Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/300

262 becomes at once stereotyped, and merely forms a basis for still further concessions.

It may be, of course, that during the busiest season—extending over four or five months of the year—there is sufficient traffic to utilise the whole of the trains run by the various routes; but there is no doubt that during the remaining seven months the accommodation provided is, in the aggregate, far in excess of the requirements, and that, as a matter of fact, the trains are frequently run with very few passengers in them, doing little more than paying their expenses.

So far as the public are concerned there is, of course, in all this nothing to be complained of; but if it be asked from a railway shareholder's point of view, what is the remedy for the loss of revenue which has been indicated, although it is not impossible to find an answer to the question, the solution of the problem is one involving many difficulties. As regards increasing the traffic greatly beyond its present volume, there is probably not much to be hoped for, the country being limited in extent, and the possibilities of expansion being circumscribed by the amount of the population, although it will, naturally, always fluctuate with the prosperity of the country. The only thing to be done in this direction is to follow out the policy which has already been adopted by most of the companies, of granting low fares and season ticket rates between all the large centres of population and places within a radius of about twenty miles, so as to build up a residential traffic, by encouraging the people to live in the healthier suburbs instead of in the large towns in which they pursue their avocations. As regards long distance traffic it is very doubtful whether the reduction of fares, or any other concessions,