I have shown (at p. 159, vol. ii.) that the number of miles of streets
included in the Inner District of the Metropolitan Police is 1750.
Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his excellent “Handbook of Modern London,”
tells us that “the streets of the Metropolis, if put together, would
measure 3000 miles in length;” but he does not inform us what limits
he assigns to the said metropolis; it would seem, however, that he
refers to the Outer Police District: and in another place he cites the
following as the extent of some of the principal thoroughfares:--
New-road 5115 yds. long, or nearly 3 miles.
Oxford-street 2304 „ „ 1-1/2 „
Regent-street 1730 „ „ 1 „
Piccadilly 1690 „
City-road 1690 „
Strand 1396 „
Of the two great lines of streets parallel to the river, the one
extending along Oxford-street, Holborn, Cheapside, Cornhill, and
Whitechapel to the Regent’s-canal, Mile-end, is, says Mr. McCulloch,
“above six miles in length;” while that which stretches from
Knightsbridge along Piccadilly, the Haymarket, Pall-mall East, the
Strand, Fleet-street, Watling-street, Eastcheap, Tower-street, and so
on by Ratcliffe-highway to the West India Docks, is, according to the
same authority, about equal in length to the other. Mr. Weale asserts,
as we have already seen, that the greatest length of street from
east to west is about fourteen miles, and from north to south about
thirteen miles. The number of streets in London is said to be 10,000,
though upon what authority the statement is made, and within what
compass it is meant to be applied, I have not been able to ascertain.
It is calculated, however, that there are 1900 miles of gas “mains”
laid down in London and the suburbs; so that adopting the estimate of
the Commissioners of Police, or 1760 miles of streets, within an area
of about 90 square miles, we cannot go far wrong.
Now, as to the amount of _traffic_ that takes place daily over this
vast extent of paved road, it is almost impossible to predicate
anything definitely. As yet there are only a few crude facts existing
in connection with the subject. All we know is, that the London streets
are daily traversed by 1500 omnibuses--such was the number of drivers
licensed by the Metropolitan Commissioners in 1850--and about 3000
cabs--the number of drivers licensed in 1850 was 5000, but many “cabs”
have a day and night driver as well, and the Return from the Stamp and
Tax Office cited below, represents the number of licensed cabriolets,
in 1849, at 2846: besides these public conveyances, there are the
private carriages and carts, so that the metropolitan vehicles may be
said to employ altogether upwards of 20,000 horses.
In the _Morning Chronicle_ I said, when treating of the London
omnibus-drivers and conductors:--“The average journey, as regards the
distance travelled by each omnibus, is six miles, and that distance is,
in some cases, travelled twelve times a day, or as it is called, ‘six
there and six back.’ Some omnibuses perform the journey only ten times
a day, and some, but a minority, a less number of times. Now, taking
the average distance travelled by each omnibus at between 45 and 50
miles a day--and this, I am assured, on the best authority, is within
the mark, while 60 miles a day might exceed it--and computing the
omnibuses running daily at 1500, we find ‘a travel,’ as it was worded
to me, of upwards of 70,000 miles daily, or a yearly ‘travel’ of more
than 25,000,000 miles; an extent which is upwards of a thousand times
more than the circumference of the earth; and that this estimate in no
way exceeds the truth is proved by the sum annually paid to the Excise
for ‘mileage,’ which amounts on an average to 9_l._ each ’bus’ per
month, or collectively to 162,000_l._ per annum, and this, at 1-1/2_d._
per mile (the rate of duty charged), gives 25,920,000 miles as the
aggregate distance travelled by the entire number of omnibuses every
year through the London streets.”
The distance travelled by the London cabs may be estimated as
follows:--Each driver may be said to receive on an average 10_s._ a
day all the year through. Now, the number of licences prove that there
are 5000 cab-drivers in London, and as each of these must travel at
the least ten miles in order to obtain the daily 10_s._, we may safely
assert that the whole 5000 go over 50,000 miles of ground a day, or, in
round numbers, 18,250,000 miles in the course of the year.
According to a return obtained by Mr. Charles Cochrane from the Stamp
and Tax Office, Somerset House, there were in the metropolis, in
1849-50, the following number of horses:--
Private carriage, job, and cart horses (in
London) 3,683
Ditto (in Westminster) 6,339
Cabriolets licensed 2846 (having two
horses each) 5,692
Omnibuses licensed 1350 (four horses
each) 5,500
------
Total number of horses in the metropolis 21,214
------
I am assured, by persons well acquainted with the omnibus trade,
that the number of omnibus horses here cited is far too low--as many
proprietors employ ten horses to each “bus,” and none less than
six. Hence we may fairly assume that there are at the least 25,000
horses at work every day in the streets of London. Besides the horses
above mentioned, it is estimated that the number daily coming to the
metropolis from the surrounding parts is 3000; and calculating that
each of the 25,000, which may be said to be at work out of the entire
number, travels eight miles a day, the aggregate length of ground gone
over by the whole would amount to 200,000 miles per diem, or about
70,000,000 miles throughout the year. There are, as we have seen,
upwards of 1750 miles of streets in London. It follows, therefore, that
each piece of pavement would be traversed no less than 40,000 times per
annum, or upwards of a hundred times a day, by some horse or vehicle.
As I said before, the facts that have been collected concerning the
absolute traffic of the several parts of London are of the most meagre
description. The only observations of any character that have been made
upon the subject are--as far as my knowledge goes--those of M. D’Arcey,
which are contained in a French report upon the roads of London, as
compared with those of Paris.
This gentleman, speaking of the relative number of vehicles passing
and repassing over certain parts of the two capitals, says:--“The
Boulevards of Paris are the parts where the greatest traffic takes
place. On the _Boulevard des Capucins_ there pass, every 24 hours, 9070
horses drawing carriages; on the _Boulevard des Italiens_, 10,750;
_Boulevard Poissonière_, 7720; _Boulevard St. Denis_, 9609; _Boulevard
des Filles du Calvaire_, 5856: general average of the above, 8600.
_Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine_, 4300; _Avenue des Champs Elysées_,
8959. At London, in Pall Mall, opposite Her Majesty’s Theatre, there
pass at least 800 carriages every hour. On London-bridge the number of
vehicles passing and repassing is not less than 13,000 every hour. On
Westminster-bridge the annual traffic amounts to 8,000,000 horses at
the least. By this it will be seen that the traffic in Paris does not
amount to one-half of what it is in the streets of London.”