The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-06
SLOWEST OF ALL CITIES.
Rapid Transit an Unknown Thing az
Yet in London.

London Daily Mail.
In no city of first rank outside Of Asia are
the means for getting comfortably, cheaply
and quickly from point to point so lacking
as in London. The resident ateHampstead
is separated by great gulf from his friend
at Chaplain, and for the one to visit the
other means the sacrifice of the greater part
of a day, and spending about four hours in
buses and railway carriages 1t is more
difficult to get from north tc south,' or from
northwest to southwest London than it is
to travel to cities a hundred miles off. 1t
takes longer to go from Paddington to the
Crystal Palace than it does from London
to Graham, JOG miles away. One can get
over the seventy-five miles from London
to Dover in less time and with infinitely
less fatigue than the five miles from Cam
dentown to Camberwell.
The chief faults of our existing means of
transit are that they are antiquated, com
plicated, woefully inadequate, unhealthy and
wretchedly slow In the Inner Circle there
are three great means of travel. The ham
som is so costly that few men of average
means can habitually use it; so it may be
left wholly out of consideration. In the
Underground Railway one is certain to be
half SuffOcated and covered with smuts,
while on bus the unhappy passenger is
baked in summer and frozen in winter. In
the Outer Circle we have q system of trans
which ranks among the most disgraceful
of modern times; and there are also the
suburban services of the main railways,
which vary greatly in excellence. Some, on
lines like the Great Northern and South
western, are the best among our existing
means of London travel and occasionally
even attain the speed of ten miles an hour;
so that it is possible for the fortunate folks
who live near them to get from business
to their suburban homes in about an hour.
The people of London cannot be called
great travellers. When facilities for travel
are poor, folks take as few journeys as pos
sibe. / have made careful inquiries to dis
cover the amount Of internal traffic in Lon
don. 1t is unfortunately impossible to OBJ
tain exact figures; but with the assistance
OF the actuarleS OF several leading lines, l
have been able to make an approximate es-
innate. The number of travellers in tram.
rail and bus is about $50 GOO coo a year of
whom slightly over one-third go by bus.
and almost a quarter by tram. The fares
paid amount to:
Railway approximate. ........... e., 100000
Tram =. Observation-Disclosures. j 1872 OBS
Bus approximately. ............... 20S7'1s5
Total J.. .......................... IS, ol9 288
With the population Of four and half
millions, this means that each LOnGoner,
on an average, takes PA journeys in public
vehicles each year.
One thing must be borne in mind that
mobiles these figures Thanks to the pres
ent chaos the passenger from one part to
| another often has to change four or five
times and take four or five tickets to cover
two miles. Each of these changes is counted
as one journey.
An illustration will explain. sent an as
sistant from the Marble Arch to Hamp-
stead-heath. directing him TO go by train
so far as possible. The distance as the
crow flies is about three miles. First he
had 30 take the bus to Edgware-road Met
ropoltan station, then the train to Cover
street change again, walk TO the corner of
Hampstead road, and get a tram for Cam
den-rOad station Al Camden road he was
wait of thirteen minutes. The whole jour
ney only occupied one hour twelve min
utes, and he had to go in four separate
vehicles and take four tickets He could
have walked il in half the time. This would
be counted in the returns four journeys.
The variety of routes and lack of unity in
management make travel in London the
most perplexing that the Wit of man has
ever devised. Any one who for the first
time visits a great American city can usu-
ally master the best means of getting about
by five minutes study of the track gem
orally takes twice the necessary time over
the journey.
The ordinary man. living in the outer ring
of inner London and working in the city,
has. at least, two hours Il day. in most
cases, absorbed in going TO and fro. Few
realize what a squandering Of time and
ergy this means. Surprising that out OF the
$50 1000 passengers yearly 250000,010 are SO
happily situated that their time is not vast