What They Say...

It is evident to all who observe Evanston's traffic-jammed business streets that one of the reasons congestion grows steadily worse is that too many people are riding in private autos, carrying one or two passengers, and too few are using mass transportation, such as the buses, which are suffering from a dwindling patronage. Statistics in the City of Evanston's weekly news bulletin show how great is the contrast in the efficiency of the two systems. Private autos, it is estimated, will carry 1,575 people in one lane of traffic, while busses can move 9,000. This means the busses are six times as eflicient.

Unfortunately, this showing has little meaning for the average autoist. He wants transportation from his front door to his destination, and without delay. And many are the autoists whose errands are not urgent nor important, but who insist they have an inalienable right to wheel their cars down the highway, no matter how crowded. There's not likely to be much falling off in one-passenger auto use till traffic becomes clogged to the point of paralysis.

* From the Evanston Review, February 9th, 1956.