Passenger service

“ Safety in travel is greatly promoted by these conditions, but in other respects the passenger service is, from an American standpoint, much inferior to that in this country, although vast improvements have taken place both in England and on the Continent within recent years. ”

“ If a passenger called upon the engineer to render a service, that employee [66] would be rendering an extra service, but stewards and stewardesses and like employees are aboard to render any service the passenger wants or needs. ”

“ The leading idea is to make the journey as difficult and as uncomfortable as possible. The plan is based on treatment of parcels or baggage. The passenger is bundled about, shunted, locked up in waiting-rooms, and finally delivered in a limp state at whatever hour and whatsoever place may suit the convenience of the railway people. Discover the same spirit dominant in management and arrangements of the sea service. Steamer from Marseilles to Tunis advertised to sail to-day at noon. ”

“ When he goes into the passenger business he absurdly clings to his old habit, and keeps one leg of his passenger always dangling over the great deeps of the lower world while that passenger's heart is in the highlands, so to speak. ”

“ Sitting there in the third-class carriage, he became happy again. The presence of his fellow-passengers was not so hampering as in England. In England, everybody seems held tight and gripped, nothing is left free. Every passenger seems like a parcel holding his string as fast as he can about him, lest one corner of the wrapper should come undone and reveal what is inside. And every other passenger is forced, by the public will, to hold himself as tight-bound also. ”

“ Of course they pay the second fare without a murmur, and if any other passenger does not follow their example they express great astonishment that any one could be so mean as to attempt to swindle a poor 'bus conductor. ”

“ I mingled with the crowd of passengers, porters, and officious individuals in blue coats and brass buttons, who seemed to spring up like mushrooms from the deck of a moored steamer to obtrude their unnecessary services upon the independent passenger. I have often noticed with a certain interest the spontaneous evolution of these fellows. They are not there when you arrive ”

“ Passenger transportation obviously has to meet the following needs:—First, carrying people to and from work; second, carrying people about their business during working hours, including shopping; third, carrying people about on social, educational, and recreative objects. ”

“ In all cases except where passengers shall be ejected for refusal to produce proper ticket or pass, or to pay the proper fare, the conductor, before so doing, must tender such passenger such proportion of the fare he has paid as the distance he then is from the place to which he has paid his fare bears to the whole distance for which he has paid his fare. ”

“ A detachment of the officers of the customs was in attendance, and energetic passengers were engaged in attempts to drag them toward their luggage or to drag heavy pieces toward them. These functionaries were good-natured and taciturn, except when occasionally they remarked to a passenger whose open trunk stared up at them, imploring, that they were afraid the voyage had been "rather glassy." They had a friendly, leisurely, speculative way of performing their office, and if they perceived a victim's name written on the portmanteau they addressed him by it, in a tone of old acquaintance. ”

“ It presently appeared that two of the passengers were northern men; one of them the editor of a New York newspaper, the other a Boston agent, employed in the purchase of cotton for some mercantile houses or manufacturing companies of that city. The third passenger was a person of very striking appearance, with a face of great intelligence, a dark eye that seemed to penetrate you at a glance, a captivating smile, manners exceedingly soft and winning, and something in his whole bearing that indicated a man accustomed to mingle freely in society. ”

“ There are no restrictions as to behaviour in these omnibuses. A passenger may smoke, spit and swear, inside or out, to his heart’s content. Moreover, he may take in with him dogs, ferrets, rats, birdcages and beer. The conductor smokes a clay pipe and talks, with the air of an authority, of sporting matters. Several passengers offer him drinks from their private bottles. He accepts [Pg 176] them all, and yet never forgets to collect the fares inside before going on top. ”

“ But on all railroads there are rules governing the passengers as well as the employees, the same as there are in all lines of business. A passenger may not, for instance, smoke in the body of the Pullman car, but must retire to the drawing room or his stateroom. ”

“ On some lines they use tickets showing the amount each passenger pays, but a conductor sometimes forgets to hand you a ticket. An Inspector will occasionally mount a ’bus to see that all the passengers are supplied with tickets, and then the conductor with a treacherous memory has reason to be sorry. ”

“ Vestibuled express trains are now in general use, on which sleepers, parlor cars, a dining car, a smoking saloon, library, bath-room, barber shop, and writing-room are provided. The checking of baggage is regarded in this country as one of the most indispensable features of railway travel, as by this system through checks over any number of connecting railways may be issued, so that baggage is transferred from the passenger's residence to any specified address in the country without devolving any responsibility upon the owner. ”

“ If our traveller have taken a first-class ticket, he will find, even if he has filled a second place with his necessary encumbrances, he will rarely be disturbed; for those who in England can afford to pay for the best accommodations, are usually of a class to whom good manners are habitual—they will, therefore, rather seek another seat than put a fellow-passenger to inconvenience. The railway companies being most liberal with their carriages, the chances are, if you arrive early and manage well, you will always secure room for your legs. ”

“ That no passenger shall exercise any control whatever over his own luggage; and that no director, chairman, station-master, policeman, guard, porter, engine-driver, or stoker in any of the companies' employ, shall be responsible for anything whatever. ”

“ Our passengers were our prisoners. That made the situation somewhat unusual and added a bit of spice. I've served as an officer aboard a dozen or more liners, and have seen all kinds and strata of society aboard, including dull, delightful, ill-natured, jovial—both the quick and the dead. Yes, I have had some splendid passenger lists on voyages where every hour was gay and bubbling with fun. But no group of passengers on a liner ever enjoyed such happy comradeship as did we aboard our buccaneering craft. ”

“ Once on board, the train will not start till your ticket has been examined—till every passenger’s ticket has been inspected. This is chiefly for your own good. If by any possibility you have managed to take the wrong train, you will be handed over to a polite official who will take you whither you belong, and bestow you with many an affable bow. ”

