192 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



A seating capacity standard is financially impossible. Neither would it be 

 a physical possibility under present conditions. 



Rush hour traffic 



The proportion of daily travel in New York during the rush hours is 

 a very variable proposition. The rush hour traffic, that is, the traffic in 

 one hour in one direction past the maximum load point varies all the way 

 from four to five per cent in the subway to twenty per cent on some of the 

 surface lines — of the total daily business in both directions. 



1 have no doubt that people let three or four trains go by before getting 

 on at the Grand Central Station during the rush hour. You can get com- 

 fortably into a train at the Brooklyn Bridge during the rush hours. Every- 

 body at this station bound for a certain destination is able to get into the 

 first train to that destination which arrives. They may not all get a seat, 

 but undoubtedly they all get in. There may be some little waiting at 14th 

 Street. There was a time when 14th Street was simply a swarming mass of 

 people. They frequently had to wait five or six minutes before they could 

 get on a train. Now the waiting has moved up to 42nd Street, in my judg- 

 ment. This is just a general observation that I am speaking of. I have 

 not had any actual count made. 



Average length of time spent in subway 



I should not think that the length of the average trip would amount to 

 much more than twenty-five or thirty minutes. I made some careful obser- 

 vations some time ago, and the average ride on the subway was then about 

 five miles. I think it may be a little greater than that now. This average is 

 for the whole day. The average for the rush hour ride would run some- 

 where around thirty-five to forty minutes. The time spent in the subways 

 by those who travel during the rush hour, therefore, average about eighty 

 minutes per day. 



Possible increase in subway capacity 



I would not say that the limit has been reached in the present subway 

 with respect to the length or number of trains. I think that the interval may 

 yet be reduced somewhat. 



At the peak of the rush our new contracts as a matter of fact, require 

 a minute and a half interval, forty trains an hour. Some of the operators 

 maintain that we are not going to be able to quite accomplish this. From the 

 best evidence that could be obtained, after careful study of the situation, 

 the contracts were drawn to require that the equipment be provided to 

 maintain the necessary speed and that a signal system be provided which 

 would permit that interval. Now if the traffic can be controlled so as not 

 to congest the lines, but can be distributed so that cars are not excessively 

 over-loaded, then station stops will be reasonably short. I believe under 

 such conditions that the 1 ^-minute interval may be accomplished. That is 

 our feeling anyhow. I know that we could do better in the present subway 

 if we could reduce the time of the stop. The Grand Central station stop 

 which is practically a controlling stop on the present subway runs close tc 

 a minute, when really it ought not to be more than half a minute — that stop 

 stalls everything on the line behind. When the subway was originally put 

 into operation the stop then necessary retarded the operation for the reason 

 that the signals did not permit the trains to approach the station because they 

 had to maintain a running distance and the result was that the train in the 

 station got a clear signal to go ahead and the other train not only had to get 

 into the station and stop, but had to travel some distance from behind. 



