Is authorized by Public Service Commission to Abandon 13-mile stretch.
The Chautauqua Traction company was authorized Friday by the public service commission to abandon a thirteen-mile stretch of its route between Ashville and Mayville.
Commissioner Pooley, who wrote the opinion, points out that while the route is a public convenience, it has sustained substantial losses since 1909 and in no year since 1918 has it earned operating expenses.
Two short sections of track are to be retained, however, one from Lakewood to Ashville being transferred to the Jamestown Street Railway company and the other in Westfield being transferred to the Jamestown, Westfield & Northwestern Railroad company.
“As early as 1919,” wrote Commissioner Pooley in the opinion, “it was apparent to the former public service commission, second district, that the assets of the Chautauqua Traction company, and the investment of the owners therein, had been substantially impaired, and that by reason of the lack of patronage, and the progressive and continued falling off in the number of passengers carried, there was no prospect of the company recouping these losses or ever earning a return on the investment made in the property.
“At that time it was apparent that improved highways and the use of automobiles were adversely affecting the business and revenues of suburban traction companies. The extensive improved road program which has since been carried out, and the vast increase in the use of automobiles have made this condition more perplexing and damaging to traction interests, and the and the Chautauqua Traction company has not only been deprived of sufficient patronage to pay its operating expenses, but its property has become practically worthless for operating purposes.”
Source: The Silver Creek [NY] News, 11 February 1926, p. 1, Fultonhistory.com.