pany and also in the case of 9 other companies which maintained the 5-cent rate in both years:

1 Year ended April 30, 1918, used for comparison, since fares were increased on May 1, 1918. • Decrease.

All companies of any size which maintained the 5-cent rate are included in this list, except the Fitchburg and Leominster and the Lowell and Fitchburg, which were omitted because of the increase in traffic caused by Camp Devens. It will be noted that the Bay State, notwithstanding its 15 per cent or more increase in rates, gained only about 9 per cent in receipts during the two-year period, while the other companies where the rate remained the same all increased their revenue, except the Northampton, and two of them actually gained more than the Bay State. The latter company was undoubtedly helped by the expansion of business in the Quincy district, caused by the Fore River shipbuilding industry, and by the increase of traffic for similar reasons in Newport, R. I., the receipts from the Rhode Island lines being included in the above table. This is shown by the fact that the increase north of Boston was but 6.47 per cent, while it was 13.8 per cent south of Boston.

As already shown, the results from the even larger average increase on the Bay State system which became effective on June 24, 1918, have been still more disappointing, and the record of the Middlesex and Boston, which is now charging 7 cents on certain lines and 8 cents on others, is quite as unsatisfactory. Even the Boston Elevated, which is distinguished by the terri

tory which it covers and the low percentage of short-haul riding, has been able to gain but 20 per cent (discounting the effect of the influenza in September and October) from a 40 per cent raise of fare to 7 cents. The extent to which the Bay State company has suffered in traffic may be illustrated by the fact that, on the basis of the riding in the year ended June 30, 1916, when the 5-cent unit was in force, an increase of 40 per cent to a 7-cent unit without change of zones would have produced about $12,700,000 total revenue, whereas the maximum which the company estimates from the new tariff, with increases over the 1916 fares ranging, for the most part, from 100 per cent to 300 per cent, is about $12,900,000 and the minimum about $12,400,000.

The cities served by the Bay State are compact, the distances are short, and the population made up on the whole of persons of very moderate means. It is possible that there are sufficient patrons who cannot find other means of transportation, who cannot walk or move their place of residence, and who are obliged to use the Bay State cars, so that revenue advantage may be gained from the proposed new fares. Our experience in many other cases, however, leads us to place little faith in the estimates of gain submitted, and to share the fears expressed by the representatives of the communities. The best that can be said of the new schedule, from the point of view of the company, is that it is a chance, the risk of which is increased by the fact that the service is poor and will continue to be poor, under the most favorable conditions which can be anticipated, for some time to

come.

Viewing the new rates from the public point of view, there is a certainty of a most disturbing effect. It is impossible to raise fares within a period of two years to the extent proposed in the company's new tariff, without disrupting and dislocating the conditions to which community life has become adjusted. The new schedule means that the company will practically abandon the short-haul business in the city centers, and from the centers to the nearby suburban towns the rates will be so increased that it is difficult to believe that much regular daily traffic can in the long run be preserved. Still more disturbing, moreover, is the fact that, even if the new fares should prove unsuccessful in producing the revenue desired, experience has shown that it would be well nigh impossible thereafter to reduce them.

The present time is a transition period. No one can be sure what the course of prices will be, or what the immediate future is likely in other respects to bring forth. So far as street rail

ways are concerned, it is in all probability a transition period in another sense, for it seems safe to say that the present unsatisfactory situation will lead to further action of some sort by the General Court. Without undertaking to predict what that action may be, it is certain that there are many who are coming to believe that it is wiser to place a part of the burden of the cost of necessary street railway service directly upon the community as a whole, rather than to suffer increases in fares which do not produce the results which they are designed to produce, and which are seriously disturbing to social and economic conditions.

This Commission was created, we assume, to protect the general public interest. Under present abnormal conditions, dealing with a situation so critical as the one by which we are now confronted, where the solution offered by the company is so uncertain and hazardous, we believe we are justified in disregarding speculative estimates or arbitrary rules and in taking the action which our best judgment leads us to believe will secure the best net results for all concerned. The company is in dire need of additional revenue, if only to provide a safe margin above necessary expenses of operation. Stating our proposition broadly, we propose to authorize for a brief trial period an increase in rates which seems likely, in our opinion, to produce a larger actual gain in receipts than the tariff proposed by the company and will at the same time result in less serious damage to the community, leaving the future to be dealt with in a manner which we shall hereinafter indicate.

