Before taking up in detail the discussion of improvements on existing
lines, it may be well to touch on the financial condition of the
Pittsburgh Railways Company, and to consider whether the property can
afford to make such improvements; for one hears the excuse for bad
conditions that the company is not earning a dividend and was forced
even to reduce the service. The Boston Elevated Railway Company, which
operates all the surface, elevated and subway lines about Boston, is
regarded as a very prosperous concern, paying dividends of from six to
eight per cent. the net earnings per car mile after paying taxes being
6.54 cents. The Pittsburgh Railways Company, according to its last
public report, had net earnings, after paying taxes, of 12.55 cents
per car mile, about double the amount of the Boston company. This is
a most remarkable financial showing, and at once raises the question,
where does the money all go to and why cannot more of the excessive
profits be diverted to better service and equipment? The Boston company
is operating to-day three subways and one elevated line, besides
having contracted to build two more subways and another elevated. It
is obvious that the Pittsburgh Railways Company could not only give a
first class service on existing lines, but could also assume the fixed
charges of a real rapid transit system, if profits were not diverted
to pay excessive rentals and other fixed charges on the many companies
consolidated at different times. Some way must be found to cut down
these exorbitant charges, for the present management can hardly expect
the public to endure existing conditions much longer, when the earnings
are so vast. People in other cities, when really aroused, have found
ways to bring the most intrenched monopolies to terms.
The congestion of cars in the business district of Pittsburgh is a
very curious phenomenon. Most people, seeing the frequent blockades at
street junctions in the rush hours, would say that there were already
too many cars on the streets, and that the overcrowding is a necessity,
only to be remedied by building a rapid transit line. Others, however,
see that the terminal loops cause much of the congestion, and that by
rearranging or abolishing these, even more cars could easily be handled
in and out of the crowded center. As a matter of fact, at no place
in Pittsburgh does the number of cars passing hourly reach even half
the maximum number found possible in other cities; 43 cars in thirty
minutes was the largest number counted by the writer, against 128
cars in Berlin. The maximum Pittsburgh hourly rate on a single track
would be 86 cars; Boston has scheduled 220 an hour; Berlin runs as
many as 256; while Brooklyn handles over 300. At the busiest junction
in Pittsburgh, the writer found a rate of 276 cars an hour in all
directions, against 557 in Berlin, where there were many more vehicles
besides.
The overcrowding of the Pittsburgh cars is either intentional or due
to bad operating methods. The seating capacity of the present surface
lines has been far from reached. Take Fifth avenue at Smithfield
street, for example. In one half-hour in the evening from 5 to 5:30 P.
M. about 2,290 passengers were carried east one night in forty-three
cars, thirty-two being motor cars and eleven trailers. If every motor
car had hauled a trailer, and four additional pairs of cars been run,
every passenger could have been seated, whereas 785 were obliged to
stand, or more than fifty per cent of those seated. The total number
of cars in one hour would only be 144 against 256 in Berlin. If the
company had cross seats in all the cars, merely seventeen more trailers
on Fifth avenue, added to the present number of motor cars, would have
seated all the passengers, with a total of only 120 cars an hour. In
Berlin the street railway company provides as many as 3,116 seats in
half an hour, and the London County Council as many as 3,538 seats,
against the 1,504 in Pittsburgh.
It may be wondered how it is possible to get so many cars past as in
Berlin. It is done by fine traffic regulation by the police, who use
careful judgment, and do not hold up traffic too long in any one
direction, as is common in other cities, even in London, the home
of street regulation. Again, the Berlin tracks are so good and the
motormen so careful, that the latter operate cars over switches and
junctions at speeds which are never seen in Pittsburgh, car following
car with amazing rapidity. And the Berlin manager proposes to run even
more cars.
[Illustration: MOTOR CAR AND DOUBLE-DECK TRAILER CROSSING POTSDAMER
PLATZ, BERLIN. 557 CARS AN HOUR AGAINST 276 IN PITTSBURGH.]
In no city does the writer recall so much standing required of
passengers as in Pittsburgh. It would appear to be the company's object
to run few enough cars to make people stand on every trip throughout
the day, and as nearly the whole length of each line as possible.
There is little relief during the slack hours, as every car, sooner
or later, seems to have its standing load. In other cities of the
country, a marked change of policy towards the public has shown itself
in the largely increased number of seats furnished. It is a question
whether it is a good policy for any public service corporation, no
matter how securely intrenched, to continue the policies of the past.
[Illustration: SECOND CLASS BERLIN ELEVATED AND SUBWAY CAR. FARE
3-1/2 CENTS. SOFT LIGHTING; NO STRAPS; DESIGNED BY ONE OF THE FIRST
ARCHITECTS OF BERLIN.]
It is one thing to allow a few persons who like it to stand on the car
platform; it is another to require it of mothers, overworked girls,
the tired, the ill, the infirm. No one knows how much disease is
spread through such crowding. In no place are conditions more ripe for
infection,--with the extreme of personal contact, the mixture of every
class, the constant rubbing against one another and the holding of
dirty strap. Under such conditions, when a consumptive coughs, who is
safe?
