To the Editor of the Nonru-Cuiva Darcy News"
Sim=I travel on the Number 1 Bus Route four times daily, and until yesterday I have not had any com-Plaints to make, either against. the officials of the Bus Company against the system by which the buses are operated.
However, something occurred yes~ terday afternoon which caused me become highly indignant. During the: sudden shower that started a little ter 1 pin. a surprisingly large jaunt of water fell In a very brief space of time, causing all low-lying sections of the city to become covered with water. The "flood waters" were: deepest on some of the narrow bystreets off Nanking Road, and obser~ vant people will know' that T am not exaggerating when I say that rickshaw coolies and others were wading knee-deep just off Nanking Road, T get on the bus at the North Szochuen—Range Road stop, and luckily for me this area was not as badly affected as some other places. How-fever, when I got out of the rickshaw that'had brought me (o the bus-stop T saw that both sides of. the road were under water, while the middle' of the road was comparatively dry. As the flooded area was en a level with the pavement, it was obvious that the water here was several inches deep.
Shortly afterwards a double-decker ame along, and T had to stand away from the edge of the pavement 10. avoid being splashed. "To my surprise, however, it came to a stand-still several feet from the kerb, leaving me (the sole passenger waiting at hat stop) the choice of stepping into ankle-deep water and spending the rest of the afternoon in soaking shoes, the alternative of missing the bus and coming late to the office. T chose the loiter course. Of course a kangaroo could have leapt across the intervening apace, but I have never been a star in that line, I must acknowledge in fairness that the conductor gave me several moments in which to decide wheth lardy Inemictency was preferable to certain cold, but seeing that I had no mind to risk the latter, he the bell and the bus moved on, Leav ing me the indignant object of amusement of the ever-present crowd of spectators. My dismay was increased with the realization that the same thing would happen when the next! bus came along, and that the look of pained surprise and pleading on my; face would not get me anywhere in cruel and damp world. The distance of my office from Range Road, and the growing lateness of the hour me from taking a rickshaw Yes, where there is a will there a way, and the will in this case being definitely at hand, a way finally presented itself. I appealed to the owner and workers of the Chinese dry-cleaning store, immediately front of which the bus-stop is situated, to lend me a board of some sort to Jay between the pavement and the step of the bus. This request of course was the signal for more hilary ity, but at last one of the men took pity on me and brought out a clean, slim and narrow wooden board. Never of a piece of wood more 10 any womi Soon a second bus arrived, Sir ter Raleigh spread the board across, and Queen Elizabeth stepped daintily upon it. It creaked but held. fand in another second T was high and dry inside the vehicle. It is worth noting that my gallant rescuer refused my preferred cumshaw of 10 cents big money, preferring service for its own sake. Would there were: more like him!
Thus ended the romantic episode of a rainy summer day, but these two questions remained and are still clamouring to be answered: (1) What is the idea of running a bus servies on a wet day if patrons are unable: to make use of it without considerable initiative and originality, coupled with luck, and ce-operation from out side disinterested sources? (2) The bus driver may have had Cand probably did have) instructions not. to drive the vehicle into places. that were too deeply covered with water, but as its wheels were already one or' two inches under water, what difference would an extra inch or two have made?
'This important point has probably' been brought up before the Bus Com-_ pany in the past, but the present system of parking the vehicle with large intervening space of water-covered road between it and the pavement is certainly far from satisfactory. Here are three tentative suggestions 'a8 possible solutions to the problem:
To put the convenience of pal rons above all. other considerations, and to Instruct drivers to drive buses tothe very edge of the pavement.
2, With' the ce-operation of the Municipal authorities to arrange, al bus-stops in low-) to reach the bus steps without sub-JJecting either their sensitive selves oF the also sensitive vehicle to the unpleasantness (and possible danger) of wet feet 3. To arrange some sort of folding device attached to the bus steps that could be spread open when occasion demanded to act as a sort of bridge to enable patrons io make use of buses even when the rain pours in torrents from the heavens, as these Jpethaps are the days when' buses are most needed by the working middle lasses.
S. Kasen. Shanghai, Aug. 27.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.