[PRCo] Re: [Fwd: Pittsburgh Rwy Cars]

[Harold Geissenheimer]

Hi Fred:

Yes.  Some power companies paid no heed to the SEC.  New Orleans had strong
support by the city.  Electric power paid for low street car fares.  South
Carolina
Gas & Electric and Duke Power stayed in the bus business until the last decade.
Public Service NJ lasted many years.  But I do believe the law was meant to
be enforced.  It just never was.

Harold Geissenheimer

"Fred W. Schneider III" wrote:

> Harold:
>
> You brought up one interesting point here and that is the Securities
> Divestitute Act.  It is very easy to believe that some disgruntled power
> or gas customer didn't like to subsidize trolley cars that he didn't
> ride.  But the public is generally blind to these things.
>
> Based on the selective enforcement of the law (New Orleans Public
> Service for example turned a blind eye to that law for half a century),
> it would be much easier for me to believe that the law was written in
> response to efforts by the utility industry, perhaps under cover
> efforts, to ditch the transit services that were a burden on
> profitability.  What can you add?
>
> Fred Schneider
>
> Harold Geissenheimer wrote:
> >
> > Greetings to every one
> >
> > West Penn was also responding to the Federal SEC rules to divest the
> > power company from transportation.  This included not only the rail lines
> > but also their initial bus line to South Connellsville.  At the same time
> > the parent Potomas Edison Co of Hagerstown was selling off the
> > Blue Ridge Bus Lines (Wash & Balt to Pgh and Cleveland).  I would
> > suspect that they also saw red ink in the handwriting on the wall.
> >
> > Blue Ridge/Potomac Edison/West Penn worked with many of their
> > employees to keep services intact.  That ranged from operations
> > to Washington & Charleroi, the bus terminal in Washington, and
> > even a 2 bus Blairville Bus Co. sold to a dispatcher.
> >
> > They coordinated the sale of the Penn Bus/Blue Ridge route to
> > Carnegie, Bridgeville and Hickory to Community Transit Service and sold
> > them the almost new South Connellsville GMC buses.  These
> > stayed with Community for years and were eventually transferred to
> > PAT in 1964.  It was this company that replaced most of the Harmony
> > Short Line in 1961.  It was then I became Community's Manager.
> >
> > A little side story of ancient history.   West Penn car #832 was labeled
> > the Valley Route and was housed in Tarentum before being moved to the
> > Coke Region.   In the late 1940's, West Penn purchased its first buses
> > which were housed along side #832 in Connellville.  These are the buses
> > that were sold to Community Transit.  When Community took over Harmony
> > in 1961, several of these were sent to Tarentum where they were housed in
> > the old West Penn barn which had been used by Harmony since 1937.  So
> > we have an interesting play by play:  Tarentum to Connellsville to
> > Bridgeville
> > and then on to Tarentum and the West Penn barn.  This building was used
> > by PAT until the HarmarGarage was built and I believe it is still used
> > as a tire company shop.
> >
> > 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 !