The seating capacity of a city car line seems hardly to have a final
limit, for some new way is constantly found to squeeze in more or
larger cars. To get some figures by which to judge Pittsburgh, let us
take the 256 cars run hourly on a single track in Berlin, or call it
250. If double-deck cars were run in Pittsburgh, of the same length and
width as the largest cars now in use, each could easily seat as many
as 120 passengers. This would allow a perfectly feasible capacity of
30,000 seats an hour, against a rate of 3,008 actually found on Fifth
avenue.
Why double-deck cars are not run in this country is a mystery to every
English manager and to not a few Americans. They nearly treble the
seating capacity, and yet weigh no more than our wastefully heavy
rolling stock. They give passengers decent room and air space. They
are far more economical even than trailers. Roofs on these cars are
now enclosed, and smoking is made possible all the year round. They
can climb and descend hills more quickly and safely than single-deck
cars of equal capacity, because more weight can be concentrated on
the wheels. Two types have been designed for Pittsburgh of the same
length and width as existing cars, both having an enclosed roof
adapted for winter. The higher one would have 120 seats. The other
type, low enough to go under existing railroad bridges, would furnish
ninety-eight seats on one car, with four entrances each side. If such
cars had been used on Fifth avenue the night when 2,290 passengers were
counted in half an hour, they could have furnished seats for every
person, with seven per cent excess. Only twenty-five cars instead of
forty-three would have been needed, which would have required fifty
men against the seventy-five actually employed for the 1,508 seats.
To furnish more seats with trailers would cost more than the present
system; but double-deck cars would cut thirty-three per cent off the
operating expense, and the company would gain more than the immense
monetary saving. They would lose less fares, have the good will of the
public, and fewer accidents. The new pay-as-you-enter cars are the
most expensive thing with which to furnish seats, and they take twice
as long to load as a double-deck car, the introduction of which would
appear to be the wisest move the company could make, as well as the
best thing for the public.
One of the most objectionable features of the Pittsburgh railway system
is the looping back of all cars in the business district, without
either through cars or free transfers between the north, south, east,
and west sides of the city. In the expensive days of horse cars, there
was more excuse for short hauls and double fares; but for the wealthy
Pittsburgh electric system, there is no excuse for not serving the
entire district, at least within the city limits, for a five cent fare.
Boston has had through cars across the city for about twenty years,
and for ten years the company has had no higher fare than five cents
for the entire Metropolitan district of a dozen cities and towns. The
longest ride is at least sixteen miles, with free transfers given at
about forty points. Berlin has the most complete system of through
cars, connecting every part of the city for a single fare, allowing a
ride of thirteen miles or two hours for two and one-half cents.
It seems very doubtful if the present restricted plan of operation
pays nearly as well as would through cars and single fares for the
entire city. The loops tie up many cars and men in the business
district, because of the long stops at a few points and the slowness of
switching. But one thing is certain, and that is the gross injustice of
a ten cent fare across the city. Its tendency to isolate such public
institutions as the Carnegie Institute, the Technical Schools, the
University of Pittsburgh, is a very serious matter. An apprentice who
attends the evening courses at the Technical Schools three nights a
week, pays $5 a year for his tuition. If he has to ride each way, it
costs him about $7.80 a year from only the nearest part of the city,
$15.60 from the rest. Is this good public policy toward the ambitious
workman who is unfortunate enough not to live within the favored zone?
Is it good sense that the railway company shall charge twenty cents
a round trip to so many who appreciate the free advantages of the
Carnegie Institute, and thus bar many of the poorest from ever reaching
its doors? The company may reply that all such public institutions
should be located in the business district, where all lines center. But
the city must grow beyond that congested triangle, and why should not
the company's policy grow as well? The same question might be asked in
connection with the company's refusal to give transfers after 11:30 P.
M., and on the holidays when travel is heaviest. Altogether, it is not
a matter for wonder that the public is a unit against the railway.
The whole fare system of Pittsburgh needs careful scrutiny. Should
workmen's fares be introduced, to give every family a chance to live
where it can find the best house, the most congenial neighbors, and
the desirable surroundings, and yet get to work without exorbitant car
fares? The London County Council, from its workmen's homes, seven miles
out in the suburbs, gives a ride to the city, with a seat for every
passenger, for two cents at the rush hour. One London steam road gives
workmen an eleven mile ride for two cents each way. English managers
say that American companies throw away large profits by maintaining too
high fares. The question of public policy to consider about workmen's
fares is not whether more people could be carried or whether they would
pay, for foreign experience has settled these points, but whether more
riding is necessary and desirable, that is, whether satisfactory living
conditions can be provided within walking distance of where people work.
A feature of transit requiring more attention is the matter of car
ventilation. The Pittsburgh company is said to be trying a method of
artificial ventilation for its cars. For such densely packed spaces,
a constant supply of fresh air is an urgent necessity. A downward
movement of warm air, if found practicable, would be the most hygienic
and economical. The car transoms should have handles attached to make
proper opening and shutting easy. At the present time, there is often
too much cold air blowing into the cars, because there is no easy way
for the conductor to close the ventilators. The coal stoves should be
banished from the interiors.
While there are spitting signs in the cars for the instruction of
passengers, some of the employes appear to be the subjects who need
most attention. The constant expectoration of motormen through
vestibule doors, and the fouling of front steps, are practices that are
not conducive to health or happiness.
To reduce the wear and tear on the nerves of the community the noise
from car operation ought to be much less. Excessive gong ringing is far
too common in Pittsburgh. Ninety-four blows in a minute is a ridiculous
frequency. One sound from a good gong is enough to inform a vehicle
that it is in the way. Too much pounding simply exasperates a teamster.
There should be very little need of gong ringing anyway. A properly
trained motorman slows down for pedestrians and obstructions, and does
not rely on the gong to get them off the track before he is too near
for safety. For the car gearing, the London mixture of sawdust and oil
should be tried in the gear cases. The London cars almost startle one
with their quietness. They are kept in perfect order, with no loose
parts to rattle, no bad rails to pound over. While the Pittsburgh rail
joints are often quiet, the tracks at junctions are in a condition
most injurious to the cars, and a cause of excessive noise, there
being actual gaps in the rail heads over which the cars must jump.
Bad track maintenance has allowed much corrugation to creep in, viz.,
little waves along the heads of the rails, which are both noisy and
expensive. The unfortunate supplanting of magnetic brakes by air brakes
will increase the flat wheel nuisance. Worn trolley wheels cause
unnecessary noise overhead. Rails on curves should be greased.
The Pittsburgh Railways Company, in its latest reports, gives no
figures for the cost and number of street car accidents. Such omission
invites close scrutiny, and there are many dangerous features about the
cars and the operation. One excellent thing in use by the company is
the magnetic brake[3], which, however jerky and sudden may be the type
in use in Pittsburgh, is in its latest form far safer than air brakes
in every respect. Unfortunately, the company is not using this latest
type, but is adopting air brakes on new cars. Air brakes are one thing
on steam roads, where rails are seldom slippery and where there is
usually plenty of time to stop; but for city streets and Pittsburgh
grades, they are an added source of danger. The magnetic brake can
now stop a car in one-third of the distance that air can, and cannot
skid the wheels up to speeds of thirty-two miles an hour. It is little
affected by a greasy rail, and its tremendous reserve power makes
it almost impossible for a motorman to have an accident,--the hand
attachment providing safety in case of an electrical breakdown. The
best test of brakes yet made, which has just been completed in England,
has settled these points beyond all question.
[3] A brake with which powerful magnets drag on the track and stop the
wheels as well.
[Illustration: LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL CAR WITH SEVENTY-TWO SEATS. THE
SAFEST TYPE IN THE WORLD, WITH THE LATEST MAGNETIC BRAKES AND AUTOMATIC
WHEEL GUARDS.]
[Illustration: LIVERPOOL DOUBLE-DECK CAR, WHICH CANNOT RUN OVER ANYONE.
SIXTY-FOUR SEATS WHERE PITTSBURGH WOULD HAVE TWENTY-EIGHT.]
With the best magnetic brakes, projecting fenders ought to be
unnecessary. Such fenders are prohibited in Europe, as doing more harm
than good. A perfect wheel guard seems really the only thing needed,
and such has been found by the city of Liverpool, which has had in use
for seven years the noted plow guard, which has pushed 415 persons off
the track and absolutely saved people from being run over. It should
be applied in some form at once on all the Pittsburgh cars. Many
Pittsburgh cars have no wheel guard at all.
To take up a few more danger points: Dim headlights, due to
insufficient power, are another source of risk. Gong ringing by hand,
the practice in Pittsburgh, is an antiquated method especially
objectionable with the magnetic brake, where the motorman must both
brake and ring with the same hand. There are no power brakes on the
trail cars,--a serious omission. Single truck cars are not safe on many
of the sharp curves, as between Forbes street and Homestead. When rails
are dirty, they should be cleaned, not sanded. The car sanders are of
a type that is useless on curves. The carrying of jacks on every car
is an excellent thing, which the Pittsburgh company was the first in
the country to adopt. But there should also be an emergency lantern, an
emergency lamp inside the cars, blocks to hold a car up, a saw, etc.,
as in Berlin. The storing of cars out-of-doors, as at Highland Park,
results in icy steps on winter mornings, and is a shiftless practice.
The Pittsburgh rule to descend dangerous grades with wheel brakes on,
instead of magnetic brakes, is exactly the most dangerous thing, as has
been shown again and again in England. The type of rail in use and the
method of laying are very unsatisfactory, and Philadelphia standards
are greatly needed. The Pittsburgh rails and their condition are
certainly an anomaly in the steel center of the world.
[Illustration: SIGN AT FREE TRANSFER STATION, NUREMBERG, SHOWING WHERE
EACH CAR-LINE GOES.]
[Illustration: DECORATED STOPPING POST IN NUREMBERG.]
[Illustration: NUREMBERG MUNICIPAL CAR, SHOWING ILLUMINATED ROUTE
NUMBER USED FOR EACH LINE.]
There are other matters about the system besides those affecting health
and safety which need improvement. It is very hard for strangers to
find their way around. There are seldom signs on the street to show
just where cars stop, whereas in Europe every stopping place has a
printed sign. The signs on the cars are often too dim to read, and half
the time show only where the car came from, not where it is going to.
The routes of the cars are seldom given as they should be. The Berlin
sign system with its route numbers instead of confusing colors, and
such completeness that no stranger need ask a question to find his way
about is urgently needed. Every stopping place in Pittsburgh needs to
be called out, as in Boston.
The car lights should be placed over the seats, and the glare of bare
filaments avoided. If the company cannot furnish a decent voltage on
all the routes, then electricity should be abandoned for lighting
cars, in favor of the brighter incandescent gas or acetylene used on
steam roads. Windows do not open wide enough for coolness in summer,
especially on the newest cars, and they are not always well washed.
English cars are cleaned every night from top to bottom, and go out as
bright as new every morning. Even the trucks are daily cleaned with
oil. Dirty city air or passengers are regarded in England as no excuse
for dirty cars.
The immediate transit needs of Pittsburgh, then, are evidently:
First, the running of enough cars throughout the day to furnish
sufficient seats at all times and stop the dangerous overcrowding.
Second, the substitution of through routes for loops with universal
free transfers and a five cent fare at least within the city limits.
Third, the improvement of equipment and operation, so that there
shall be more healthful conditions, more safety, less noise and more
convenience.
Fourth, besides these, there should be a thorough study of present
conditions, the city's growth and needs, to determine a transit policy
for the future.
[Illustration: BERLIN CAR TRACKS, LAID IN GRASSY LAWNS, WITH FLOWER
BEDS EACH SIDE. THE COMPANY'S PREFERENCE.]
Before taking up the rapid transit question, however, let us consider
how the improvements necessary to the existing surface system may be
obtained. Throughout his administration the present mayor of Pittsburgh
has tried to get things done. Vain attempts have been made to get
sufficient cars run and to abolish the downtown loops, with their
inconvenience to passengers, unjust fares and street congestion. Where
new lines have been needed in unserved districts, the company has
refused to make extensions except on the unreasonable and impossible
condition of perpetual franchises without compensation to the city.
Under the different franchises, large sums are due the city for car
taxes, rentals and the cost of neglected paving and street cleaning,
the total claimed by the city amounting to about a million dollars.
The present company, while meeting some obligations the past year, has
refused to pay any of these old debts, though admitting its liability
for at least a part of them, and the city has brought lawsuits to
recover the money. It would have been easy for Mayor Guthrie to have
resorted to grandstand plays. But more important than that, he has
held the company in _statu quo_ until legal complications have been
developed and are now in shape for the city to enforce its rights.
An examination of the original franchises opens up some surprising
possibilities for the city. These grants were for different routes
and conferred no running powers over other lines. In fact, the
franchise of the Pittsburgh, Allegheny and Manchester Passenger Railway
Company contains the express provision that the ordinance should not
be construed to grant or confer upon any other company the right
to traverse the streets. As the different companies consolidated,
they neglected to obtain from the city the right to run cars over
one another's lines, and to-day the Pittsburgh Railways Company is
operating its whole system in a way which has been declared illegal in
a recent court decision. In the Erie decision, the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania held that, under the state constitution, no street railway
company had a right to run over the tracks of another company without
express municipal consent, a city having the power to impose reasonable
regulations for the operation of lines under an ordinance.
If the Pittsburgh Railways Company intends to obey the laws of the
state, it must either break up its system into the original car lines
and operate them separately, or else it must apply to the city for a
permit to legalize its present methods of operation. In giving its
permission, the city could dictate its own terms, as long as they were
reasonable and constitutional; and it would certainly seem reasonable
to require sufficient cars and seats, the abolition of the loops,
and the universal five-cent fare as in other cities. If the company
would not accept a reasonable ordinance, it might threaten to break
up the system, and charge the public a separate fare for each line.
It would seem doubtful, however, if the courts would permit any
such burden on the public, and the company would hardly attempt to
abandon the unity of its system pending litigation. If it tried to do
so, after any decision favorable to the city, on the ground that it
could not afford to meet the city's requirements, then the courts,
on injunction proceedings brought by the city, would be in position
to probe the street railway finances, determine the real value of
the properties and what would be a fair return on the money actually
invested. This would bring out the immense net earnings of the system,
absorbed in the charges on an inflated capital, and might lead to a
complete reorganization of the companies, on a proper capitalization.
The city appears to have just the opportunity needed to bring about
the improvement of the whole transit situation, and the people of
Pittsburgh should see that the desired results are gained and that no
false move is made. The rights of company and investor would be looked
after by the courts, while the public might not only get the long
needed improvements, but also see a surplus income from their fares
available for a real rapid transit system. Such an outcome would put
the Pittsburgh surface system on a sound basis, and the company might
be the gainer in the end.
The city has a further hold on the situation, in the fact that some
of the most important franchises can be revoked for non-fulfillment
of conditions. Five, at least, of the ordinances provide that any
failure to comply with any of the terms may, at the option of the city
councils, be held to work a revocation of the privileges granted.
The failure to pay the agreed car taxes, percentage of receipts, or
rentals, and to pave and clean the streets properly makes it possible
for the city to declare forfeited these franchises so vital to the
company. The latter would then have to apply for new privileges and
the city could dictate the terms.
