The fare is six cents to any part of the City below 62nd
Street, and seven to any point above that and below 130th Street. The
cars are all more or less crowded. With the exception of a few lines,
they are dirty. An insufficient number are provided, and one half of
the passengers are compelled to stand. The conductors and drivers are
often rude and sometimes brutal in their treatment of passengers. One
meets all sorts of people in these cars. The majority of them are rough
and dirty and contact with them keeps a person in constant dread of an
attack of the itch, or some kindred disease. Crowded cars are a great
resort for pickpockets, and many valuable articles and much money are
annually stolen by the light-fingered gentry in these vehicles.
The wages paid to employees by the various companies are not large, and
the drivers and conductors make up the deficiency by appropriating a
part of the fares to their own use. Some are very expert at this, but
many are detected, discharged from the service of the company, and
handed over to the police. The companies exert themselves vigorously to
stop such practices, but thus far they have not been successful. Spies,
or "Spotters," as the road men term them, are kept constantly
travelling over the lines to watch the conductors. These note the
number of passengers transported during the trip, and when the
conductors' reports are handed in at the receiver's office, they
examine them, and point out any inaccuracies in them.
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