Evening star., 1950-04-23
Railroads Try
ReducedFures

is definitely toward bargain fares.
Regionally or individually, various
railroads are offering reduced
fares on different bases. but it all
adds up in the customers favor.
Most significant OF all was the
recent step taken by Florida roads
to offer. for six summer months,
round-trip fares which are $50
per cent of the one-way fare.
That doesn't mean a Is per cent
reduction, for there already are
substantial rec ons in round
trip rates. Til summer reduc-
tions, amounting to about Is per
cent. will 60 into effect May
on the Seaboard and Atlantic
Coast Line-Florida East Coast
trains, not alone to Florida, but
to all intermediate points as we'll.
No sooner had this been an
nounced than the New Haven
Railroad reported sharp reduc-
tions in weekend night coach
fares between New York and Bos-
ton. These will be $5.75, round
trip, which is even lower than the
one-way fare. Presumably this
will end the sale of one-way tick
cts on those days. There seems
to be no logical way of deterring
a traveller from buying a round
trip ticket and using it only one
way, If it is cheaper than the
ordinary one-way ticket.
Dining Car Savings.
This step has its genesis in "sky-
coach" tickets by air, although
weekend excursion tickets of this
general mature f'and fare were In
effect prior to the war. The pres
ent tickets, however, are good in
regular trains, nnts excursion
Not to be outdone by their
passenger confreres, the dining
car men also are making things
easier for their patrons pocket
books. Pennsylvania Railroad in
stituted "one-entree" dinner on
its all-coach Jefferson, from New
York and Washington to st. Louis
dater extended to the New York
Chicago "Trail-Blazer)." :" This was
priced at $1.45. If you really OBJ
Jected too vigorously to the rail-
roads choice of entree that day,
you had at least some chance of
having something else, for there
we're a few la carte items avail
able also. The railroad found
the saving to be highly popular
so popular, in fact, that it now is
testing the same idea on New
York Washington train each way.
The first test is on trains not pa
tronized too widely at the lunch
hour. 1t if works, it will be ex-
tended to more trains.
Quantity Reductions.
The railroads do not seem
ready, as yet. to subscribe whole
heartedly to the idea of family
rates." first proposed by the late
lCC commissioner. Joseph B..
Eastman, and subsequently util-
lied by airlines. But one road.
the Kansas City Southern, did
much the same when it offered
reduced rates geared to the num-
Der OF tickets purchased. The top
is a A per cent cut.
The tickets may be used by
two. four, six or any number of
persons travelling in a group, or
by one individual, at various
times. In short, it was a quantity
reduction for buying in whole
sale quantities. The policy worked
even in sparsely settled region
for this railroad had a 10 per
cent rise in passenger revenues
for 1949.
Another evidence of popular re-
sponse to low fares is seen on
the Southern Pacific. There, a
fare Of roughly 11a cents a mile
on its new Shasta Daylight, be-
tween San Francisco and Port
land, is filling the train with an
average Of 400 passengers each
way daily.
This summers rail patrons will
find that reduced fares. especially
IN coaches, are the order of the
day.