Railway fare

“ The 2-cent maximum fare is unjust, and retards the development of the very things the railway-user wants, because it is obvious the railway-owner must sooner or later stop doing so much work without any margin of profit at all. ”

“ Any amalgamated company or railway company to which a schedule of standard charge's has been applied may charge fares below the standard fares in such circumstances as the company may think fit, but the circumstances in which such exceptional fares, if below ordinary fares, may be charged, and the amount of reduction below the standard fare, shall be reported to the Minister within fourteen days, or such longer period as the Minister may allow, after the decision has been arrived at. ”

“ The fixing of passenger fares is a comparatively simple process. Between local stations on the North Western Railway the fares are made up, roughly speaking, on the basis of charging twopence per mile travelled for first-class passengers, three half-pence per mile for second-class, and one penny for third-class, the amount of the passenger duty being added to the first and second-class fares; but where there are competing routes, or where, in suburban districts, the opposition of omnibuses or tramways has to be encountered, the fares are often considerably reduced. ”

“ The freight service of a railway comprises the carriage of all kinds of goods simultaneously, from the most valuable high-priced commodities, such as silks and satins, down to lumber, coal, cement, and even sand. [141] To compel each of these classes of goods to bear its proportionate share of the cost of carriage, would at once preclude the possibility of transporting low-priced goods at all. One dollar a hundred pounds may not be too much to add to the price of boots and shoes for transportation from Boston to Chicago. ”

“ To determine the relative costs to the railroads of performing mail, passenger and freight service, we must allocate the expenses to freight and passenger service as a whole, afterwards apportioning the latter to mails and other service. Railroad operating expenses apply jointly to both passenger and freight trains, so that, with few exceptions, it is impossible to determine exactly from any published statistics the cost of passenger train service as distinguished from freight. ”

“ Goods of all descriptions, in less quantities than wagon loads, consigned by Passenger Train are charged at the rates set out in the tariff, but Goods forwarded by Passenger Train in wagon loads are charged at double the general class rates for wagon loads by Goods Train. ”

“ But they cannot take the place of the freight car or the steamship. They are more rapid, easily making 100 to 150 miles an hour, but they are as yet of limited capacity carrying light letter mails, and a few passengers, but at too great an expense to compete with the improved rail and water carriage of the present. Besides most people would rather be near the ground in case of accident. I mentioned to you the greatly reduced cost of railway transportation in North America where all the lines are operated by the state. ”

“ When the time for the departure of the train had almost arrived, the Englishman said, “Your friend is going to miss the train, if he is not quick.” “Oh, that is all right. I’ll keep it for him.” Soon the signal came and the train started, when the passenger seized the portmanteau, and threw it out of the window, exclaiming, “He’s missed his train but he mustn’t lose his baggage!” That portmanteau was the German’s.
GROWTH OF STATION BOOKSHOPS.
The gradual rise of the railway book-trade is a singular feature of our marvellous railway era. ”

“ No man who has a taste for studying the phases of life and character should fail to travel at least once by the Parliamentary.
The large cheap load having rumbled off from the south side of the station, about nine o’clock preparations are commenced for the aristocratic Express, which, on this line, is composed of first-class carriages alone, in which, at half the price of the old mail coach fares, the principal stations on the line are reached at railway speed. ”

“ Railways, as developed in England, have thus done more than increase the facilities and decrease the cost of actual transport. They have, in various ways, increased the facilities for, and decreased the cost of the exchange of, commodities, since there is many a trader in the country who conducts his business much more with the help of a railway company's capital than he does with his own. It is not alone that trade and industry have vastly increased in volume as the result of railway operation. ”

“ In the United Kingdom, however, the average ton-mile rates for the transport of railway traffic are much higher than in the United States, or in any of the principal countries of the Continent. This higher rate of charge is defended on the ground that the cost of railways has in England been much higher than in any other country. ”

“ It costs today as much to haul a ton of farm produce ten miles to a railway station as it does to haul it a thousand miles over a heavy-traffic trunk-line railway. It often costs more today to transport a ton of merchandise from its arrival in a long train in the freight yard on the outskirts of a great city to its deposit in the warehouse of a merchant four or five miles away than it has cost to haul it over a thousand miles of railway line. ”

“ As matters stand today, any bay or inlet where a foreign flag can force its way inland into our country they can call to us to drop the bundle and they take it from us and we can't help ourselves. Now, we ought to be able [51] to help ourselves, for on the land we have so far surpassed the others that there is no comparison.
"In Great Britain their average railway cost is $234,000 per mile. In the United States it is a little less than $60,000 per mile. ”

“ Reduction of Freight Rates.—On the opposite page is a chart delineating the fluctuations in freight rates since 1870. To one not familiar with the subject the picture presented is a most remarkable one. It looks as though the roads are all in a mad scramble to see which can reach the bottom of the hill first. To railway managers the picture is a painful reminder of a serious struggle, the end of which no one can yet predict. ”

“ That particular railroad will carry up to twenty persons in the car at its regular fares; if there are more than twenty aboard it will get a full fare ticket from each over the minimum allowance. That is all a matter established as the special train rates are established, not by whim, but by law. ”

“ But besides the above number of passengers, over one hundred and sixty-two million tons of minerals and merchandise were carried by railway in the United Kingdom in 1873, besides mails, cattle, parcels, and other traffic. The distance run by passenger and goods trains in the year was 162,561,304 miles; to accomplish which it is estimated that four miles of railway must have been covered by running trains during every second all the year round. ”

“ At the railroad station next larger in size, the work is more divided. One man sells tickets, another attends to the freight office, another to the baggage, and so on. The ticket-seller must [416] make five-cent bargains with the same urbanity that is given to a $100 trade, and must be able to toss off the latter in two minutes if occasion requires, or to spend an hour in helping the passenger choose the best route among a score of possible ones. ”

“ At the present time, where the question of time is not important, the carriage of passengers and goods by water is so much cheaper than by rail as to survive in competition. Where the passenger’s time is of value, or perishable goods are carried, or the merchant is in a hurry to receive his consignment, the railway, following virtually the shortest distance between the two points—piercing mountains, spanning ravines and crossing the rivers, is, of course, the necessary means of communication. ”

“ As the average distance which each third-class passenger travels is much less than the average of one of the second class, and still less comparatively than one of the first class, it cannot be a matter of surprise, that the average money value of each railway passenger should have fallen from 1s. 6d. in 1859, to 1s. 2d. in 1865, and that of the total increase of receipts between 1859 and 1865 (£10,146,611) , the receipts from passengers only has not increased more than £3,606,223, whilst the increase from goods, minerals, and cattle, has been [48] £6,111,466. ”

“ Frequently passenger trains are run without sufficient regard to whether or not they are fairly remunerative. Wagons containing only a small quantity of goods are often sent long distances at little profit, if not at a loss. ”

“ For instance, a passenger booked from London to Limerick, is carried, independent of his water conveyance, over the lines of four railway companies, and in the returns to the Board of Trade he is included as a passenger upon each of those lines as if he had taken a ticket upon it, yet, in reality, he takes but one journey, although it is a long one, 464 miles. Deducting say 5,000,000 on this account, it makes the total number of paying railway passengers about 256,500,000. In twenty-eight years, population and land-conveyed passengers have completely reversed their positions. ”

“ The first-class fares are greatly in excess, and as for freight charges, you can imagine how high they were when it was proved during the drift closure that ox-wagons could make the transport as cheaply as the railway. ”

“ If persons or companies owning rolling stock shall advance freight or passenger rates beyond maximum, or reduce them below minimum, rates, fixed by the directors of the Railway Company, they will lose their right to run trains, and if a combination should be made to diminish facilities to shippers or travelers, then the Roadbed Company will itself place a freight and passenger service on the track. ”

“ Half a dozen trains each way per day! In England there are as many, or more, in the hour!
The Act of 1889 also dealt with the working hours of railway men whose duty involved the safety of trains or passengers, and required each company to make periodical returns of those employed for longer hours than were to be named from time to time by the Board of Trade; and it contained further a useful clause to the effect that the fares were in future to be printed on passenger tickets. ”

“ It will be observed that the principal, indeed almost the sole, object contemplated by the projectors of the undertaking was the improved carriage of merchandise and coal, and that the conveyance of passengers was scarcely calculated on, the only paragraph in the prospectus relating to the subject being the following: "Moreover, as a cheap and expeditious means of conveyance for travelers, the railway holds out the fair prospect of a public accommodation, the magnitude and importance of which can not be immediately ascertained." ”

“ In regard to export trade, the inland producers of manufactured goods must be at a disadvantage as compared with their rivals on the sea coast. But no complaint that the railway companies had diverted traffic from England abroad by exorbitant rates was made out before the Railway Rates Committee. ”

“ There is a growing demand for lower fares. This demand increases in the same proportion in which the desire and the necessity for travel increase. European states have not been slow to meet it. Reductions are made everywhere, and chiefly favor the lower classes. Thus, when France, within the last year, changed her passenger tariff, she reduced first-class fare 9 per cent., second-class fare 18 per cent., and third-class 27 per cent. ”

“ Besides their receipts from freight and passenger traffic, railroads derive revenue also from the transportation of mails and express freight on passenger trains, from the sleeping-car companies, and from news companies for the privilege of selling upon trains. ”

“ As a matter of general practice, the maximum time allowed abroad is not fully occupied; but it is recognised by law. This advantage which the foreign railways possess implies others, which can only be fully appreciated by persons practically acquainted with the mystery of railways. The ample time allowed before forwarding and in transit permits of considerable economy in the use of wagons. Opportunities are afforded for making full wagon and full train loads. This circumstance, too, reduces train mileage. ”

“ The number of passengers, or tons of goods are not reliable for the purpose of comparison, inasmuch as a passenger or a ton of goods carried over two railways appears as two passengers or two tons, and therefore after various lines are amalgamated, the returns may show an apparent decrease when in fact there may have been an actual increase in traffic. ”

“ They have not, as would be but fair, taken a large group of articles, and noted how insignificant is the cost of transport as compared with other charges, how small is the rate of profit of the railways as compared with the charges of the manufacturers and distributors. ”

“ To the ordinary observer it would appear that the introduction of a splendidly equipped railway, even if it distribute its blessings a little unequally at first, and its tariff be high, must be a great and permanent advantage to everything remote as well as near. ”

“ They cost much less per mile than railways, and their maintenance expenses are not so heavy. That they are falling into decay in this country when left in private hands, is due, in the main, to the fact that this country is well supplied with railway accommodation, and that for most kinds of merchandise they are not such an efficient mode of transport as railways. ”