MUCH TO LEARN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16534, 29 December 1927, Page 13

MUCH TO LEARN

AMERICAN TRAMWAYS,

SAN FRANCISCO, December .1

The prospect that the fivc-ccnt. fare may disappear in this, its third bast stronghold in America, for a higher rate, recalls the fact that this country has yet much to learn from New Zealand in the matter of tramway management. The minimum tram fare in some American cities is 4d; ill others, 3scl; in the vast magority, 3d; in three cities only, 2Jd. American street-cars have always been run for the benefit of the tourist rather than the dweller of the city in which they run. Your six, seven, or eight cents will give you a couple of hours' ride in a tram in an American city. Good for the tourist, especially if lie comes from abroad, but not for the city business man or woman shopping, who, confronted with a sudden shower, wishes to take n. train for tho four tdoeks of Ins short walk they must pay the full amount of fare. The 'Now Zealand system of paying in proportion to tho dlstanco travelled bps never been tried in America. If it, were,, many of the systems would be payable. As it is, very few of them are able to declare anything but a deficit on their operation.