Public Regulation of Motor Bus Service

Abstract

BUS transportation is intimately related to the street railway problem. Since prices went up as an outgrowth of the war, the street railways of the country have been, broadly speaking, in a parlous state. Having been financed for the most part on the basis of monopoly and public necessity, they were in a very poor condition to meet the economic changes effected by the war. Operating costs multiplied, and at the same time the owners were egged on by the example of men in private business and encouraged by the chaotic state of valuation law as developed by the courts, to claim enormous appreciation in the value of their investments, when in fact they were having a very hard time to earn a return, even on the most conservative estimate of original cost. Street railway material costs have receded considerably from the peak reached during and after the war, but skilled labor still remains at a very high level as compared with pre-war times. Moreover, the cost of construction and reconstruction of street car tracks, as well as the cost of maintenance, is increased by congestion of traffic as the cities grow and motor vehicles multiply. In the field of operation, power costs are high on account of the high price of coal, of which high freight rates are an important factor, and conducting transportation is expensive on account of the high level of trainmen's wages maintained in recent years. Then, too, regardless of the effects of war, the electric railways have been coming into the period of necessary reconstruction and replacement on a large scale, without having made adequate provision for depreciation and renewal reserves in the past.