HONEST BUS TRAVELLERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 145, 22 June 1939, Page 11

HONEST BUS TRAVELLERS

Box for Fares Availed Of

Bournemouth recently placed a box at the door of its buses and trams into which passengers might drop their fares i on alighting if the conductor had failed to reach them while they were on board. In the first week of their use £8 16/8 —the equivalent of 2120 penny fares —was collected in this way, says th© “Listener. ’’ It dues not follow that this entire sum would have been lost to the tramways if the boxes had not been installed. Some of the passengers who used them would no doubt have run after the conductor or left their fare with a stranger to hand on. But it is safe to assume that at least some of it was found money; and for the rest the boxes are a great convenience to conscientious passengers at rush hours. The system has long been in force n Glasgow with excellent results. Rernntly the suggestion was made that it uicrht well be introduced in London.

c | The L.P.T.B. say, however, that then ) is little chance of the device beinj ’ adopted. These are the reasons given' [ “We consider,’’ said the board, “ that i most of our passengers are perfect!} honest.’’ “They know they are undei a legal obligation to find the conductoi somehow.’ Glasgow regards the popu larity of its boxes as a sign of the honesty of its citizens; London on the other hand, apparently takes the hon esty of its citizens as a reason for not having boxes. The board adds, by way of warning to the dishonest passengers (who presumably do not use the boxes in Gias gow): “We have a secret system which enables the conductor to keep a pretty close check on passengers who have paid and those who haven’t.’’ The moral appears to be contained in the old refrain that nearly drove Mark Twain mad—“ Punch in the presence of the passeng aire.”