Use of Truck and Bus by Railroads.

The use of the motor coach and the motor truck by the steam railways of the United States in providing various forms of passenger and freight service, continues to progress steadily.

On 1st June 1982, sixty-four railways were a year ago, and the number of motor coaches operated is 1,047, as against 800 last year. The motor-coach routes total 340, an increase of 140 over last year, and they cover a large area of the United States. The aggregate motor-coach-route mileage is now 14,805, as compared with 8,000 at the same time last year. Forty-five railways, in addition to those carriers utilizing joint terminal motor service at St. Louis and Cincinnati, now are operating motor trucks, tractors and trailers, as compared with thirty-one roads a year ago. The number of trucks, tractors and trailers operated (most of which have been arranged for under contracts) is 4,902 as compared with 3,300 at the corresponding time a year ago. The number of routes and terminals served by the railroad motor vehicle freight carriers is 298, as against 259 last year, and the number of miles of motor-truck routes operated by the railways is now 3,521. There are no figures available to afford a comparison between the mileage of motor-truck lines this year with that of similar lines last year, but it is known that there has been a large increase during the past year.