street CHICAGO, ILL. 11 : ry i 7 4 i” eens ae 7 PS eg | ; : Rae ee hts P= ery i v1 i , ‘ ry 4 - ° ae . 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