CHANGED CONDITIONS

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 99, 26 April 1917, Page 6

CHANGED CONDITIONS

CURTAILED RAILWAY TIME- v TABLE.

I Three days having elapsed since the 1 new curtailed railway timetable came into operation, enquiries on the subject : were made by a Post reporter to-day, and elicited some interesting faots"' concern, ing the results of the radical alterations made. It seems that although ,some , people have suffered inconvenience—in many cases on account of their ignori ance of the new conditions existing— the travelling public as a whole appear; to be enduring the inevitable jfeiloKi- ' phically.' The reserve systom, ivhivh was instituted in connection with ths Auckland express, is working smoothly and proving a boon to the public and railway officials alike. It obviates a, good deal of unnecessary crashing at the station entrances, and this allows thedepleted staff of officials to perform its duties expoclitiously. For the same reason the abolition of platform tickets has • also proved a wise step. Though it might have been expected that the cutting off of the Napier Mai! and night express to Auckland would result in tho other trains being- unduly crowded, this has noi, boen tlie case. la ■ the Auckland express, for instance, provision is made ior Z2O second-class and 100 nrst-elaes p.uisengers, and this hasproved quite adequate. So far it has only been found necessary to add one second-class carnage, to this train and, one first and two second "extras" to the' New Plymouth-Napier express. Ail persons wishing to travel have been accommodated. "We have not felt the pinch a,t all as far as the abolition of the Napier train, is concerned," said a .prominent official, "and it would, not be any exaggeration to say that the whole system is working splendidly." Of course he added, there had been isolated caaes of inconvenience, but these had been due to people not reading the time-table. As regarded the suburban service, the pressure had not yet been felt, but the holi-' days probably accounted for this to a great degree. Regarding the reserve system, the official stated that on Monday there were 201 passengers without reserve tickets, 181 on Tuesday, and 151 yesterday. This showed that tho public was gradually becoming accustomed to the new order . of • things.