RAILWAY TICKETS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 386, 12 August 1911, Page 6

RAILWAY TICKETS.

The ticket system employed on the New Zealand railways, in the opinion of the "Lyttelton Times," abounds in unnecessary pitfalls. The ordinary traveller finds it hard to understand why a slip of cardboard entitling him to travel from Christchurch to Lyttelton should be useless for a journey from Lyttelton to Christchurch. Then the Department insists, with strange disregard for the convenience of its patrons, that.the person who wishes to make a journey shall buy his ticket on the chosen day, often within a limited period before the departure of his train. He may not purchase a dozen tickets for use as required, thus saving his own time and that of officials, while the rule that tickets may be bought only atrailvvay stations appears to be regarded as sacred, for no reason that is very obvious. With much of this we can agree, though we recognise that to have numerous agencies for the sale of railway tickets would place the Department to more trouble and expense than would be compensated for by the small convenience to the public. There are, however, several absurdities which might with advantage be swept away. For instance if the Department undertakes a contract to carry a passenger a stated journey, what can it possibly matter whether the journey is undertaken the day the contract is made by the sale of the ticket or the day after? If Smith buys a return ticket at exactly double the price of a single ticket why should he not be able to transfer the return half to Jones? The Department has not contracted to carry Smith and no one else, because he might have bought the ticket for someone else. Why should passengers not be able to break their journeys at any stage, instead of only after travelling ten miles? A passenger from New Plymuuth to, say, Stratford, cannot break his journey at Bell Block or Lepperton, but he can at Midhirst, while a passenger from Stratford to to New Plymouth cannot break his journey at Midhirst, but may at Lepperton or Bel! Block. Why should there be a limit to the currency of tickets? Return tickets are available for three months from that date of issue, and single tickets for distances over twenty mies for one month. So long as they are only used the once, what can it matter to the Department how long the currency is? In one way the Department would gain by extending the currency, for there would be far more tickets lost by passengers. Apart from that, however, there really seems to be plenty of room for reform in the direction ol removing some of the antiquated and irksome restrictions from the sale and use of railway tickets.