Drake - in the good old days

[Robert E. Rathke]

I was surprised at the decline in Drake ridership in the years since I
moved from Bethel Park to Chicago in 1983.  When I lived in BethelPark, I
rode the Drake line every day to/from downtown from 1972-78, and then
rode it rather often until 1983.  I walked from home to/from the
Brookside stop which was always a busy place both morning and evening.  
In that era, there were 8 trips inbound from Drake between 7-8AM, and the
cars were sometimes standing-room-only inbound from the Ft. Couch Rd.
stop.  I recall reading that recently the Drake trolley served only 50
passengers per day, and I wondered what happened to the riders since the
early 80's.   50 passengers a DAY!  That's about ONE carfull of SRO
riders in 1983!

In an e-mail exchange, Jim Holland wrote that in its final days, Drake
was an unreliable shuttle from the loop to Castle Shannon and back.  He
noted that Ed mentioned that ridership fell off when through routing to
downtown stopped.  People there may just opt to drive to South Hills
Village for a direct ride, he said.

Now, from a distance, it's difficult for me to relate to the post-LRV
Drake line.

On the same subject: when I worked in downtown Pittsburgh, I had business
with a company that commissioned a painting of the inside of a 1700
series PCC.  Many of their employees rode the Drake line to work, and so
this painting (looking toward the back of the car from the motorman's
seat), depicted about 10 riders in the seats, all of them company
employees.  The painting was very realistic, and you had no difficulty
identifying each of the employees, some of whom were reading a newspaper,
looking out the window or dozing.  That painting hung in their reception
room, and I've  wondered what ever happened to it.

Bob Rathke 9/11
	

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