Charing Cross and Richmond (_viâ_ Kensington, Hammersmith, Chiswick, and Kew Bridge). Kensal Green and Richmond (_viâ_ Shepherd’s Bush, Barnes, Mortlake). Oxford Circus and Hayes Common (_viâ_ Shepherd’s Bush, Acton, Ealing, and Hanwell). Oxford Circus and Welsh Harp (_viâ_ Kilburn and Cricklewood). Stoke Newington and Hadley Woods (_viâ_ Wood Green and Southgate). Tottenham-court Road and Stonebridge Park (_viâ_ Kensal Green and Harlesden). CHAPTER XI “Jumpers”--“Spots”--Some curious passengers--Conductors and coachmen--The Rothschild Christmas-boxes--Mr. Morris Abrahams and Omnibus Men’s Superannuation Fund--Horses--Cost of omnibuses--Night in an omnibus yard It is said, frequently, that omnibus companies and proprietors have received little or no benefit from the introduction of the ticket system because of the expense connected with the working of it, but that is a very great mistake. The London General Omnibus Company saves £100,000 a year by it, and the other companies and associations have just as much cause for satisfaction. But it must be confessed that at the outset the ticket system was more or less a farce, the conductors omitting openly to give tickets and being encouraged in their breach of duty by the lower class of riders. Some conductors flung away their rolls of tickets and declared that they had been stolen. Others placed them under the omnibus wheels to be crushed, and then pretended that the damage done was the result of an accident. Some of the more reckless spirits bragged that they had given the tickets to their children to play with. The polite inspectors--called by the men “jumpers”--came into existence with the introduction of tickets, and for some time there was a considerable amount of excitement about their work, for, while conductors did not trouble to conceal from passengers the fact that they were not doing their duty, they seemed to consider it a personal insult that an inspector should board their omnibuses to see if passengers had been given tickets. Some conductors assaulted the unwelcome inspectors, but the police-court magistrates soon proved to them that it was a very unprofitable step to take, and, in course of time, the men who wished to retain their posts settled down to issuing tickets in a proper fashion, and to regarding with comparative calmness the sudden appearance of an inspector on their step. “We have to punch tickets in the dark,” one conductor declared indignantly to a passenger, “and then a ‘jumper’ comes up with an electric light to see that we’ve punched them in the right section.” “Perhaps they’ll fix electric lights on top of the ’buses before long,” the passenger said, consolingly. “Hope they won’t, guv’nor,” the conductor answered hurriedly. “Shouldn’t get any more two-shilling pieces for pennies if they did.”