Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-08-06
STREET TRANSIT m EURope.
TroIiey Almost Unknown and No Ella.
waited Roads.


waited Roads.
An American living in a city, and
who has never been abroad, does NOT be-
gin to appreciate the enormous tdvan-
tages he has in the way of rapid transit
| by street railways over his European
| brother similarly situated. With us
city that still cliBgs to her ancient
! horsecars is considered dead slow" and
considered not up 10 date. The rapid
trolley stretches its rails in all direc-
tons, traversing all of the principal
1 streets of our cities and connecting
them with miles and miles of their
suburbs and often even with other
cities. In our larger cities. like New
York, the elevated railroads CT the
cable cars daily carry their thousands
of passengers with the highest possible
| speed consistent with safety. recogniz-
| ing the great American need of cover
ing given distance in the shortest pos
| siblc time.
Across the ocean all this is changed;
there the trolley is almost, and with
one exception the elevated road wholly,
| unknown, and the residents of even
London have to depend almost entirely
on the primitive bus. This seems al
| most beyond belief to an American, but
/ such is the fact.
Let us therefore glance at the differ
ent methods of public conveyance in
| this, the largest city in the world. In
London the principal means of getting
around is by buses, and it is estimated
! that there are nearly a thousand of
them in use every day. The greater
/ - # l. = h.
! don General Omnibus company, and
! their semi-annual report shows that in
| six months they carried the enormous
number of 53,s43,477 passengers, the
| total distance driven being 1901 1870
| miles.
! Omibuses first came into use IN 1929.
! Before that time people had to get
around as best they could. They run
I daily from s a. III. to ~ at night,
I and the fares vary, according to the
! distance, from 1 pence to pence in
/ English money, or from cents to II
/ cents in ours. Contrast this with our
elevated trains running all night and
on which one may ride from the Bat
terry to Harlem for nickel.
The London bus is huge numbering
/ vehicle drawn by two or three horses
/ and plastered over with advertising
signs. They are all double-deckers-
/ that is, they have seats both inside and
/ on top, the inside seats running length
wise, and those on top crosswise. with
/ an aisle down the center. These top
seats are reached by means of a spiral
stairway from the rear. Each bus ac-
commodities about 40 passengers, each
1 hasrrs o.
! when all are taken the bus is declared
/ full and no more passengers are admit
| ted, there being no such thing as hang
! ing on to a strap for three or four miles,
! or crowding a hundred people into i
| place intended to hold half that num-
Der, and there is no necessity for a
gentleman to rise and give lady his
seat.
As soon as passenger mounts bus
he takes a seat inside or on top, as he
may prefer and there is room. both be-
ing the same price, and the conductor
Immediately comes to him. inquiries his
destination and charges him accord
ingly, and gives him a ticket which he
is required to show in case of dispute,
and which contains the principal sta
tions of that line, the one nearest his
stoPping-place being punched. The
ticket also contains the amount of his
fare. In case the passenger should let
himself be carried beyond the station
punched, another fare is Immediately
collected. The conductor does not an
nounce any stops, so each person has
to look out for himself.
Undoubtedly the best method Of
transportation in London is the under
ground railway. This, however, only
serves a certain portion of the city,
and its stations are quite widely sep
arated. Its fares are trife more than
those of the omnibus company.
In summer a great deal of travel for
points near the Thames is by river
steamboats,. This traffic is all in the
hands of the Victoria Steamboat as
ISOLATION, whose boats run every few
minutes from London bridge to CheJ
sea, calling at Is intermediate piers.
The fares are from one penny to six
pence on week days, and double that OF.
Sundays and holidays. These boats all
set low in the water and have only one
deck, which is all open, the only protec-
ton being an awning which is stretched
over portion of the stern. As most
of the bridges are very low, the boats.
in order to pass under them at high
water, have to have a joint in the smoke
stack which enables it to be lowered to
the deck while passing through the
arches.
For those who can afford it nothing
can beat a cab as means of getting
around. There are two kinds of these,
the fOur-wheeler and the two-wheeler
or hanson. The hanson is by far the
easier riding of the two, and as the driv-
er is perched up behind there is nothing
TO oSstruct the view. The fares are
fixed by law. cab hired by time cost
ing two shillings sixpence( about So
cents per hour, while those hired BY
the distance charge accordingly, no
fare, however, being less than one shil-
ling In addition to the legal fare the
driver always excerpts a tip of from two
pence to siXpence.-Leslie's Weekly.
a Costly Epidemic.
The ravages of the rinderpest in
SOfIfh 4 frica are said IN no moro n v,y,a7y