Further, apart, from this possible right of forfeiture, the city is
secure in its right to purchase some of these railways which have been
in existence twenty years or more. By exercising this option, the city
would not be committed to municipal operation any more than Boston or
New York, where upwards of fifty million dollars have been invested by
those cities in rapid transit lines. Pittsburgh would simply own the
tracks and could lease them to the present company or another company,
too, if competition were desirable, and make terms which would forever
prevent neglect of the public interests. The cost of purchase should
not be great, as it would be fixed by appraisers appointed by the
courts. The physical property would not be very valuable after the
franchises had been revoked, for the tracks are all in bad condition.
After purchase, the city could maintain the tracks itself, laying
modern rails, and keeping the pavement repaired and clean, the rentals
paying the expense.
It seems to be the consensus of opinion of eminent legal authorities
that all grants of franchises for public utilities are made upon the
implied condition that the corporation receiving them will properly
perform its obligations by furnishing reasonable accommodations to the
public; and that when a corporation has committed its property to a
public use, the public has a right to require proper performance of
such duties under penalty of forfeiture of the franchise.
What has been said as to the city's expressly reserved powers on
certain grants may be illustrated by a summary of two franchises.
The consent of the city for the construction, maintenance and operation
of the lines of the Citizens' Passenger Railway Company was given upon
the following conditions, among other things:
First, to pay into the city treasury "for each car run over
its road," twenty dollars per annum, for the first five years;
thirty dollars per annum for the second five years and forty
dollars per annum for each year thereafter.
Second, to pay into the city treasury annually three per cent
of the net profits of said company for the first five years,
and five per cent of the net profits of said company for each
year thereafter.
Third, to keep the streets over which the road passed in good
repair from curb to curb.
The ordinance further provided:
First, that "any failure to comply with" these conditions
should be held to work a revocation of the franchise.
Second, that the city should have the right at the end of
twenty years, by giving the company one year's notice of its
intention, to acquire the road and stock by paying for the same
at a rate to be fixed by five disinterested appraisers.
This term has elapsed.
The franchise of the Pittsburgh, Oakland and East Liberty Railway
Company was conferred upon the following conditions, among others:
First, the payment of an annual sum upon each car run on the
road.
Second, the payment of an annual sum of $200 for each year
during the first five years, and $400 annually thereafter, in
lieu of a percentage of profits.
Third, that the company shall keep clean and in good repair
from curb to curb that portion of the streets on which the road
was constructed.
The ordinance further provided:
First, any failure to comply with any of its terms might, at
the option of the city councils, be held to work the revocation
of the privileges herein granted; and Second, that at any time
after the end of twenty years, the city shall have the right by
giving one year's notice, to purchase the road at a price to
be fixed by five disinterested appraisers, to be appointed by
the president judge of the Quarter Sessions Court of Allegheny
county.
This term has elapsed.
In considering the transit needs of the future, the first question
to ask is, perhaps, does Pittsburgh really need more rapid transit?
For the immediate present, if the railway company were to bring the
surface system up to modern standards as suggested, it would seem as
though the existing lines might be satisfactory for some time to come.
A number of other large American cities are getting along without
fast service, such as St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland, Buffalo, San
Francisco, etc. A radial city, with all its disadvantages, does allow a
short journey home, compared with a badly developed longitudinal city,
like New York. And a considerable length of time can be spent daily
in travelling without harm, if conditions are agreeable, as on many
suburban lines.
At the same time, the growth of Pittsburgh needs to be directed
according to the best public requirements, and not left to the traction
company and real estate owners to work out as they see fit. Some of
the broad questions that need to be considered will be discussed
later,--such as the relative location of houses to business and
manufacturing; the extent to which walking should be provided for; the
directions in which Pittsburgh should grow. Of the more specifically
transit questions, the chief ones to settle are the routes of rapid
transit lines; the type of construction; and the best way to get lines
built and operated.
The suggestion has been made in two quarters that a highly desirable
change in the business district would be effected if the streets
could be built up to a higher level, leaving the present streets
either for pipes and wires, or for heavy and slow moving traffic.
Such an improvement would be of great benefit in case of the highest
floods; but from a rapid transit standpoint, it would give little,
if any, relief, because cars and vehicles would still be on the same
level. If two traffic levels were maintained, there might have to be
numerous inclines, which would be awkward with such narrow streets.
Still, Pittsburgh may some time have to consider the problem of cross
traffic at street junctions, and how best to abolish grade crossings of
vehicles. Chicago is trying freight tunnels; New York is considering
them; London has planned bridges at congested points, the cost of a
single one of which has been figured as high as $3,500,000. Pittsburgh
is fortunate in having so many railroad lines along the water fronts,
which must reduce the trucking through the streets.
The writer has previously advocated the running of more surface cars in
the business district. Not that more cars are desirable on the streets;
they are simply a necessity, until at least a rapid transit line can
be built, or double-deck cars be brought into use, with their great
reduction in number. The ultimately desirable thing is to remove all
cars from city streets which have become too congested for safety or
speed. The best example of such removal is of course in Boston, with
Tremont and Boylston streets. London not long since opened a subway for
surface cars under Kingsway, the new avenue across the city from north
to south, with no tracks on the street above.
