NATURAL GAS. 
39 
< 33 % 
a seat, yet the cost of so doing would make the general service cost 
much more than the additional advantages would be worth. Since 
the demand for seats may be four or five times as great during the 
rush hours as it is in the middle of the day, the only feasible way to 
deal with this situation is to admit the necessity of a different stand- 
ard of service for rush and nonrush periods. Since the fare remains 
constant, it becomes necessary to provide relatively fewer cars, and 
therefore fewer available seats, for the rush period than for the 
nonrush travel. 
But for the uni- 
formity of street rail- 
way rates, the rush 
hour passenger 
might justifiably be 
charged more than 
the nonrr&h passen- 
ger. Conversely, it is 
not unreasonable that 
he should, paying the 
same fare, expect to 
have to put up with 
a somewhat less com- 
fortable ride at that 
time. There is cer- 
tainly little economic 
ground for an espe- 
cially reduced fare 
for this service . 1 
This is precisely 
the situation with 
regard to natural 
gas pressures during 
the peak load period, 
with this further 
feature, that the 
natural gas peak 
load periods cover 
relatively only a few days of the year, as against the everyday situ- 
ation on street car traffic.. As long as natural gas prices for the 
higher, costing peak load service remain the same, the consumer must 
therefore expect a lower standard of service during that period. 
FIG. 16. RELATION OF INDUSTRIAL AND DOMESTIC 
NATURAL GAS CONSUMPTION. 
1 Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 1911, p. 623. 
