The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-03
SECOND CLASS" IN ENGLAND.
The Great Increase of Travel by It
on the Railroads.

1.-THE Church Family Newspaper
publishes q number of interviews with
railway managers regarding the great
increase in second class traffic that has
taken place Of late. Mr.. Owens, Cen
eral Manager of the London and South
western Company, said that in 1895
they set about reorganizing the second
class, and in 1896 had completed ar
engagements by reducing the second
class fare from three-halfpence to five
farthings mile, and charging second
class return as a single fare and three
fourths. At the same time they reduced
the first class to twopence mile The
effect has been to resuscitate the sec
ond class and to arrest it's decline
Here are the figures said Mr.
Owens, they speak for themselves. In
August, 1S96-the first half-year after
we had made the change-first class
showed an increase of 100,671 in num-
Der. and in money of f6,374, while sec
ond class increased 1902 in number
and over $1,000 in money. The new
conditions had only been in operation
two months then. Then, in the next
lf-year-F'ebruary 1S91-we found
that the first class increased in numbers
by 10000 but that the receipts lowing
to the considerable reduction in fares)
We're less by EGGS But in the second
class there was an extraordinary in
crease both in numbers and receipts
The number of second class passengers
had increased by 142.35O, and the re-
ceipts showed an excess over the pre-
vious year of f1SSO4. And bear in mind
that in previous years we had been
confronted with a shrinkage from sec
ondclass income of no less than f1O,-
600 a year. In the following half-year
there was a further Increase of 16S, sos
in numbers and nearly f27,OOO in fares
And last August we found that while
we carried 25,OC0 less first-class passen-
gers than in the previous half-year
and that the net receipts from this
source We're f13,320 less, the second
class showed an increase of f10, 665 and
of 1926 in numbers. You will admit
then. that our policy of reducing the
second class fare has been justified by
results"
Somewhat to the same effect was the
evidence vouchsafed to me by the man.
ager of the Great Western Railway
I'VE cater to a very similar class Of
the population as the Southwestern"
he remarked land therefore our exper-
fence has been very similar to theirs.
We, too, have reduced our first and sec
ond class fares, and the result has been
that we have recovered a. great deal
of the higher class travelling that we
found ourselves losing some years ago,
when the fares We're less popular"
From an official of the London and
Northwestern Railway it was learned
that similar experimental changes had
been made in the reduction of second
class fares, and with similar results
They had carried go, 431 more passen-
gers by this class and gained f56, S42
more money by so doing. In fact, the
second-class traffic was the only de-
partment that showed a truly crafty
ing increase both in numbers and in
money. On the other hand, Edward
Wells, the Assistant Manager of the
Midland Railway, said they had abol-
ished second class ever since the begin
ming of 1875, and they had seen no rea-
son to regret the step they had then
taken. The Manager of the Metropoli-
tan Railway stated that his company
had not found it necessary to abolish
second class Our passengers" he
said, ARE divided into these proper
tons: Third class, 49,, per cent; Sec
ond class. 10 per cent, and first class,
I1a per cent. We could not abolish Sec
ond class without causing very consid-
cradle inconvenience to those who