The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-01-10 00:00:00

RAILWAY TICKET DISTRIBUTION.

The Saturday Revie w writes on this subject

"We have a very good test of the willingness of the
railway companies to do what they can to insure purr.
tuality. The laying down of additional lines of rail,
the enlargement of stations and sidinga, the improve-
ment of points and Ague's, is necessarily an onerous
undertaking, and ciunnot be very quickly accom-
plished. But here is a thiog which the companies might
do to-morrow if they chose, and the doing of which
would add greatly not only to the comfort of travellers,
but to the safety of their journeys. Why should tickets
be obtainable on'y within • few minutes of the time of
starting? In the principal towns of the United States
railway tickets can be purchased at the stations at any
hour of the day, and they are also to be had at the
chief hotels and t treling offices in difia eat parts of
each town. In :Scotland a partial attempt hoe been
made to imitate this syetsm. Tickets for certain
stations the North British ltsilway can, we believe,
be purchased at various shops and offices in Edinburgh
and Glasgow. It Is difficult to see why this system
should not become uhiversal. It is obviously the
ioterest of a iailway company that as many tickets
as possible should be sold, and in every other branch
of trade it is eupposed that facilities for purchase
encourage purchasers. It can hardly be doubted that
a great many more tickets would be sold if it were
made easy and convenient to buy them, and if
people were tempted to buy them by finding them
on sale sit all sorts of pieces. There then would be an
inducement to lay in • stock of tickets at once so as to
save future trouble, and, possibly, some of these would
be lost or never used. This would, of course, be to the
advantage of the company, which would also have the
benefit of payments in advance. Tide whole system of
railway tickets appears to require revision. There are
far too many different tickets and too greats variety
of fares. It would surely be worth while for the COM'
paides to simplily these matters and to lamp distances
• little, instead of attempting to measure off fractionoof
milease with arithmetical precision.
"While extending facilities for getting tickets before
hand, the railway companies might &leo, for the en-
couragement of punctual and the disoouragement of
unpunctual people, shut the booking office at the
Ration five minutes before the departure of the train,
and Insist upon luggage Intended for the goods van
being on the spot M leant ton minutes before the time,

The railway ehahmen all profess the most Wider- re--
Hard for the convenience of the public and the
greatest reluctance to subject It to any restrictiomp ;
but there can be no doubt that it would be for the In.
terest of the general body of the travelling public that
, the minority of unpunctua people, who are always
late, sad who rah in at the last moment with heaps
of luggage, should be compelled to come Maw( time.
The majority of travellers carry very little luggage
and are usually punctual, and it in very bard that they
should be made to suffer for the sake of people who
do not deserve the slightest consideration. By a few
simple arrangements; of this kind the railway com-
panies might, without delay, moue the cceoperatlon of
the public in their efforts to observe punctuality.
Nothing demoralises the stall of a railway so much as
the irregularity in the working of the lines which now
prevails. It produces a loose, so:Rambling, happy-go-
lucky mode of doing business which is full of danger.
If trains were more puncti;al there would be lees
necessity for sending expresses dashing at 50 or 00
miles an hour over shaky points through overcrowded
junctions.' "R. W." suggeste that a considerable
saving of time would be effected if the railway oom-
panies would issue tigkete so marked an to be available
for parties of three, four, five, and so forth, instead of
requiring a separate ticket t be taken for each mem-
ber of the group. The time now consumed by the clerk
in dating five tickets would be saved.

)11 the above subject, a correspondent writes to The
Tune.:—

- --
It is not in the United States alone that travellers
can enjoy the luxury of taking their tickets at places
other than the stations. When in Spain last year I
found a booking-Mlice both for passengers and their
baggage in some central position in moat of the large
towns, with a further convenience- an omnibus start-
ing from such office in rea.onable time for each train.
In Italy, also, this yesr, I have found, in the only town
where I inquired for It, a similar °thee. We may well
ask—why not in all the principal towns of the United
Kingdom ?