The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-01-30
THE "ZONE-TARIFF."
How Railway Fares Have Boen
Greatly Reduced in Hungary.

& recent number of the Century mag
azine contains an article sn the system
recently adopted in Hungary for mini
flying and regulating LHe passenger
rates on railroads in that country The
writer says:
For the method of ballot reform
which is so widely adopted we are in
debted to Australia; ard now from
hungary we have a suggestion Of re-
form in railway management which
promises TO revolutionizc the passenger
business
The --Zone-tariff,' as IL IS called was
putin operation in Hungary on the 1st
of August, 1859. It has. therefore, but
a 1rief experience to justify its practi-
cs.bility: but the results thus far have
been 50 remarkable that its success
Seems to be assured The method con
sists Of a division Of the territory OF
hungary into fourteen eoncentric zones,
Budapest, the capital, being the center.
The first zone includes all stations
within p llilometers-lil[ rniicS-frOm
z41e center: the second all more than %
and less than 40; all tlle zones except
the first. the twelfth and the thirteenth
are = kilOmeters, or q. little more than
miles in width; the. three named are
teen includes all stations more than 23J
Iilometers from the capital The fare
is regulated by the number of zones
which the travelCr enters or crosses
during his journey. Reducing guldens
to cents, the rare is 20, 1G and 10 cents
per zone. for first, second and third-class
passengers. respectively. If one starts
from budapest and crosses three zones
l. @I--,rr.-., 1-s1.,,,,.s..---
about 34 miles; if he goes frst-class, Eis
fare viii be 60 cents; if second-class, 4s
cents; if third-class, 50 cents.
For local traffic, when the traveller
does not cross the boundary OF any zone.
there are special rates; if he goes only
to the nearest station, the charges win
be IL, 6. and r." 5: II to the second
station from his sstarting-p point. Is. 9, and
6 cents; if TO the third station. the full
rates OF the zone are charged
The greatest reduction, however. is
IN the long distances. For all stations
more than - lzilometers-I5O miles
from budapest the rates are the same.
All stations beyond that distance are
rcclzoned in the fourteenth zone. 1t
costs no more to travel from Budapest
TO Brasso. which : 40 llilomctcrs dis
AslAiA A4As+AA ~ -NNAf e.N-s NAAN Nfoa~hAiNN
of which Is only 2G5 kilometcrs. To
this farthest point, 80 miles from the
capital. the fares of the three classes
are, for ordinary trains, $500, S2-32, and
SLIGO. At this rate the first-oiass fare
from New York TO Chicago would be
only about 500; and the third-class
fare about $50.
The former rates of the Hungarian
ha- tho
under consideration were SIG.S4. SlI.JG.
and s. Gs. The fare is, therefore. less
than one-fifth of what 1t was under the
old system
II is in these long distances that the
reduction is most sweeping: but even
the shorter journeys are greatly cheap
ened. To Arad, which is 253 kilometcrs
from budapest, the former fare for the
three classes was S5.l6, 81 and So 0S;
the present fare is SEQ, =. - and 3. GO.
a reduction Of almost 80 per cent
Besides the reduction in rates. the
new system offers great advantages in
the way Of convenience and simplifica-
ton. The number of distinct tickets
always kept on sale in every important
hotel Office was formerly about 200; the
greatest number required in any Office
ably the expense of printing and hand
ling tickets They are now sold like
postage stamps, at news stands, post
Offices, hotels, cigar shops and other
such places. ANY traveller knows what
his fare will be if he knows how many
zones he is to cross; he simply multi
plies the number of the zones he Is TO
enter or cross by the normal rate of
fare per zone, which is, as has been ex-
planned, twenty, sixteen and ten cents
for the three classes respectively.
For large number of places within
fifty-five lilometers of Budapest ticket
books containing from thirty to sixty
tickets are issued at rates still lower
Thus for group OF stations averaging
about twenty-onc miles from Budapest
books are sold which make the trip
fares sixteen. twelve and eight cents.
These books are transferable, and the
owner of the book may pay with these
tickets the fares of persons accompany
ing him. Evidently the purpose of this
system is to extend these concessions
and conveniences as widely as possible,
and not. as often IN America. to limit
and circumscribc them so that the small
est number OF people shall get the ad-
vantage OF them
The reader viii be interested in know
ing what response has been made 10y the
Hungarian public t. these liberal meas
ures. The Hungarian public Is not par
ticularly responsive, the population Of
the country is sparse, they are poor,
unenterprising, housekeeping people;
but they seem to know a good thing
when they see it. The increase in the
passenger traffic has been very great.
For the first cigiht months of the new
system the number of passengers car
ried was 7,170, SIC; for the correspond
months of the previous year the num-
Der carried was ., ,S9I, ,S52. 1t may be
supposed that this increase was mainly
due to the great reduction in the long
distance rates. On the contrary, the
gain is the largest in the traffic between
neighboring stations. OF such pas
sengers there were under the old'systen
80, 900; under the new, 1907, $50.
This vast increase of business ha: