Denver labor bulletin., 1917-08-04

PRACTICALLY all cities in the United States
l. have the pay-aS-you-enter system on their
street Indianapolis, Denver and Minneap-
oils the only large cities that have the collect
system, and Minneapolis is planning to adopt
P-a-y-e cars Everywhere you go outside of Colo
RADIO you find the motto, Have your exact fare
ready" painted on the entrance of the cars. Den
yer has always had the old-fashioned scheme of
sending the conductor back and forth thru the
car collecting fares.
There are about many objections to col
ectng fares by hand as there to running street
with horses. In fact, hand-collection by
conductors is relic of the old days when there
were never more than ten twelve people at a
time in the old four-wheeled, smal-capacity cars.
Today the street cars are husky, eight-wheeled
affairs carrying big loads of passengers, the
ductor is busy lad, and the old methods of
operation are rapidly giving way to up-to-date
ones.
The p-a-y-e system is very simple when you
get right down to it. Just inside the center-en-
trance of the is fare box. AS the passenger
gets the he drops his nickel Cor dime, if
he is paying for two) in the fare box and gets his
transfer from the conductor.
That's all there is to the p-a-y-e system. In
other cities experience has proven the prepay
ment to be the more popular with street car
riders than cars on which hand-collection was in
vogue. When Oklahoma City adopted the plan,
for example they put one p-a-y-e on each line.
On the third day passengers began waiting for
the p-aye and passing up the other type, until
each p-a-y-e each line was so overloaded
that the completion of the p-a-y-e system for all
cars had to be rushed thru.
From what street car users in other cities say,
and from the experience of Tramway officials, the
principal for this popularity of the p-a-y-e
system among passengers is that it cuts out the
annoyance of the conductor showing his way thru
a crowded street car to collect fares. With the
p-a-y-e system the conductor stays in one spot
next to the fare box No longer does he trample
thru the corn-held, squeezing people up against
seats, knocking milady's hat eye, denting
derbies, giving evening papers knockout blows
to collect fares and return change. P-a-y-e does
away with that.
Neither does he wander up and down the car,
with few standing passengers to push thru a
dozen times in the course of a trip. Neither will
he go on still hunt for fares he knows he has
missed, but can't locate, and then the
wrong man OF not paying his fare and proceed to
argue it out
And since the conductor is always stationed in
the entrance of the car, he can watch the steps
and contribute in that way to greater safety for
people boarding and alighting During rush hours,
instead of being in the front of the car,
surrounded with passengers, unable to the
trance, and giving his signals with prayer that
everybody is on or off, he has chance to for
himself whether everything is ready to go ahead.
Anything that will enable the conductor to
start the at exactly the right tine-nether too
soon nor too late-and to watch the steps, makes
for greater safety and quicker service, and these
are two advantages that the p-a-y-e system has
brought about in the cities where it has been
adopted.
1t also does away with the bell cord hanging
in the center of the car, which has always been an
annoyance. Conductors no longer hang the
bell rope like Mondays wash on the clothesline
Men probably like the p-a-y-e better than any
other street car rider. One of the reasons un-
doubtedy is that they pay their fare while stand
ing up and they consequently get away from the
old annoyance, which is common in winter time
OF scrouging around in their seat to dig down into
trouser or vest pocket, buried under an overcoat
Tor the necessary nickel-and jabbing their neigh
bors in the ribs while they're doing it.
SOME OF THE CITIES WHICH HAVE
ADOPTED PREPAYMENT SYSTEM
Kansas City, Mo. Benton Harbor, Mich
New York City Vicksburg, Miss