WONDERS OF LONDON'S TRAFFIC

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LI, Issue 9067, 12 April 1906, Page 6

WONDERS OF LONDON'S TRAFFIC

2£ MILES OF OMNIBUSES PASS THE BANK EACH HOUR. MARVELLOUS MAPS. Two Bltte-booke of singular interest are Volumes V. and VI. of the report of the Royal Commission on London traffic, which have just been published. The two volumes contain a remarkable series of maps, about 100 in number. They i are costly in their workmanship and unique as a collection, never before rea>lised, of all the features of the daily rush of London life. Plate A., for instance, illustrates the radial growth of London for twenty miles from Charing Cross, showing the boundaries" of the city, of each metropolitan borough, amd every parish, and having marked upon it every railway and tramway. Another plate makes cleaT how the internal passenger traffic of London has grown during thirty-five years; others show ths periodical expansions of Greater London between the four years 1845, 1860, 1880, and 1900, the different classes of property in Central London, and the density of population in various districts. Another gives in detail the 126 various London. Tailway proposals submitted to Parliament -between 1855 and 1903 ,• another j '-shows the principal factories in and about the metropolis, with the number of hands ' employed, indicates the attraction, of certain districts for certain trades, and throws curious light on the directions of workmen's taaveHing in London. Owe plate portrays the routes of all the omnibuses and the frequency of their services. POINTS FROM THE VOLUMES. Among the astonishing facts obtainable , from these maps and diagrams axe tlr-s following : — - One-fourth of the population of England and Wales lives within 20 miles radius of Charing Cross. i The omnibuses of London carry in one , year the whole population of the United , Kingdom seven times over. The route mileage of railways within the area now constituting the administra- ' j tive County of London was only 29| in 1845; in 1860 ib was 69£; in 1880 it had ! increased .to 2155; and in 1900 to 248£.~ > At the busy time of the day 642 omni- , buses pass by the Bank in an how, a procession 2£ miles long; -400 through Oxford street and Piccadilly, a procession of If miles in length. Motorvominibuses hold 34 persons, as against a horse omnibus load of 20, so that : if house omnibuses in London were replac- ,: e<J by motor omnibuses the streete wouid , be relieved of one-fourth of their existing omnibus traffic.