While as yet Pittsburgh hardly needs for rapid transit purposes the
removal of all surface cars downtown, still it would obviously be a
great advantage in reducing accidents and giving vehicles more room.
To thus relieve the streets has been one of the stated aims of the
Pittsburgh Subway Company.
The plans of this company appear to provide for a subway system
for surface cars, consisting of a downtown terminal loop a mile in
circumference, under Oliver avenue, Liberty street, Ferry street,
Third avenue, and Grant street; a main tunnel to the east, passing in
a straight line under Herron Hill to Junction Hollow; and two branch
tunnels extending south from the main line to Brady street and Boquet
street. The company has charters for several surface lines in the East
End, to feed the subway and its branches. The main subway, sooner or
later, would be continued east under Center avenue and Frankstown
avenue to a portal at Fifth avenue. A branch tunnel is also provided
from the downtown loop, north under the Allegheny River to the
Allegheny Station of the Pennsylvania lines. The subway would be built
by private capital; it would pay the city a percentage of its gross
receipts, and be open to the cars of other companies on reasonable
terms. There would be four stations in the business district, but none
beyond, except one at East Liberty. The westbound cars would thus make
no stops after leaving the surface, till they arrived downtown; and
the longest run of five miles would be covered in ten minutes, at an
average speed of thirty miles an hour. The object of the Pittsburgh
Subway Company is obviously to force the Pittsburgh Railways Company to
use the tunnels, under the fear of seeing a rival surface system grow
up, with faster service, and superior downtown facilities. Another aim
is to divert traffic from the Pennsylvania Railroad, which does a large
suburban business along its main line. The whole scheme as outlined is
very attractive in many ways, and deserves careful consideration.
Perhaps the best way to test the value of the subway scheme is to take
up every possible objection to it. One prominent feature of the project
is the treatment of the business district as a thing which cannot
be extended because of the hills to the east. So the cars would run
from the downtown loop to East Liberty without a stop. There has been
much discussion in Pittsburgh of spreading out the congested business
district; and the fact that business has reached the court house, would
suggest that the "Hump" is not the insurmountable bar to growth that it
has been supposed. It has been suggested that heavy property owners and
large stores are likely to oppose strongly any improvement which would
lessen their growing returns. On the other hand, it is conceivable
that equally powerful interests may throw their influence in an
opposite direction and a rapid transit line would afford exceptional
opportunities for real estate investment and branch stores. Fifth
avenue or Penn avenue, or both, would seem to be the proper places
for such lines to the east. While a business zone along these streets
would be narrow because of the hills, the speed of cars would make up
for greater distances; and many people might live on the hills between
these streets and walk to their work in this zone. A subway along a
street might cost somewhat more than a tunnel; but Pittsburgh can
afford to have the thing well done.
[Illustration: PROPOSED SUBWAY.]
Another feature of the subway system which seems to need consideration
is the proposal to run surface cars in it. Obviously, if all the
Pittsburgh Railway cars could be put underground in the business
district, it would be a great advantage, as far as the street surface
is concerned. But of course this would not make it any easier to get
on the cars, because the loading would be restricted to four stations,
instead of being at every street corner. Again, there would be about
sixty car routes to be provided for, and 490 cars an hour, without
allowing for any increase of cars to furnish more seats. The routes and
cars would have to be divided between two tracks, so that half the cars
and routes would be on each track, viz., thirty routes and 245 cars
an hour. This traffic would obviously fill the subway at the outset,
without any room for growth, unless double-deck cars were used. Again,
it is against the new lesson of rapid transit, learned at great cost in
New York and Berlin, that a rapid transit line should have no junctions
and but one destination each way.
The speed proposed for the cars from the East End is very high; for
the running time of ten minutes from Kelley street to downtown would
require an average speed of thirty miles an hour, including the stop at
East Liberty and slowdowns for two junctions. To run at such a speed
would require block signals and automatic safety stops, and would limit
the number of cars to about sixty an hour. To use the subway to its
full capacity, either trains must be run, or else the surface cars must
be limited to the low speeds found in the Mt. Washington tunnel and the
Boston subway.
In a paper before the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania, the
engineer of the subway company spoke of running trains and not surface
cars in the subway, suggesting that in time all the steam railroad
passengers from the east should be transferred to the subway at East
Liberty; all the passengers from the west alighting in Allegheny and at
McKees Rocks, taking a subway built from the business district through
Allegheny and under the Ohio River at McKees Rocks. The loop in the
business district would have two tracks, with all trains running in
the same direction around the circle. This development of the subway,
however, evidently belongs to the future, and the running of surface
cars would appear more within the bounds of possibility.
One of the most serious questions about the subway proposition is
whether it would pay. The promoters answer that they are willing to
take all the risk. But if Pittsburgh really needs rapid transit, can
the city afford to have it depend on any $10,000,000 or $15,000,000
experiment, and wait several years to know the results? A subway, to
clear expenses, has been found to require from fifteen to twenty per
cent annual income on the cost. The cost of subways in this country has
ranged from $1,500,000 to $3,500,000 a mile. The New York subway cost
about $3,000,000 a mile equipped. To make a subway pay as far as East
Liberty, would require a minimum traffic in the heaviest rush hour one
way of ten thousand passengers. It might take twice or three times this
number, according to the cost and the volume of slack hour traffic.
