Citizens Want Trolley, In Fact, Want It Expanded, But Won't Use It, March 18, 1925

Save Trolley by Patronage. . . Case of Greensboro Typical with Lines in Carolinas—People Raise Protest

Do the people want to do away with the trolley car? Ask Greensboro!

Somewhat of a funny world, this! The trolley runs day in and day out and few ride. But talk about tearing up the tracks and discontinuing the service—then the fun begins.

Such a proposition was made in Greensboro: to tear up the tracks in a certain section of the city and substitute bus service. It was stated that the lines were not paying, that there was not sufficient patronage to pay operating expenses even, and that possibly busses could serve just as well. A mass meeting was held and the public voted a vociferous nay-nay!

According to the Greensboro News: “A summary of the reasons offered by those present for opposing the bus proposition is the far that the car tracks would be torn up and in a few years the bus line would sink into oblivion and they would be without transportation facilities of any kind; fear that removal of the car lines would cause heavy depreciation in the value of property, transportation costs would be increased 60 per cent, and fear that it would be impossible to handle traffic during the rush hours.”

And there you are: the trolley offers regular and reliable service; the trolley enhances the value of real estate; the trolley is the only means by which mass transportation can be handled.

It was suggested at the Greensboro meeting that “if cars were run more frequently, patronage of the trolley cars PROBABLY would grow.”

That seems to be asking a great deal of a public service company.

Take any electric street railway for instance, which has been ??(performing?) for years at a loss; the people have preferred riding to town in their comfortable autos, using the main streets for storage purposes, and have let the trolley ?? its empty way. The trolley has continued all these years offering its services. A point is reached when losses seem to demand its discontinuance. Then the people ask that the county double its operating costs with the PROBABILITY that patronage will increase.

Maybe it will; maybe it won’t. It may be fair to ask such an increase in outlay from the company; it may not be fair.

But—there is one sure way to keep the trolley and help it expand and improve its service, and that is by patronizing it now—N-O-W.

Greensboro’s is not an isolated case; the same conditions prevail all through the Carolinas. Some fine day the people may wake up to learn that the trolleys simply cannot run and to force them to run would amount to confiscation.

From the front page of the Danbury Reporter, Wednesday, March 18, 1925

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068291/1925-03-18/ed-1/seq-1/#words=March+18%2C+1925