Page:Highway Needs of the National Defense.pdf/105

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HIGHWAY NEEDS OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
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employing motor busses handled approximately 95 percent more passengers in 1944 than in 1941. The total vehicle-miles traveled by all types of busses, including school and other nonrevenue types, increased from 2,820 million in 1941, to 3,365 million in 1943, and 3,799 million in 1944.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF PASSENGER CARS TO WARTIME TRANSPORTATION

In spite of the increased burden carried by public transit facilities, the private automobile proved to be an essential agency of wartime transportation, particularly in getting workers to the war plants.

Figure 14.—Number of heavy gross weights per 1,000 trucks and combinations in a prewar period and in each year, 1942–47.

Many of the largest war industry establishments were situated in rural or semirural areas where mass transportation could not possibly be made adequate to serve all the workers needed. Other large plants, although situated in or near cities, could not be served adequately by mass transportation alone, because of the time required for many workers to get to and from work by the circuitous routes they would have been required to take.

As the war progressed this situation became more acute. New plants, military establishments, and other concentrations of employment were located in areas served inadequately or not at all by public transportation. Many war industries increased their employment and