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WHY A 5c STRAIGHT FARE?
Service Requirements Make It Necessary
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1. In order that the P. R. T. can successfully continue to carry the, .people of Philadelphia-
nearly a,UUU,UOO car-riders each day.
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2. In order that the P. R. T. can pay in full the wages due 1 1,000 employes who- are nov
performing in public service in a way to set a world example.
3. In order that the P. R. T. can have credit to raise money to uphold and improve service.
P. R. T. NOW HAS ITS BACK TO THE WALL
P. R. T. must have more money or go to.
the wall! This would mean the loss of present
Management with probable reversion to con
ditions that existed here prior to 1911.
P. R. T.'s operating statement, just made
public, shows a deficit of $425,354.21 for the
month of August. An accumulated deficit has
been built up during the past several months in
varying amounts until P. R. T. is now short
$1,151,628.77 as of August 31.
P. R. T.'s operating deficit for the next
twelve months would exceed $4,000,000 under
present conditions.
The need of increased earnings is two-fold;
the amount required to pay actual operating
costs is necessary in order that the cars may be
kept running; the amount to pay the agreed 5
dividend on P. R. T. stock is required in order
that P. R. T. credit may be sufficiently estab
lished as to make its guarantee on bonds, to be
issued for desired extensions, of sufficient value
to make them salable.
Up to 1911, when the present Manage
ment came in, car service in Philadelphia was
chaotic; street car strikes had greatly disturbed
the car rider and caused enormous loss to the
community.
Co-operation under present Management
has put a stop to all this. 'Instead of having
strikes and interrupted car service during the
war, co-operation, between MEN AND MAN
AGEMENT of P. R. T., secured such settled
conditions as made it possible for Philadelphia
to get more than its share of war contracts.
These contracts provided plenty of employment
at high wages, made money plentiful and bene
fited everybody except P. R. T.
The established policy of the present Man
agement is that P. R. T., as a public carrier,
strives to carry the greatest possible number of
persons at the lowest possible fare.
The car rides per annum in Philadelphia
for each person in the population served have
been increased from 288 rides in 1910 to 479,
for the year 1919, this being an increase of 1 9 1
rides per annum per person a condition unap
proached in any other city.
Under the straight 5-cent fare, without
transfer or exchange ticket, it is estimated that
760,000,000 5-cent passengers would remain
undisturbed. It is also estimated that of the
present 230,000,000 free transfer and- 3c ex
change passengers per annum, many will no
longer make use of this privilege for very short
distances. They do so now simply because it
can be done for little or no cost. If this estimate
be correct, there will thus be provided an added
available car capacity equal to the now semi
wasted car capacity. This will supply the
equivalent of 300 additional cars during the
rush hours, for those passengers whose ride is
of sufficient importance to justify the payment
of the 5-cent fare.
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Philadelphia has today better street car
service at a less price than any other city. P. R.
T. stands alone in supplying uninterrupted
street-car service during the war, and has given
Philadelphia freedom from strikes and labor
disturbances during the entire 9-year period of
present Management.
The- MEN AND. MANAGEMENT of P.
R. T. in these days of difficulties between Labor
and Capital, represent an asset to Philadelphia
far greater than seems to be generally appre
ciated. That which is necessary to preserve this
great asset to the community is but the measure
of temporary relief, as represented by the
straight 5-cent fare without transfers or
exchanges.
Pittsburgh is now permitted to charge a
10-cent fare, and this would be necessary here
except for the good work of the MANAGE
MENT AND MEN.
No street-car company in the State has
served its City during the war in any way to
compare with P. R. T.
No company serves its people so well and
no company has such a priceless asset to the
City it serves, as is represented in the loyalty
and faithful service of P. R. T. employes; and
yet P. R. T. is the only street railway company
in Pennsylvania that has not yet received the
right to increased revenue.
No change in routes, which will increase
the rate of fare during the period of this tem
porary Jariff, wilji be undertaken without first
applying to the Public Service Commission,
which has the power to order, public hearings
on the question. The free changing of cars at
Juniper Street Station between the subway-surface
and subway-elevated will be continued as
at present.
P. R. T. is willing to operate the Frankford
Elevated as a part of its system and pay 5 per
annum upon its cost, but must get increased
revenue before it takes on any new obligations.
It has been urged that City's consent to
increased revenue should be withheld until val
uation is determined, or until something could
be done to reduce the rentals to underlying com
panies. If the City now makes the mistake of
refusing to consent to an immediate increase'in
revenue, P. R. T. must fail, and the City will
have exchanged the substance, of a Management
which has already saved millions in operating,
costs, for a shadow, which is represented in the
hope of decreasing P. R. T.'s fixed charges,
through the valuation of its property, or a re
duction in underlying" rentals, neither of which
can possibly offset the loss which would follow
a return to conditions of Labor and Manage
ment such as were formerly here, and do now
generally exist elsewhere.
Inventory of P. R. T.'s property was yes
terday presented to the Public Service Commis
sion. Pricing of the parts is proceeding and can
be accomplished with sufficient rapidity to keep
ahead of the City and Public Service Commis
sion representatives, so that there' need be no
delay. In spite of this fact, however, the expe
rience in similar valuation proceedings else
where, notably Pittsburgh, shows the verifica
tion of P. R. T.'s valuation cannot be accom
plished so that it may be usable for rate-making
purposes for many months to come.
Under the terms of the 1 907 Agreement
between the City and the Company, it is stated
that fares may be changed from time to time,
but only with the consent of both parties.
P. R. T. has petitioned the City now to as
sent to the collection of a straight 5-cent fare
without transfer or exchange ticket. This as a
measure of temporary relief to continue until
the value of the Company's property, for rate
making purposes, is finally determined, as re
quired by law.
The Mayor and City Council have urged
that the question of increased revenue is for the
City to decide under the terms of the 1907
Agreement. The Company has met this sug
gestion by withdrawing its July application
from the Public Service Commission, and has
presented its petition to Council, hoping the
City, having assumed the responsibility, will
rise to the emergency and assent to the tem
porary relief required to save P. R. T. from
bankruptcy. ,
T. E. MITTEN, President,
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company.
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