[PRCo] WP -- TV

[Jim Holland]

How about???????-------

	THANKS  for taking the time to share-------

		As opposed to-------

			"Thanks for Listening!"(:->)

	Your comments certainly share some extremely valuable insight into
conditions in the very early 1950s!

	So the original PERC writers seem to be indicating that 
*TV--was--the--final--nail*  in the coffin for WP  --  not the sole
reason for abaondonment  --  far from it!

> Harold Geissenheimer wrote:

> Greetings to every one

> Now about the TV.  In the late l940's and early 1950's several important
> things affected transit ridership.  One was the 5 day week replacing the 5
> 1/2
> work on Saturday week.  Two was TV.  It hit the movie business very
> hard.  Three was the automobile.  Four was the closing of mines and mills.
> Five was the shift to shopping centers from the many downtowns.  You
> had to see how crowded these downtowns were on Saturday and suddenly
> they were empty

> The Fayette Coach Co (owned by Lincoln Coach of Irwin) took over
> the main WestPenn routes but abandoned them shortly after.  One thing
> they found out was that rail passengers boarded at isolated car stops away
> from the highway.  Bus passengers were standing along the highway and were
> frequently given a ride.

> I know from my own experience that the TV and Saturday thing affected
> local bus lines in Tarentum and New Kensington.  Also in Oil City, the
> Citizens Transit (ex Citizens Traction) purchased 5 new diesel buses in
> 1950
> and quit shortly thereafter.  Citizens was owned by the same owners as
> Montour Motor Coach in Pgh where I first worked in the transit business.
> I once worked a one week vacation replacement in Oil City in 1950.
> These were hard years in Western Pennsylvania.  I know.  I was there.

> Remember this about the TV replacing the movie.  People who went to the
> movie by transit made an extra round trip.  That was almost profit.  Now
> they stayed home.  Pittsburgh was similarly affected as the downtown movie
> business dropped.  Thats why the Penn and Stanley movies are now stage
> shows.

> Thanks for listening.  Best wishes.

> Harold Geissenheimer

>> ROGER Jenkins wrote:

>> Well Fred if two publications said it was TV that reduced the riding on
>> West Penn and you did not believe it, what do you think the real reason
>> was? To me it sounded plausible that the draw of watching Ed Sullivan
>> and a whole lot of other things on the 12 inch sets like my neihbor had
>> where us kids went to watch  it, made perfect sense. Instead of riding
>> the trolley to the local bijou , people stayed home glued to that new
>> fangled picture box !

-- 
James B. Holland

        Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
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