Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-06-09
WHERE TRAVEL is CHEAP
System ON which Railroad Passenger Rates
Are Based In Hungary.


System ON Which Railroad Passenger Rates
Arc Based In Hungary.
Suppose you could go to New York,
Chicago or Omaha for SO, would it not
be better than paying 500 to New York,
$50 to Chicago or $50 to Omaha? The
Government carries sealed letter to New
York, Chicago, Omaha or across the
street for two cents. What it may lose
on the long haul it makes up on the
short Why can not transportation COM
panies do the same?
A European country has adopted
similar plan, and it is spreading through
out the continent. A novel system OF
railway charges has been in operation in
Hungary for little more than six
months. The experiment. though radi-
cal, has apparently been successful.
Passenger rates on a majority OF the
Hungarian roads, are no longer based
upon the cost of service or what the
traffic will bear, or even upon the mile
age. The rates are regulated according
to the zone system" The State rail-
roads of Hungary had been doing badly,
under the old systematic earnings fell
from 81, 800 a mile in 1887 to 81, 900 in
1883, and the Government felt that mat
ters could not be worse than they WERE
The zone system Of charges is based
upon the theory that there are two
classes of passenger traffic which can be
increased in volume-the passengers
travelling short distance and those
going long distance. The former are
generally provided for on railroads by
Communication rates, the latter have not
received attention heretofore. A further
point advanced by the advocates OF the
zone system is that where the cars are
not occupied to their full capacity an in
crease Of traffic necessitates only an in
finite small increase Of expenses. The
advocates of the system, therefore, pro-
pose three zones-a short zone, long
one and medium one. The Hungarian
railroads extended the idea somewhat
by issuing two classes of tickets, those
for zones and those for short distances.
In the latter class were two tickets, one
carrying the holder to the next station
and sold for 5 cents, ~ cents and Is
cents for third, second and first GLASS,
and another carrying the holder to the
second station for ~, IL and 20 cents
for the three tickets, respectively. These
tickets are good between any two con-
tiguous stations, without regard to the
actual distance, and are sold in bulk at
8 and 10 per cent. discount. The zones
are fourteen in number, the circles
being drawn about ten miles apart.
The fourteenth zone includes all dis
tances Of 40 miles and over. The rate
of the first zone is very low-less than
seven-tenths OF cent mile for the
lowest class and l.6 cents for tirst-class
eXpress-and increases more than in
proportion to the distance through the
different zones until the rate at the
fourteenth ranges from l cent to ~
cents per mile for the 40 miles. Be-
yond this the rate again decreases, ow-
ing to the fact that any additional dis
lance is not charged for. Thus trip of
several hundred miles may be made for
the same price as one of 140.
This innovation went into effect Au-
gust of last year, and was introduced
on the State lines-about one-half of the
total mileage of the country. Two pri-
vate companies 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
500, 900, and the passenger receipts were
increased about 100000.
From the report of the Austro-Hun-
garian Minister of Commerce it appears
that the passenger receipts of the Hun
garian railways for 1889 were SO, 1853, 105
florins, an increase of nearly 1000, 900
forms over those of 1SSS-this in the
face of reduction of rates equal to more
than so per cent. The new system was
in effect during only five months OF
1889. This extraordinary reduction and
extraordinary increase have excited the
| amazement Of the railway world. Several
foreign railways have sent representa-
| tives to Hungary to examine into the
results Of the change and report OF
| them.-San Francisco Argonaut.