LONDON'S BUSIEST MAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19275, 13 March 1926, Page 5 (Supplement)

LONDON'S BUSIEST MAN.

THE NEW TUBE GUIDE. 20,000 QUERIES IN A DAY. By all appearances the busiest rnnn in London is i aniformed servant of the Underground Railways who walks up arid down the maze of passengers at tho Charing Cross tube station and answers an average of 13,000 questions a day from travellers who are not cure which way they have to go. Charing Cross Is ,a junction of three underground railwaysDistrict, Hampstcad and Bakerloo—and its "Way Out" is about the most complicated in London. Hence tho pw guides in the Charing Cros-s corridors. When a representative of tho Daily Chronicle interviewed the guide recently he found him waving his arms In all directions, and quite beyond gossiping for a few moments. It was like-this:— Sorry, old man. . . yes. Haratnerfsniith. that way. . . Eastern? Yea. . . .Besiliy can't bo inter- . . . No, this way tor Baker Street. . . . J-aven't time to stop. . , . Manchester? Yea Huston that or St. F > ancras down there—change at Leicester Square . . . King's Cross in the station for St. Paneras, madam . . . As the rush hours began the guide had sometimes three or four questioners attacking him at once. "I'm proud of the job," he said in a quiet moment. "I've had a month's trial, and the job really begins this week. During the trial period I had a clock in my hand to tick oil; every question, and they worked out at 13,000 a day of eight hours. Trie heaviest day is Wednesday—the figure for last W< 1 nesday was over 20,000. It's tho half-day and the cheap tickets which make the difference, I suppose. "There is the type —mostly women and bovs—who persist in going the opposito way to that pointed out. J hey do it absent-mindedly. Sometimes a man comes up and forgets where he wants to go. Then he can't find his ticket. Ho gets desperate and goes aside to think it out. Next, he remembers and I direct him. And away he goes in tho wrong duecLion, oblivious to &houfcio£>» This guide sneaks French, and has a thorough knowledge of London's centr* .h«. T S famous buildings, shop., ■tatao, *° w " > f "ci-ranks, and caffee-etalia- '}