The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-06-24
RAILROAD FARES.
a Novel System Propounded by n Cute
Down-Enst Man.

\ Novel System Propornded by n Cute
DOwn-Enst Man.
Suppose you could go from PrOvincetown
TO San Francisco by rail for $40. to Chicago
for $40, to Omaha for $40? A letter costs
no more whether it is bound for one place
or the other. What it may lose on the long
haul it makes up on the short. Why can
not transportation companies do the same9
Why not bay railway tickets MS you do
postage stamps? Does all this seem alb
surd? Yet a European company has
adopted similar plan. and it is spreading
throughout Continental Europe.
The change to which / refer is a novel
system of railway charges which has been
in operation in Hungary for little more
than six months. The experiment, though
radical, has apparently been successful.
Passenger rates on a majority OF the IL I'M
garian roads are no longer based upon the
cost of service. or upon what the traffic Will
bear, or even upon the mileage. The rates
are regulated according to the Zone sys-
tenn" This system has been advocated by
economists in Austria aud Germany for
some years, but none OF the railroad COM
panies were inclined to take ii up. The
State railroads of Hungary, however, had
been doing badly under the old syStem-the
earnings fell from $500 a mile in 1887 TO
$1,000 in 1888, and the Government felt that
matters cOuiu not De worse luhii luey were.
The zone SYSTEM OF charges is based upon
the theory that there are two classes of
passenger traffic which can be increased in
yOlume-the passengers travelling very
short distance and those going very long
distance. The former are generally pro-
vded for on railroads by Communication
rates; the latter have not received atten-
ton heretofore. A further point advanced
by the advocates of the zone system is that
where the cars are not occupied 10 their
fun capacity an increase Of traffic neceSSl-
tates only an infniteSimal increase OF eX-
pense. The advocates oft the system, there
fore, proposed three ZoneS-a short one,
long one and a medium one. The Hun
gariau railroads extended the idea some
what by issuing two classes of tickets,
those for zones and those for short dis
tances. In the latter class were two tick
cts, one carrying the holder to the next
station, and sold for cents, 72
cents and 10 cents for third, sec
ond and first class, and another carry
ing the holder to the second station
for p, II and 20 cents or the three classes,
respectively. These tickets are good be-
tween any two contiguous stations without
regard to the actual distance, and are sold
in bulk at and 10 per cent discount. The
zones are fourteen in number, the circles
being drawn about ten miles apart. The
fourteenth zone includes all distances of
40 miles and over. The rate for the first
a mile for the lowest class, and Clio for
frst-class express - and increases more
than in proportion for the distance through
the different zones until the rate at the
fourteenth ranges from l cent to 215 cents
per mile for the 40 miles. Beyond this the
rate again decreases, owing to the fact that
any additional distance is not charged for
Thus a trip of several hundred miles may
be made at the same price as one OF 40.
This innovation went into effect August
-1st of last year, and was introduced OIL the
State lines-about one-half of the total
mileage of the country. Two private COM
panies have since adopted the zone system.
During the first month of the new tariff
the number Of passengers carried on the
State lines was increased half million, and
the passenger receipts were increased about
500, 600.
AT the present writing the report of the
Austro- Hungarian Minister of Commerce is
just to hand. From this report it appears
thai the passenger receipts OF the Hungarian
railways for 1889 were 80, los, 105 forms, an
increase of nearly million Of forins over
those of 1SSS-this in the face of Il reduction
of rates equal to more than 30 per cent
TIE new system was in effect during only
five months of 1889. This extraordinary re-
ductiOn and extraordinary increase have
excited the amazement of the railway world.
Several foreign railways have sent repre-
sentatiyes to Hungary to examine into the
results OF the change and report on them.