Lure of the Omnibus

From the Daily Mirror, 28th April 1916.

LURE OF THE OMNIBUS.

Women of All Classes Who Have Become Wartime Conductresses.

"Domestic servants to-day are very difficult to find, so many of them are becoming conductresses," was the woeful complaint of a mistress to The Daily Mirror yesterday.  So great is the lure of the omnibus for girl conductors that in one street in the Golders Green district recently seven servants gave their mistresses notice with the object of becoming conductresses.

"It certainly is a fact that of the 500 women conductors on our omnibuses to-day—and their numbers are increasing daily—more were formerly domestic servants and parlourmaids than in any other calling," commented an official of the London Omnibus Company.

"Thirty-eight per cent. of the total number represents their proportion.  Another ten per cent. were just 'at home' before the war.  A large percentage, too, were typists, shop assistants, waitresses and dressmakers, and some were in the postal service.  Then we have the wife of a major on active service among them, wives of schoolmasters are also serving.”