Show AVIIAT IT COSTS Comparative licenses of Street Kiiilirnjs in San Francisco A local authority on street railways has succeeded in gathering together several interesting facts about cable and electric railroads which have popularly pop-ularly been regarded with considerable curiosity says the Call Among other things he taltes public opinion by surprise sur-prise with a statement that electric lines cost more to operate than cable roads I In giving his views to Thomas Magee he said The San Mateo electric road as operated today requires as much I horse power to operate it as the whole original Market street systemthat is I Market street Valencia Haight Hayes and McAllister streets combined The comparative cost of the motive power ol cable and electricity is very much in favor of the cable rroad provided pro-vided the number of cars are in excess I of say from thirty to forty No single electric car can be operated operat-ed with less than from 10 to 13horsr II power this ratio remaining the same ono o-no matter how great the number of I cars operated from the one power I plant while the average horsepow expended for each cable car operated here San Francisco is less than T > The ratio of horsepower per car do creasing as the number cars operated operat-ed by the cable are increased for example ex-ample it would require from 10 to 15 horsepower to operate an electric lip of one car and from 500 to 750 horse piwer to operate the same line with 50 cars I carsIn in the case of a cable line it would require 50 to 70 horsepower to operate a single car line and about 250 horsepower horse-power to operate fifty cars on the same lineOn On a steep grade wnere a single electric car would require at least 50 horsepower to propel the same a cable car would require no more and perhaps less than on any other part of the road as the cars returning down the same hill or a like hill would balance those going up and the power expended to > propel either would be nominal Rails used on the electric roadbed must necessarily be heavier than those used on a cable as an electric car empty weighs more than a cable car of the same capacity and its load combined com-bined With regard to the cost of the same electric cars fully equipped with two motors cost from 5000 to 6000 whereas a cable car of the same capacity ca-pacity with grip and brakes complete would not cost to exceed 2000 While the cable road is cheaper to operate the cost of construction is in favor of the electric road Each singie track of the present Market street cable originally cost about 100000 per mile but material I and rails especially were expensive when the road was built rails costing at that time 570 per ton can be duplicated dupli-cated today for li0 Electric roadbeds ilo not necessarily need steel and concrete construe on therefore electric lines similar to Mission Mis-sion street can be built for half the cost Df 1elina 2 ooll roile single track TVHile thai1 on Itearney street that in with concrete foundation founda-tion from 3fCOO to 35000 per mil This is on the basis of single track but electric roads seem to be tho most popular today The difference in the cost of building them the speed o > tainable and the electrically lighted cars are all inducements to the contemplating con-templating builders to use the same on streets with gradients not exceeding one in seven |