It seems a very grave question if a radiating city like Pittsburgh can
support such a subway as proposed, to say nothing of a system serving
adequately all parts of the city. Subways have usually turned out to be
very poor investments, as many companies have learned to their cost,
in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Berlin. The New York subway pays only
for about half its length, a considerable part of the dividends coming
out of the surplus obtained from the elevated roads. Boston can afford
subways, because they are mere short links in an extensive system.
Subways have other disadvantages which must be carefully considered.
They might have been flooded downtown in March, 1907. On account of the
cost they can only serve a very limited territory. They are extremely
noisy. In New York, they are almost unendurably hot in summer, and
the air is filled with iron dust. They take long to build. They are
dangerous in case of fire, eighty-seven lives being lost in the Paris
disaster. If deep, as in London, many people do not like to use them,
even with elevators. The London underground roads are facing a very
serious proposition, several already being in a receiver's hands.
If shallow, they occupy or cramp the space needed for pipes, wires,
and sewers, greatly disturbing the proper arrangement of underground
necessities. They put passengers below ground in a place where the
sun never shines, leaving to heavy traffic the light and air of the
streets. Their signal advantage, on the other hand, is that they remove
the traffic altogether from the street, and do not shut out light and
air from the street surface.[4]
[4] Since this report was drafted, two subway ordinances have been put
before Pittsburgh councils:--
a. One for the Pittsburgh Subway Company for a franchise over the
route already indicated, asking for a fifty year franchise without
compensation to the city for the first ten years, and with payments
of one, two, three and four per cent per year, respectively, on gross
receipts during the decades following. The same parties who hold this
charter, are now applying for a charter for the Pittsburgh Underground
Railway Company. The two routes are identical. This charter is pending
before the Rapid Transit Board of the commonwealth.
b. The other ordinance before councils provides for the construction of
a municipal four-track subway for surface cars from Seventh avenue and
Grant boulevard east to Center avenue and Craig street, to be built by
the City Subway Company, a corporation of three trustees chosen by the
city of Pittsburgh. The city will pay the interest on bonds issued by
the company, and the latter will turn over to the city such rentals as
it can collect from the use of the subway, endeavoring to reimburse the
city in the end for all money expended. It is stated in the proposed
ordinance that this subway would be the beginning of a transit system,
but who would operate the system is not specified.
Ordinary elevated roads are certainly not desirable in the business
part of Pittsburgh, because the streets are narrow, the buildings
high; and there is still at times much smoke. There is already quite
an amount of elevated freight structure, black and without ornament.
It is perfectly true that an elevated road can be made practically
noiseless, as notably in Paris and Berlin; and there has been no damage
to property in these cities. The Berlin structure is painted white and
is an ornament to the city; but the streets are much wider there than
in Pittsburgh.
The prospects for satisfactory rapid transit in Pittsburgh do not
appear very good, unless perhaps some form of suspended railway
should meet with approval. A German type which has had eight years of
practical operation at Barmen and Elberfeld, is now under consideration
for Berlin. Whether it would suit Pittsburgh is a question; but it has
some very interesting advantages. It would cost only about a fifth of a
subway's price; so that the same expenditure of money could serve five
times the area,--a vital point with a radiating city.
The cars could cross existing bridges, probably, without interfering
with surface traffic. Studies of routes, structure, and costs make the
suspended appear a type of railway which could thoroughly compete with
the Pittsburgh Railways Company; and if competition is necessary, it
must be of no uncertain kind. Its cars could reach the heights about
the city, without excessive grades, and open up new territory as a
subway system could never afford to. If operated in co-operation with
the existing company, it would allow a large reduction of surface cars
in the business district as soon as opened, and the removal of all
tracks when desired. On the eight mile line in Germany, not a single
passenger has been injured in eight years of operation. The suspended
line, moreover, does not shut in the streets, as does the ordinary two
track elevated structure. With double-deck cars as feeders, it seems to
offer the cheapest, most convenient, and safest means of rapid transit.
It would seem wise, if any rapid transit line is to be built in
Pittsburgh, for the city to construct and control it, as in New York,
Boston, and Paris. The city would merely have to borrow the money, and
could retain control of the road in a way to get adequate service. It
might be desirable to put the operation into the hands of trustees,
who would run the road at a minimum cost and with only a safe margin
of profit, giving the public either the largest extension of rapid
transit lines possible at a five cent fare, or else serving a smaller
territory with a lower fare. The Brooklyn Bridge railway was operated
by public trustees most successfully for a number of years, with a two
and one-half cent fare.
What part the steam railroads will play in the future development of
Pittsburgh depends on their own efforts. Their suburban passengers
would probably find a rapid transit system more convenient, because
they could reach any part of the city quickly for five cents. A
terminal for such passengers, more central than the Union Station,
is one of the probabilities and would afford an artery of no mean
significance, but still without the other advantages of a rapid
transit line. The interurban business and that along the rivers could
probably be best done by the steam roads, especially if they would run
a frequent and cheap service of electric cars, as is done elsewhere.
