"Going Places" (1952)

[Music] why don't you act grown-ups pap [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hey hold on there stop it you both ought to be ashamed of yourselves why don't you act like grownups and you [Music] too quiet all of you stop where you are there that's better of course if you'd rather not listen go ahead just step on the gas take off let's you can't go forward so why not go back for a moment let's see how you got into this mess in the first place come on all of you [Music] back I mean all the way back if we want to get to the bottom of things we've got to go back to the beginning of course there were no traffic problems but in time there were plenty of others clearing building the first houses near a crossroad then the church and the mill these were gradually connected by foot paths and horse trails as the settlement grew into a village paths became roads for wagons and car gages as Commerce and Industry thrived the people sought out easier and faster ways of moving about but as the city continued to Transportation was stirring the imagination of the daring few who could afford [Music] it the but the automobile just got better and [Music] better pretty soon it wasn't just luxury or a convenience it became part of the American standard of living try to imagine what this country would be like without automobiles it would be impossible to live in many parts of the country without them for business or for travel for recreation or vacation there's nothing like it [Music] car 50 million Americans can't be wrong but millions of cars take up a lot of room especially when too many of them are in the same place at the same time traffic congestion gets worse and worse because more and more while we go about our daily work take this modern office building if all the people in the building drove their cars to work the parking area required would be greater than the floor space of the building itself city planners and Traffic Engineers have been trying valiantly to make more space available for traffic handling but the increasing number of cars requires wider streets and more off street parking lots in many cases valuable land must be sacrificed to the traffic monster but these changes only bring more cars into already overcrowded downtown streets and the traffic situation becomes more acute and aggravating than it ever was before we widen our streets and invite more traffic more freeways more cars and so the cycle goes [Music] for all the time and money spent what will it bring us in the city feed convenience safety pleasure we've been trying to move traffic when the basic intent is to move [Music] people it's the objective in every Community to move people to factories and offices to church to schools to a playground and home again this growing number of people must by some practical means into the area where they work shop and play most cars carry only one or two people within this block 50 people in 40 cars no wonder we have traffic congestion now here's a practical approach public transit let's see how it helps solve our problem a motor bus can carry as many people as all the cars that can be jammed into a city block One Trolley coach provides enough Transportation per trip to eliminate the need for as many as 50 parking spaces in a downtown area a modern street car with its large carrying capacity handles enough traffic each day to remove hundreds of cars from heavily congested downtown [Music] areas a fourt trck system of this type can carry 100,000 people per hour in each direction to do the same job with automobiles would require more than 100 Lanes of Highway over a half mile wide and costing many times more than the entire rapid transit system 50 Lanes of carrying capacity can be added to a freeway by building a two trck rapid transit line down the center let's take a closer look at our Transit System so far as most of us are concerned public transit is dropping a token into a fair boox these tokens all add up to one thing a faster safer more dependable ride for you where do you live where do you want to go what time how many of you at a time these questions have all been studied by your Transit company your arrival at work must be timed vehicles must be made available for Rush period you are able to transfer to other points wherever trans the trans operator must carefully study each type of vehicle and use it where it will best serve you whether you live in the suburbs on the main thoroughfares or trains running over private right of ways Pro to be the most practical way to handle large numbers of people in the large cities your daily travels are made possible by trained skilled people ensure high standards of performance high standards for equipment too must be upheld regular inspections and maintenance go on daily because the safety and convenience of thousands of people are concerned [Music] on Rapid Transit lines block signals control the safe movement of many trains the location and movements of each train are controlled through the dispatchers [Music] board all these devices are placed in the hands of competent alert Opera is to serve you the passenger with safe Dependable [Music] Vehicles well it's public transit in Action a logical solution to traffic congestion we've come a way in the last 50 years and we pride ourselves on our accomplishments some car some pickup man this is really living [Music] [Music] well it was bound to happen we've been trying to move traffic when the basic intent is to move people we must move people or our cities will be strangled to move people cities must take drastic action establish a system of arterial and local streets control traffic lighting that speeds the flow to work and enforce driving and parking restrictions in heavily traveled streets ban parking on Main Streets during rush hours restrict turns at busy intersections and some cities may have to reserve streets or at least traffic lanes for Transit Vehicles alone because one person in one car can delay hundreds of people in the transit system Merchants may have to accept deliveries at off and you must give the transit system a fair bre rate and tax legislation then with new TRS enforced surface Transit can give service of Rapid Transit it will be even more convenient and practical to park your car outside the downtown area on the outskirts there is and your transit system will then get you to work and in half the time you will be EXs more dangerous than the transit ride you will be able to ride to the corner near insurance rates will be reduced valuable property will be saved for business and industry and because of reduced congestion speed the flow of the majority who already ride the if you're sick of fighting traffic now what do you think it might be what do you want your town strangled by traffic congestion continually destruction of valuable property or is your town going places building a sound Urban transit system that will speed the travel of people today your city grow tomorrow stop thinking in terms of moving Vehicles people and your town will be going place [Music]