190 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



Statement by Daniel L. Turner, Deputy Engineer of Subway 



Construction, Public Service Commission, First 



Disrict,* May 11, 1916 



Increase in subway congestion 



The subway was originally expected to develop a traffic of from 400,000 

 to 500,000 passengers per day. It commenced operation the latter part of 

 1904, and carried 72,723,000 passengers in 1905. 



The next year, 1906, the traffic had increased to 137,917,000 passengers. 

 That is practically double, an increase of 100 per cent within one year 

 after operation. This increase was contrary to the expectations of a great 

 many who felt that embarking upon subway construction was a hazard 

 from a financial standpoint for the reason that people would object very 

 seriously to riding underground in subway lines. It was thought that the 

 business would be very slow in developing. On the contrary, the growth 

 was astounding. 



The figures constantly increased of course, but not at such a rate of 

 increase as in the first year of operation until we are now carrying 345,- 

 586,000 people a year. That is an average of very nearly a million a day. 

 Of course, the business during the year has fluctuated exceedingly. There 

 is a daily fluctuation in business. I will speak of that later on. There is 

 a monthly fluctuation in business dependent upon traffic conditions. At 

 the busiest time of the year, around the holiday season, in December, the 

 number of passengers carried per day is over a million and sometimes 

 nearly a million and a half per day. 



The exceedingly rapid development of business and the popularity of 

 subway travel is indicated when you consider the fact that all the elevated 

 lines in Manhattan, that is, the Second, Third, Sixth and Ninth Avenue 

 lines, in 1915, only carried 301,793,000 people, as against 345,586.000 for the 

 subway. The subway is now carrying more passengers per year than all 

 of the four elevated lines in Manhattan combined. 



Another comparison that is interesting is that in 1905, the first year 

 the subway was in operation the several elevated lines in Manhattan carried 

 in round figures 266,000,000 passengers, as against 73,000,000 passengers 

 on the subway. In the period which has since elapsed the number of pas- 

 sengers carried on elevated lines has increased from 266,000,000 to 302,000,- 

 000 per year, whereas the number of passengers carried in the subway has 

 increased from 73,000,000 to 346,000,000 per year. 



This tremendous increase has been taken care of without any increase 

 in the number of lines, simply by increasing the length of the trains and 

 decreasing the train intervals. The schedule at the start was two minutes 

 for the express service. Now the schedule for the express service has been 

 reduced to one minute and forty seconds. Besides this considerable decrease 

 in the interval there has been an increase in the length of trains — the express 

 service has been increased from eight to ten cars for each train. Of course, 

 overloading has increased enormously. At the beginning there was an 

 overloaded condition, but it was nothing comparable to the overloading that 

 is carried now. I have known counts to be made in subway cars, carrying 

 close to 200 passengers. We figure as a rule about 125 persons to a car 

 as the number for a load, whereas the seating capacity is a little under 

 fifty — we put it at fifty. The seats are nineteen inches wide. The 1914 



* This statement has been compiled from answers marie to questions asked 

 Mr. Turner. 



