translation - Strange phrase? 「お切らせ願います。」

I was translating a song (full lyrics: http://vocaloidlyrics.wikia.com/wiki/反芻の印象_(Hansuu_no_Inshou) ) and found this phrase which I am very confused about: 「お切らせ願います。」 "Please make (let) it cut" is what it literally means, I think. In the song, they're on a train, and the conductor/some official said this; the only thing I think that this could mean is something like "Tickets please!" as in, to hold out their tickets so that they can be punched (cut). I feel like this is reaching too far, though.

Can someone tell me what this expression means in this context? Thank you!

Answer

Interesting, I initially thought お切らせ願います was a typo for something, but this seems to be an actual phrase that was used by train/bus conductors until the 1960's (the middle Showa era). So it fits very well with the nostalgic lyrics of this song.

• 〔昔は〕「切符を切ります」「乗換を切ります」〔今は〕「切符をお切らせ願ひます」「切符を切らせていたゞきます」「乗換をお切りいたします」「乗換を切らない方はお切らせ願ひます」 (浅野信『巷間の言語省察』, 1933)


• 早速で恐れ入りますが只今御乗車の方は乗車券のお切らせを願います (中村メイ子『田舎のバス』, 1955)


• (interview with a retired conductor) シミューレータで「乗車券をお持ちの方はお求めください」と言っているが、お求めではなくお切らせ願います。」 (しでんの学校 横浜市電車掌さん・運転士さんにお話を聞く会; 横浜市電 was taken off in 1972)


• 当社にはピーク時の昭和41年ごろ、1500人もの女性車掌が活躍していた。中卒者が多く、白い襟に濃紺の制服、制帽姿の彼女たちは腰のベルトに革カバンを吊り下げ、両切りパンチを片手に『乗車券をお切らせ願います』と、揺れ動く車内を巧みにバランスをとりながら動き回って乗車券を発売したり、乗客を誘導整理した。(北海道バス協会, 北海道のバス事業の歴史)

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お/ご + noun + 願います is a way of politely asking something. We still commonly hear ご確認願います, ご承知願います, お伝え願います, お声がけ願います, etc.

切らせ is the masu-stem of 切らせる ("to let someone cut"; see: masu-stem as a noun), so お切らせ願います literally means "Please let (me) cut (your ticket)".

Until around 1990, conductors of express trains checked the ticket of each passenger and physically "clipped" it. Physical clippers has been completely replaced by rubber stamps and electric devices, but we still hear 切符を切る as an idiom that means "issue/check a ticket" (eg 交通違反の切符を切られる = "to get a traffic ticket").

We no longer hear お切らせ願います in Japanese trains and buses. But judging from the examples above, お切らせ seems to have included not only checking/clipping tickets but also selling/issuing tickets on board.