It seems to be the general opinion that one important reason why the present schedule of fares has failed to produce anything like anticipated results has been its great complexity and the confusion which has been created by so radical a change, not only in the fares themselves, but in the methods by which they are collected. Quoting from the testimony of the vice-president of the company (Record, p. 747):

I am confident since the zone system has been in effect it has not been given anything like a fair trial because it was immediately loaded down with a mass of tickets in city centers, and off-peak tickets, and that sort of business outside of the fact that the conductors and the communities themselves were wholly unacquainted with the method. It is common elsewhere but not in this territory.

There seems to be no doubt that, along with the loss of traffic occasioned by the high rates, there has been another and a sub

stantial loss arising from the fact that the new system has provided greater opportunities for the percentage of dishonest conductors and dishonest passengers bound to exist among so large a number, and from the still more important fact that it has led, through congestion and confusion, to the missing of many fares where no question of dishonesty was involved. Indeed the reaction from this confusion, we believe, is one of the chief reasons for the insistency of the company upon a 10-cent minimum fare, which at least has the merit of extreme simplicity. Having in mind this situation and taking into consideration all other circumstances and conditions, the Commission has decided to authorize the immediate adoption of a new schedule of fares, made up as follows:

1. City Lines. In the cities the company may combine the present inner and outer zones into one area, charging a 7-cent fare by the sale of 5 tickets or metal tokens for 35 cents. For the purpose of encouraging the use of tickets, and in this way avoiding the difficulty in fare collection which arises when pennies are involved, the cash rate may be made 10 cents, but it is the purpose to make the real fare 7 cents, readily available to all riders. The tickets or tokens are to be sold by conductors on the cars, and it is a part of the plan that patrons shall be informed by the conductors that they may be obtained, and that the fact shall be advertised by signs in large type prominently posted in the cars. A certain percentage of riders will probably pay the 10-cent rate, but this will be of choice rather than of necessity, and the advantage thus gained by the company will benefit the other patrons.

In order that there may be no misunderstanding as to the area which this fare is to cover, it is the intent of the Commission that it shall apply as far from the center on all lines as the 8-cent cash fare now in force, except in Gloucester and Hyde Park, where it shall cover the present central area, there being but a single zone in each of these two districts under the existing schedule. In its proposed tariff, the company made the new central area somewhat smaller in certain cases than the present inner and outer zones combined, but no evidence was submitted as to the reason for such changes. If the management believes it can show that they are fair and reasonable, it will be given an opportunity, upon petition, to bring them forthwith to the attention of the Commission for further consideration. It is unnecessary to say that complaints from the public in regard to zone limits will receive similar consideration.

Since it is the intent that the real minimum fare shall be 7 cents, permission to charge 10 cents cash, for the purpose of encouraging the use of tickets, is given upon the understanding that the corresponding half fare tickets for school children shall be sold at the rate of 10 for 35 cents, so long as such tickets are required by law. Otherwise it will be necessary to make the cash rate 7 cents.

2. Country Lines. On the country lines the company proposes zones averaging about two miles in length, charging 5 cents in each with a minimum of 10 cents. This makes the rate, for the longer rides at least, about 2 cents per mile. The singleticket rate on the steam railroad lines is now 3 cents per mile, and trolley fares have always been somewhat lower. The rate of 2 cents per mile proposed is fairly comparable with the railroad rate, and it is also the rate which several country or interurban lines in Massachusetts are now charging, and which has been established on many of the interurban lines in the Middle West. It is also a rate no greater than will on the average be charged in the city zones under the 7-cent fare.

The difficulty in collecting fares on the mileage plan now followed is, perhaps, sufficient reason for substituting the simpler 2-mile blocks with a 5-cent unit, for the disadvantages of the present method affect the public as well as the company. To this extent, therefore, the schedule proposed on the country lines will be approved. We are unwilling to accept, however, a minimum of 10 cents on these lines as a general proposition. On lines where discontinuance is threatened, because of failure to earn operating expense, the Commission will of course permit any rates to be charged which are agreed upon by the communities and the company for the purpose of keeping the road open; but on lines which are not in this category we feel that 10 cents is too high a minimum rate. The company may either make the minimum rate 5 cents or follow the same plan as in the cities, selling tickets or tokens, good for a single zone ride, at the rate of 5 for 35 cents. The Commission is not at all sure that the former alternative is not the better for the company as well as for the community, but in view of present results from operation the management is given this choice.

The substitution of 5-cent zones without overlaps is very likely to cause complications in certain cases and some shifting of zone points or other changes may prove desirable. This subject will be reserved for further consideration by the Commission without prejudice on complaint.