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Show find" bus operation IS UNPROFITABLE. ! - - li ! v . , . - , , I 1 . t " , " ' ' " s ' , , Bus Makes Easy Work of Going From One Town to Another. Tlie Iiidimia public service commls- Almost one out of ovety six routes sion flmls tli:it expenses of all motor- i!i:;t liave been iiullinri.eil by the corn-bus corn-bus companies operalin' in the suite mission. John V. McCarde, chairman, last year, according to their reiiorts. siiys, h;ive been doomed to die natu ,vas $3,2S3,400. This was $ir.'.1.0JO rally. m0re than the revenue derived from When asked what was the cause of tlie 457 routes operated by 20G compa- the hitrh percentage of abandonments, lies all over the slate. and the enormous loss to operators, There were 15S companies that his reply was: ''Private automobiles." showed a net profit above operatiir,' Salesmen Drive Own Cars, expenses. But the losses of the other "It's too easy now to jump In an 4S firms offset their profit and left the automobile and drive from one town state total in tlie red. These, for the to another. The roads are good," he most part, were bus routes opera led said. by traction and street-railway com- "Traveling salesmen who used to panies, the records showed. furnish a large source of revenue for Many Routes Discontinued. utilities and would have been a means However, since the inauguration of of making a profit for the bus operatic opera-tic bus law last year that placed their tors now are driving their own cars, operation under the jurisdiction of It Is more expedient. And one source the public service body, there have of revenue Is shut off." been several companies that have gone About 10 per cent of the companies under, and 73 of the routes have been operating motor-bus lines, McCardle discontinued, ' while many companies says, have been forced to return their have sold out to competitors. buses to the selling companies. |