Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-20
CARRYING THE PEOPLE
The Transportation Problem of
London.
TUPENNY TGBES TOO SMALL
Capacity of the Underground Roads
Reached.
"STRAP HANGERS" ORGANIZE
Successful Municipal Ownership
Over Two Hundred Million An
nual Patrons Of the Buses.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

| BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
LONDON. October /, 1906.
Like other cities, London has its trans
| portation problems, and they are the more
| FERROUS than elsewhere because of the
enormous area and population involved.
Greater London now has nearly 100000
people within it's limits and includes solid
| mass of buildings thirty miles in one direc-
ton and nineteen miles In the other. There
| have been great improvements in the local
transportation facilities during recent years,
due chiefly to American enterprise. The
| late Charles T. Yerkes reorganized the
underground system of railways and
brought it up to date, but the Increase in
population and the demand for transporta-
ton seems to become greater and greater
every year if it never would be satisfied.
The dark dismal, sooty tunnels filled with
smoke and smells which Mr.. Yerkes found
when he came to London are we'll
ventilated. cheerful passages. with plenty
of air and light and lined with tiles, while
the cars are brilliantly Illuminated. They
are finished in rattan and light mahogany
and the motive power is electricity, SO that
they run silently, swiftly and smoothly and
are as comfortable underground cars
can be- Electric surface cars run by Stor
age batteries ana Underground ana over
head trolleyS have been introduced in sew
eral directions and extend to all the sub
urbs. They are even laying track on the
Thames embankment. which Is Dissertation
because that should have been retained
a promenade and a driveway. The county
council which is the municipal government
of London. is laying the tracks, however,
so that nobody can object, and will operate
the a belt line between two great
systems the south and the north sides
of the Thames.
Municipal Ownership in London.
There is a good deal Of municipal owner
ship in London. The county council oper-
ates a fleet of passenger boats on the
Thames, line of buses and half a dozen
or more street railways and makes a profit
out of every of them by enterprsing
and prudent management. The manager of
the steamboat service is enterprising
that he got up half dozen excursions and
carried thousands of people up the Thames
to see the boat race between Cambridge
and Harvard last month. The fares were
low, the advantages were great, there was
no crowding, everything was well ordered,
a wholesome luncheon was served on board
for low price and a large profit was
turned into the city treasury. Think of the
common council of Chicago running excur-
sion steamers to see a boat race or the
District Commissioners of Washington or
ganiZing holiday trips down the Potomac
as a matter of profit to the city govern
rlent. But over here such things be
done without criticism, even in competition
with private enterprise.
Notwithstanding the bright, new "tup
penny tubes with their swift and frequent
electric trains the favorte means of trans
portation in London is still the d-fashon-
ed omnibus. and I do not think it will ever
be superseded. For a man who is not in
hurry, and especially for one who is fond
of human nature and loves to observe the
conduct of his fellow men, l do not know
agreeable means of getting a bout
crowded city like London than in a seat
on the deck of one of these buses. You
have a continuous panorama of human af-
fairs passing before you, and can witness
it from elevated platform; and, If you
SO fortunate as to get a seat next to
the driver, you can enjoy a continuous con-
versational mono:ogue, and get a great deal
of valuable information and philosophy.
The London Bus Driver.
The London bus driver is unique char
acter. He is both an oracle and an encyclo-
pedia; he knows every house along his
route and all the history that has been
enacted between the termin He is also a
philosopher; he is we'll posted to current
events. and his comments are not only
amusing but instructive. He is wit and
bit of a cyntc. He has his jokes, his an
ecdptes and his criticisms, which l suppose
he repeats daily, or perhaps several times
day, but 1850 buses are running in the
get the same driver twice. I have never
found one who not willing or anxious
to talk. l have never found one who was
not entertaining, and all of them are par
ticularly wiring to furnish strangers with
Information to the interesting localities
during the ride. l have never found
more entertaining way Of spending an
afternoon than on the top of London bus
in the seat next to the driver.
There are, have said more than 1900
buses on the streets of London, running in
every direction, to every part of the city, at
an average fare of l cent per mile. There
are five big companies and several smaller
ones. The largest, the London General
Omnibus Company, has 1897 omnfbuses on
the road, and employees $500 men and 1917
horses. In 1905 this company alone car
ried 215,OO0,OO passengers; during the first
six months of 1906 it carried los, 341 1851 and
ran 1862, $50 mites. The receipts for 1905
were s2.O021O2 and for the first six months
of the current year 81 202, 796, an. average of
s11.55 per omnibus per day. The routes
vary from six to ten miles. Each omnibus
is expected to make five trips day Of
twenty miles each. and has five teams to
every driver. No team is allowed to go
over twenty miles, and half Of the horses
are laid up every Sunday. The drivers re-
ceive wages Of $40 a month for twelve
o clock in the morning lay off at at night;
those who start out at 10 in the morning
lay off at 10 at night and SO on.
The Motor Buses.
Within the last few years between 500
and 600 motor buses they are called,
run by electricity. gasoline or steam. have
been placed on the streets, and although
they are Objectionable on several accounts
the public seem to prefer them because of
their greater speed. and 1t is difficult to get
a seat on one Of them unless you happen to
be near one Of the points where most of the
passengers are discharged. They carry
nearly twice many passengers as those
drawn by horses. They make the same dis
lance in about half the time, but frequently
break down, when the passenger loses his
time and his penny. There Is a disagreeable
vibration the odor from the gasoline Is I'M
pleasan and accidents are quite frequent
owing to the recklessness OF the drivers.
The newspapers, particularly the Times
the Telegraph and other reputable morn
ing papers every morning contain columns
of letters from the public protesting and
complaining about the motor buses. That
is the Englishman's way Of getting load
off his mind. When he runs against some
thing he does not like, when his feelings
are outraged, when his sense of propriety
is violated or he feels indignant about any
thing he writes letter to his favorite
newspaper If 1t appears In the "kickers
column" the next morning he has done his