The electrification of all the steam lines about the city would be a
great blessing, and the city should urge and encourage the matter in
every way. Till this is accomplished, much nuisance could be avoided
by a shortening of the maximum length of freight trains, which could
greatly reduce the noise and smoke, and, judging from the latest
experience, might be more economical to the roads in the end. The whole
steam railroad situation in Pittsburgh, both freight and passenger, and
the disposition of freight yards need further study, and especially in
comparison with Berlin where the main line has a five minute service
at the slack hours, suburban branches a twenty minute service, and
where the whole system is to be soon electrified at a cost of perhaps
thirty-five million dollars.
Any plans for the future transit of Pittsburgh should take into
consideration, not only the present conditions and arrangement of the
city, but also where the growth ought to be, where the healthiest sites
for houses are, and other broad questions. Transit, city planning, and
housing, are all closely related; and it may be well in concluding to
try to get a wider view of things.
Transit systems have grown up in modern cities because of the needs and
desires of people for moving about more than they did a century ago.
In the old days, when towns were small and the uses to which districts
were put were not specialized as now, people could walk to their
work, or else had space to keep a horse or two. As cities increased
in size and compactness, the keeping of horses had to diminish, and
distances grew, as well as the desires of people to go about more.
Public conveyances consequently came more and more into use; while the
constantly improving facilities, notably electricity, increased the
tendency to ride.
It would appear that the rate of a city's growth in people depends
on the amount of intercommunication, just as the intensity of some
chemical processes depends on the extent to which the different
elements come together. So transit is now regarded as a necessity, and
one which cities are beginning to feel, whatever the basis of ownership
and operation, is too vital to be exploited solely for the gain there
is in it.
Passenger transportation obviously has to meet the following
needs:--First, carrying people to and from work; second, carrying
people about their business during working hours, including shopping;
third, carrying people about on social, educational, and recreative
objects. The best transit system for meeting these needs is obviously
that which conquers space and time most equally for all inhabitants at
the lowest cost in money, convenience, safety and health. Of course
people should not do unnecessary traveling,--walking, writing, and
telephoning being desirable substitutes.
In American cities the economy of walking has been too much lost sight
of, chiefly in the matter of getting to and from work. The largest
demand on transit systems to-day is to carry people to work and back;
and yet, curiously, this ought perhaps to be the least important kind
of travel. For centuries, until a very recent time, everybody walked
to business, and the poorest classes as well as some of the wealthy do
still. The reason why so many have to live at a distance from their
work is not the mere growth of cities, but our universal disregard of
scientific town planning as practiced notably in Germany. We usually
crowd most of our business into one center, and then have to ride a
long way to get enough room for a single house. But congestion on
transit lines is just awakening us to the fact that the common radial
plan for a city is neither wholly necessary nor desirable.
It would look now as though the ideal city is a longitudinal one, with
factories on the leeward side, after the European plan as found in
Vienna and the new city of Letchworth, England; houses on the windward
side away from the smoke; and stores and offices between. The whole
city is narrow enough to enable people to walk across town to and from
work, their homes being opposite their place of work or business. One
or more high speed longitudinal transit lines would make the length
of the city no greater bar to travel than getting about our congested
business districts which are so often without even adequate surface
transit. The ideal of universal walking to work, were it possible,
would obviously abolish the rush hour travel, the cause of so many of
the worst features of American city transit.
With existing, radial growing cities, it would seem best to try to
replan on the longitudinal system as far as possible, modifying the
ideal to fit topography and other present conditions. A rapid transit
line is the best thing with which to begin the stretching out process
in a city where no such facility already exists. By rigidly limiting
the heights of buildings to the standards so successful in Europe, and
then in some way preserving belts of houses alongside the business
district as it begins to stretch, congestion may at least be checked.
Of course it is impossible at this late day to provide many single
houses within walking distance of a business district, though Boston
has notably done so for both rich and poor with its Back Bay, Beacon
Hill, and the West and North Ends.
But the conditions of Pittsburgh allow no simple alteration to fit the
ideal plan. No single transit line can serve both sides of the Ohio, or
the four shores of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. Again, the
question should be considered very carefully whether people ought to
live too near the manufactories, on account of the smoke and the noise;
and therefore whether the walking principle ought not to be waived in
such a manufacturing region, and all the workers be transported up
on the bluffs or beyond, where the air is purer, where more land is
available for single houses, and where they can have quiet, healthy
homes, making more efficient workers. If the smoke were not still so
abundant, the fast transit lines should best lie along the rivers, with
a belt of houses on the heights above. But as conditions are, the most
desirable locations for houses are away to the east, north, and south
of the business district, and so perhaps these are the regions which
should first be made more accessible to the heart of the city.
The location of rapid transit lines in Pittsburgh obviously needs most
careful study. It does not seem enough to connect East Liberty with the
business district by a straight line, without serving the intervening
territory. The situation needs the broadest study and outlook and the
united judgment of the best minds in the city. A transit solution
cannot be left to any interested company, but needs to be reached by
considering the welfare of all the inhabitants, future as well as
present.
[Illustration]