Automobiles To Hospitals

The question of either building an extension of tho trolley road round by the hospitals or starting up.a line of automobile coaches to run in connection with the trolley road is being very seriously discussed at present. Superintendent Clark of the University hospital says there are a number of people who would be willing to buy $100 of car ticket in advance. There is a crying necessity for such a road. During the summer the university hospital has averaged 55 to 60 patients. There are over 80 students who change classes every hour in the university year. They all have to go from the hospital to the university. Then there are from thirty to fifty visitors a day at the hospital. The same holds in proportion to the Homeopathic hospital. This all indicates the amount of trade that a trolley line would receive. There are many patients at the hospitals who are recommended to take exercise in the open air. They cannot afford to hire hacks but they would be steady passengers on a trolley road. It is understood that a steady effort is being made to bring the advantages of a trolley line extension to the hospitals to the notice of the company. If the line was extended south on Observatory st. so as to include Forest Hill cemetery another source of income would be added. The outlook is for a profitable line if it would be built without delay. The automobile coaches are advocated by some citizens. This is not an entirely new thing as Pres. L. D. H. Ralph, of the Owosso & Corunna Traction Co., has arranged in Owosso to do this very thing. There is a portion of that city not covered by his line. He has purchased two large automobile coaches for $3,500 which he will run in connection with his trolley road. These coaches will hold some 30 passengers. This plan would cost the Detroit, Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor electric road the least money and would demonstrate the demand for transportation. If the question is sufficiently agitated now the matter can be helped in some way before the university opens. It needs, however, that everybody takes hold and it is not to be allowed to go to sleep.