RAILWAYS AND WEEK-END FARES [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—Several friends have just been discussing with me the subject of week-end railway fares. We all agreed that the railway companies were missing a great opportunity because they seem to have insufficiently studied the popular habits of to-day. Indeed, our agreement was not merely unanimous, but was so strong that after the manner of cautious and moderate persons we thought after all that there must be a " catch " somewhere. Presumably, in fact undoubtedly, railway managers are men of great experience. Was it, then, conceivable that they were such dolts as we, at the end of our discussion, declared them to be ? If there is a "catch" somewhere I wish it could be explained to me. Mean- while I am bound to saythat our reasoning seemed convincing.
Before the War the week-end habit had already become an established custom. A large proportion of professional Londoners fled the city and got them to a place in the country or by the sea. The railway companies provided handsomely for the week-ender ; there were cheap fares lasting not merely from Saturday to Monday, but from Friday to Tuesday. Now you cannot escape from London on a Friday evening on a cheap fare unless you are going a considerable distance. In effect the railway companies have greatly raised the rents of those who have week-end cottages. Of course, we all recognize that the fares must be higher than before the War. but what is the reason for refusing week-end fates
beginning on Friday to places within forty miles—or whatever the appointed distance is—of London ?
We arc told that the miraculous increase of motors is hitting the railway companies very hard. The companies, it may be said, must therefore get as much money as ever they can from those who still use the railways. But what my friends and I agreed upon was that the very increase of motor traffic was, properly considered, the railway companies opportunity. The novice who owns a motor soon gets over the first delights of driving ; he becomes frankly bored with the wearisome business of getting through the busy parts of London before he reaches the desirable open road.. The more motors increase the more will people be inclined to fall back upon the comparative peace of a railway train —provided only that they can afford it.
Have the railway managers noticed that for several years the tendency has been more and more to make Saturday a dies non. Our fathers worked in offices on Saturday morning ; a considerable proportion of the present generation does not, or at all events takes every other Saturday off. This signifies a tremendous amount of travelling at the end of the week. This is where the railways' opportunity comes in. Are the railway companies thinking of providing for it or have they not noticed what is happening ?
Still, there may be a " catch " somewhere— 1 I am,
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