760 RAPID-TRANSIT SUBWAYS IN METROPOLITAN CITIES. 



them Avoiild not haA'e been built. Both London and Glasgow have 

 i-ecognized these facts, and have not opposed the companies when 

 they have appealed to Parliament for power to use the ground below 

 the streets. 



FRAXCIIISK IN BUDAPEST. 



The nearest ap])roacli to British conditions is to be found in Buda- 

 pest. There the city has invested nothing; the subway has been 

 built, equipped, and operated by a private company. But the city 

 has reserved the privilege of taking over the line in 1940, when the 

 concessions for the surface lines exjiire, provided announcement is 

 made of its intention two years previous. Otherwise the franchise 

 runs ninety years from 1896, or until 198r). The maximum fare is 

 fixed at 10 kreutzers (5 cents) during the first fifteen years, after 

 which the city authorities may require a reduction. The city will 

 receive from the gross revenues an amount to be calculated on the fol- 

 lowing scale: 



Per cent. 



Duriiiy the first ten years following a period of twenty yeai's, 1916-1926 1 



During the second ten years following a period of twenty years, 1926-1936_ 2 



Dnring the third ten j-ears following a period of twenty years, 1936-1940 3 



During the fourth ten years following a period of twenty years, 1946-1956. 4 

 From this time to the end of the concession, 1956-1986 5 



During the first twenty-five years the city can not grant any other 

 concession for the establishment of a system of transportation of any 

 kind between the center of the city and the park. And for the first 

 fifteen years the company is exempt from taxation. The city, of 

 course, possesses in addition the usual police powers, and the conces- 

 sion contains many provisions s^^ecifying how the subway was to be 

 built and how it is to be operated. 



t?:k:\is of the paius concession. 



The position of the Paris subway is tlie result of many compro- 

 mises between the munici])al council and the central government 

 whose approval was necessary for the execution of the lu'oject. The 

 central authorities insisted that the subway be connected with the 

 railroads in order that trains from the country might be run right 

 through to the center of the city and a suburban traffic thus de- 

 veloped. The municipality feared that the railroad companies 

 would get control of the subwa^^ and that a large portion of the popu- 

 lation would be induced to leave the city and live in the suburbs, 

 thereby decreasing the city's revenue from octroi. A compromise 

 was finally effected, and in the early part of 1898 the act was passed, 

 which fixed the gauge of the road, over which there had been so much 

 dispute, at the standard width. ])ut the city, in order to prevent 

 the railroads from ever sending their cars over the snbwaj', has built 



