Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1912 — New York Stepless Cars [ARTICLE]

New York Stepless Cars

Ons Gotham Traction Company There Trying Out a New Type of Coach. New York.—The New York City Railways company Is trying out this week the first samples of a new type of street car which probably will be adopted throughout ttfe city. The car which in appearance differs vastly from any others at present In use, is the notion of two officials of the company and is designed primarily with a view to ease and safety in boarding and alighting, the floor being only ten inches above the roadway. / Outwardly the new car resembles s torpedo, although the name the officials of the oompany attach to it Is the “stepless car.” It Is forty feet la length. The extremities are rounded and (he wheels are incased, causing it apparently to slide along the tracks. The principal feature is the slight distance the passenger is required to step either in boarding or alighting from the car, as entering is like stepping from the street to the curb. = * There is no front or rear platform, passengers entering and leaving through a side door. The conductor sits at one side behind a miniature desk, where he makes change and issues transfers. The doors are automatic and cannot be opened while the car is in motion. The seating capacity is fifty passengers and there is standing room for thirty more. Bests are placed as in a railway coach, except at tho ends, where there is s semicircular seat His that at the w ';;; ~

visible, are beneath the extremities of his seat, and the axle is situated Just under the floor. The car fe constructed wholly of steel. ; —