100 years ago in Spokane: City commissioners turn down deal calling for streetcar fare increase

Spokane’s streetcar crisis entered a new phase when the city commissioners (City Council) refused to approve a compromise deal calling for a 1-cent fare increase to 6 cents.

The commissioners stood fast for the traditional nickel fare and vowed to pressure the state’s Public Service Commission not to allow an increase. The Spokane Daily Chronicle said there was “united opposition” to a fare increase.

This was an issue that affected almost everyone in the city, because streetcars remained the city’s primary form of transportation. However, with the rise of the auto, streetcar ridership had begun to decline, and the city’s private streetcar companies, Washington Water Power Co. and Spokane Traction, said they were losing money.

The two companies requested a 7-cent fare, but a compromise called for a 6-cent fare, a package of charter amendments, and an eventual merger of the two companies under one franchise.

The commissioners, however, squashed that plan and vowed to continue to put up “as strong a fight as possible.”

The Chronicle’s editorial page urged the commissioners to be reasonable, but also urged them to “fight the seven-cent fare to the end.” The companies were expected to ask the Public Service Commission for a 7-cent fare within the week.

Such an increase would “be a blow at Spokane’s industries, a shock to business and a disturbance of realty values,” the Chronicle said.