The sun., 1908-11-29
ELECTRTC CARS IN SHANGHAI
Hard Work Running Them Thrqush the
Narrow, Crowded gtreet6.

Narrow, Crowded street,.
Shanghai has an electric railway, which
makes street life In that already lively
city more complicated than ever. 1t
is doubtful, says the journal Of the An1erf-
can Asiatic Association, II any other city
In the world presents such oonglomerate
street traffic on such large scale as does
Shanghai.
During the busy hours OF any weekday
upon the main thoroughfares may be seen
heavy handcarts loaded with ton or
more OF merchandise. each drawn by
ten or twelve coolies; wheelbarrows
heavily laden with freight or passengers
| (sometimes as many as twelve persons
ride on one wheelbarrow), dodging hither
and thither in an effort to avoid COLLISIONS
with faster vehicles numberless rickshavs
running pell NELL bicycles and motor
cycles with bells ringing and motor cars
and public and private carriages en-
deavoring to pass everything on the
street.
When TO this surging mass Of people.
horses and every kind OF vehicle lie added
double trek street railway running
down the middle of the streets that in
some places are less than twenty feet in
width one is able to realize something
of the difficulties in maintaining an
efficient street car service.
The cars for the entire system were
| built by British company, and while
fairly comfortable and apparently well
built are not of a strictly up to date
pattern. By reason Of the gauge the cars
are narrow and small, complete carriage
weighing but ten tons. The driving
platforms are very small and open.
The cars are divided into two compart-
ments, one for first class and the other
| for second class passengers. The first
class compartment has seating capacity
| for twelve persons, while the second class
compartment will carry twenty.
The destination of each car Is shown by
transparent roller sign bearing both
English and Chinese characters at each
end of the car, which are set at the begin
ming of each trip. Notices in English.
French and Chinese warn passengers
against smoking, splitting or bringing dogs
on board. The route each car is to take
is further indicated by a colored slide
over the headlight.
The routes are divided into sections.
section is approximately one mile in
length. For first class passensoT :c-e
of five cents Mexican (2.1 cents gold) Tor
each section b charged while for second
class passengers a fare of three cents Mex
ican "a cents godl for the first and two
cents Mexican (.s of Il cent gold for each
subsequent section is charged. The object
for such an arrangement was to induce the
Chinese population to patronize the cars by
| giving them a cheap fare and to induce
foreigners to pay the higher rates by pro-
viding them separate compartments.
1t was also thought that unless some
such tariff scheme was adopted the foreign
population would not patroniSe the cars.
| yet on all the routes except at the busiest
hours of the day the first class compart-
ment is practically deserted. So uni.
versal has become the use of the second
class compartment that only 10 per cent.
of the daily revenue comes from first
class passengers, and as the first class is
double the second class fare it means
that out of total of $1,000 passengers
carried daily only about per cent. OF
| them travel first class.