TRAMS IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19833, 31 December 1927, Page 7

TRAMS IN AMERICA.

MAXIMUM FARE SYSTEM. WHERE NEW ZEALAND LEADS. [from our own correspondent.] SAN FRANCISCO. Dec. 1. The prospect that the five-cent fare may disappear in this, its third last stronghold in America, for a higher rate, recalls the fact that this country has yet much to learn from New Zealand in tho matter of tramway management. The minimum tram fare in. some American cities is 4d, in others, 3£d; in the vast majority, 3d; in three cities only, 2-^d. American street-cars have always been run for the benefit of tho tourist; rather than the dweller of the city in which they run. Six, seven or eight cents wilL give one a couple of hours' ride in a tram in an American city. This is good for the tourist, especially if he comes from abroad, but not for the city business man or woman shopping, who, confronted with a sudden shower, wishes to tako a tram for the four blocks of a short walk—they must pay the full amount of fare. The New Zealand system, of paying in proportion to tho distance one travels, has never been tried in America. If it were, many of the systems here would be payable. As it is, very few of them are able to declare anything but a deficit on tlieir operation.