“ The well-fed, well-defended passenger, with muffled neck and arms thrust to the elbow in the pockets of his dreadnought, rubbed shoulders with the half-paralyzed and shivering wretch that shuffled amid the hurrying throng, often apparently without other object than that of joining in the stream of fellow-creatures, whom he could resemble in no other way. Carriage after carriage rolled past, the children of affluence for their tenants, interchanging careless comments, or looking with languid and heedless gaze upon the squalid, the impoverished, the abandoned, the degraded, that, alas! ”

“ A rail passenger carrier shall use reasonable efforts, with respect to its unreserved trains, and passengers not holding reservations on its other trains, to ascertain the names of passengers aboard a train involved in an accident. ”

“ A passenger on it must spend at least one night away from home, while transacting his business. An air passenger covers the same distance in one and one-half to two hours, and can return on the same day. ”

“ The first-class passenger, except when thrown against his opposite companion, or when some luggage falls upon him, is generally saved from severe contusion by the well-stuffed or padded linings of the carriages; whilst the second-class and third-class passenger is generally thrown with violence against the hard wood-work. ”

“ They might begin by shipping off some of the old-time whiskey-guzzling drivers who are too high and mighty to do anything but handle the ribbons, and are above speaking to a passenger unless he's a favorite or one of their set. ”

“ A railway company must provide reasonable facilities for forwarding passengers’ luggage; where luggage is taken into the carriage with a passenger, the company is responsible for it only in so far as loss or damage is due to the passenger’s interference with the company’s exclusive control of it. ”

“ PASSENGER— The term ``passenger ́ ́ includes— `` (A) an employee of a rail passenger carrier aboard a train; `` (B) any other person aboard the train without regard to whether the person paid for the transportation, occupied a seat, or held a reservation for the rail transportation; and `` (C) any other person injured or killed in a rail passenger accident, as determined appropriate by the Board. ”

“ Every endeavour, consistent with safety, must be made to expedite the departure of the Goods Trains from the Roadside Stations; and no delay should be permitted unless obstruction to Passenger Trains may be reasonably apprehended.
16. In deciding in difficult cases whether to despatch a Luggage Train or not, the opinions of the Engineman and Breaksman, who must be best acquainted with the state of the Engine and Load, should be obtained, and great weight should be attached to these recommendations, but the decision on the course to be pursued will still rest with the Station Agent. ”

“ I am directed to state that His Excellency the Governor-General in Council considers it desirable in the interest of the travelling public to rule that in future no person shall be allowed to take any dog into a passenger carriage, except with the consent of the Station Master at starting station and also with the concurrence of the fellow passengers. ”

“ When in the train, be as solicitous of the passenger's comforts as you would be of your dearest friend's, if he or she were traveling with you. Do not keep your window open if you know that it is causing discomfort to others. Do not spread your hand-luggage into the aisles where other passengers will be likely to trip over it. It is good nature, courtesy and an affable adaptation to unexpected circumstances that mark the lady and gentleman in traveling. ”

“ Blue, fifty cents for half hour, $1 for one hour. Green, special rates at option of driver and passenger. When a passenger enters a carriage, the flag must be taken down immediately so that everybody may know it is engaged and will not hail the driver, and he cannot make other engagements until the carriage is empty. All carriages and horses are inspected by a commission who pass upon the respectability of carriage and team and order the proper color painted across the doors, and the printed rates pasted inside so that no intelligent traveler need be imposed upon. ”

“ If the cab which carries the passengers from the hotel to the ferry landing is engaged in interstate transportation, why is not the porter who carries the traveler's trunk from his room to the carriage also so engaged? If the cab service is interstate transportation, are the drivers of the cabs and the dealers who supply hay and grain for the horses also engaged in interstate commerce? ”

“ No. 5 shows that each compartment of this machine carries twelve passengers, six on either side of a central passage-way. The cars are fitted with side windows or port-holes, so that each passenger has a view outwards during the progress of the flight, while in front of the car, as suggested in the illustration, a small observation platform is provided from which passengers may if they wish have an excellent view on all sides. That the amenities of life may not be forgotten, even when in the air, an attendant in each of the cars will serve light refreshments en route. ”

“ It is singular that their manifold responsibilities are so little appreciated by passengers. For instance, a passenger might protest against a captain putting to sea in wicked weather, not realizing that he must, to satisfy the owner of the ship, who is obligated by the terms of his mail contract. ”

“ Passenger Train Stock.—In the United Kingdom, as in Europe generally, the vehicles used on passenger trains include first class carriages, second-class carriages, third-class carriages, composite carriages containing compartments for two or more classes of passengers, dining or restaurant carriages, sleeping carriages, mail carriages or travelling post offices, luggage brake vans, horse-boxes and carriage-trucks. ”

“ It’s the Chief’s. Each of us has his job in this show. The chauffeur’s is to bring me alongside the aeroplane and hand me over to the pilot . . .”
As he spoke they saw a hooded and muffled figure detach itself from the knot of mechanics gathered about the plane. It proved to be the pilot, a swarthy young man, to judge by as much as his helmet disclosed of his features, short and stocky, in leather flying-kit. He came up with the chauffeur to the car.
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“You’re my passenger, I think,” he said to Desmond. “We’re all ready for you!” ”

“ You jump out, in the throng of hundreds of passengers, into the brilliantly lighted station, stiff with long riding, confused with the rush, bustle, noise, and lights; but the porter, into whose hand, as it rested on the car-door, you slyly slipped a sixpence or shilling, attends to your case instanter. He does not lose sight of you or your luggage, nor suffer you to be hustled a moment; he shoulders your luggage, escorts you to the cab, mayhap assisted by another ”