Chapter 00. Preface

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Fifty Years of Rapid Transit · James Blaine Walker

Preface

"RAPID TRANSIT" in New York City means the transportation of passengers from one part of the city to another by trains of cars, as distinguished from transportation by single cars or "street cars." It is distinctly a modern development covering roughly a half century, although practical, rapid transit operation dates back only to 1871.

Located on a narrow island between the Hudson and East rivers; New York City presents probably the most difficult situation in regard to internal traffic of any city in the country. Bounded on West, South and East by water, the only outlet for growth was toward the North, with. the result that early in the Nineteenth Century it became a long, narrow city, with its business section at the southern end and its homes at the northern extremity -- an extremity that has always receded as the business section grew and pushed it further away.

When Wall street was the northern limit the traffic problem was simple, but when that limit had been transferred to Twenty-third street the population had grown to such an extent that it was a difficult matter to provide facilities to take its business men down town in the morning and up town at night. Omnibuses were the first public conveyances following the stage coach days. Then came horse cars, then elevated railroads, then electric trolley cars and finally subways. Each class in its day was overcrowded. This was due principally to the phenomenal growth of the city, which added to the traveling population faster than transportation facilities could be provided. A secondary cause was the policy of traction corporations, which have always found "dividends in the straps" and have postponed extensions of their lines to the last minute in order to enjoy as long as possible the swollen revenue which came from overcrowded trains and cars.

In the year 1870, when the first dummy engine trains ran on the first elevated railroad, the entire street railway travel of the city was about 115,000,000 passengers. In 1880 this had grown to 288,000,000 -- more than doubling in ten years. Each succeeding decade has seen a corresponding increase until at the present time (1917) the passenger traffic in the greater city is upwards of 1,900,000,000 a year. This growth is out of all proportion to the increase in population, for while in 1870 the average citizen took 100 street car rides in a year he now takes upwards of 350. In other words the more traveling facilities provided the more people make use of them.

This enormous traffic is now handled by electric surface or trolley cars, trains on elevated railroads and trains in the subways or underground railroads. It demands the use every day of about 13,000 passenger cars operated over 2,300 miles of track. If laid in a straight line these tracks would stretch from New York to Salt Lake City. The capital invested in these enterprises is enormous. The outstanding stocks and bonds of the several companies now aggregate $1,121,296,001. The universal fare is five cents and one may ride twenty miles for one fare. The total amount of fares collected during the last fiscal year was $94,547,916.

About one half of this traffic is rapid transit traffic-- that is traffic handled by trains of cars on elevated or underground roads. The other half is carried by single cars operated on surface tracks. Electricity is the universal motive power -- the third rail on elevated roads and subways and the underground or overhead trolley on the surface lines. A few of the latter use storage battery cars.

The pursuit of a suitable and adequate system of rapid transit has been constant. The sought for ideal has been at times almost in sight; again it has disappeared, only to be revived as the struggle for it grew in strength. Romance and tragedy, few successes and many failures marked the quest. In its service men whose ideas made possible the successes, like the traditional poor inventor, have lived to see those ideas turned to profit by others; have sunk their all in vain attempts to materialize their dreams only to retire bankrupt and see other men reap golden harvests from their crops. The history of rapid transit is replete with flashes of genius and the sordid spirit of greed. It tells of battles, of schemes, of great ambitions. The struggle for public franchises alone, staged in the Legislature and the City government, provides material for a thrilling drama. Most of the actors in the earlier scenes have gone from this world, but a few remain, and with their recollections and documentary relics it is still possible to recast the forgotten parts. The writer has endeavored to do this in the following pages, which embrace the most interesting phases of an interesting research.

					JAMES BLAINE WALKER.
					Pelham Manor, N. Y. 
					November 1, 1917. 

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