TOO MANY MOTOR CARS.

Shannon News, 31 July 1925, Page 1

TOO MANY MOTOR CARS.

-NIAGARAS OF TKAIIIC. NKW YORK'S i'AKKLXG I’KUiiLE.U 11. is a curious fact that New York, which 1.0 a tar greater extent, titan London is afflicted with wlmt a Kritisli visitor aptly described as "congested impotence,” has only recently attempted to grapple with the problem of scientifically parking its myriads of mo-tor-cars. Until last year its motorists were permitted to leave their cars standing beside the kerbs for an indefinite period practically anywhere, except in Fast. Avenue. They could leave them outside a theatre or hotel, or within 10 ft. of a tire hydrant. Ail sorts of schemes were devised to control the Niagaras of traiiic which gorged its streets; but. it was not until the fire Commissioner raised'a cry of alarm that, drastic regulations limited the parking rights of motorists. It happened one day that a lire was discovered in one of the leading theatres. The street in which the burning building was situated tvas lined on both sides throughout, its entire length with empty motor cars, which the firemen could not move because tlieir gear had beeu locked as a precaution against theft. , ; .Loss of L,ilo Feared. At this the Fire, Commissioner issued an urgent warning. He informed the authorities that parking in narrow l and congested thoroughfares must cease unless they were prepared to suffer, in case of a conliagration, incalculable loss of life. (.' As it was also discovered that merchants were suffering immense losses every day by delays, caused by parked motor-cars in the loading and unloading of merchandise ,far-reacliing restrictions against motorists were immediately enforced. They were forbidden to park in any of the narrowdown town streets or to park anywhere for a period Of longer than 2u minutes. •

.Simultaneously traiiic was subjected to regulations which increased its mobility 20 per cent. The lower half of one-way streets; and the system of signal towers controlling flashlights—red for "slop” and. green for “go”— was extended, with the result that over vast areas of t lit.- most crowded tit reels in the world traiiic now moves and halts with the automatic precision of a loom. <515,000 iMotor-Cars!

1-low gigantic and complex tiic parking' problem of New York lias become may be seen from a few figures. A'year ago the'residents of the metropolis owned 350,000 motor-ears and lorries. To-day' they operate 406,000. and the number is increasing weekly by leaps and bounds. \ Futhermore, people from outside enter and leave New York daily in 209,00 0 motor vehicles. Forty thousand motor cars pass daily along Fifth Avenue. Forty thousand more may be counted any day in i’ark Avenue.; and yet another- 40,000 may be seen going from .it road way and Fighth Avenue into Columbus Circle. For a few thousand of these vas legions of cars, Lite city provides free parking places, guarded by policemen in West Street on the waterfront, in the triangles..near City ilall, - and io Union Square. F>ui the vast inilk of them have to spend their wabbly hours beside the kerbs, on'vacant building sites, or in private garages .Mammoth garages now exist in all parts of New York. They are many storeys high, and tile cars' ar,e either carried in gigantic lifts 0r,.-driven up steep ramps to their allotted doors. Impatient .Millionaires.

Another striking spectacle is tha' afforded at night in the theatre dis triot. In Thirty-ninth Street, for instance. there tire no fewer- than four theatres. The parked ears line the pavemenls for a distance of half a mile. When the performances close signals are flashed till along tile street and cars move into line four abreast. Under this' system it. i«> possible to empty the Metropolitan. Opera House in in minutes, whereas formerly the operation took f’tfto of; minutes and ecst many of the more impatient millionaires £2O a season itf tips to secure priority for their cars. Despite the alleviations recently introduced the problem of Jinding parking space for New York's half a million cars presents new didieullies every month. One suggestion which tinds widespread favour is to excavate a gargantuan garage beneath Central Park. In many of the suburbs what used to be i lie sidewalk lias been commandeered for parking purpocs aml a new sidewalk lias been creeled above the parked cars. It is regarded as a foregone conclusion that tnM'ore long pedestrians and vehicles will be obliged to move on different, street levels.