Clipping

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Not wishing to be branded a racist but rather simply an observer, the
hills and valleys in Pittsburgh also tended to maintain the character of
neighborhoods for years and years and years.  Troy Hill, for example, is
still dominantly white and Germanic.  

Kenneth Josephson wrote:
> 
> Derrick J Brashear wrote:
> 
> > But one could also argue the development around Pittsburgh doesn't fit the
> > national norm. And in fact most of the rail lines, electric and otherwise,
> > served corridors along creek and river valleys, which also happened to be
> > where people lived and worked at least early on.
> 
> True. It is amazing to those of us from locales with relatively level
> topography  to discover communities within a few miles of each other being
> almost totally isolated. The long narrow valleys and "steps" of the mountains
> also led to a number of heavily travelled, parallel car lines at different
> levels along ridges. Pittsburgh's situation could be called unique.
> 
> As pointed out to me by another list member, most transit systems were (are)
> radial in nature, with lines fanning out from a central (downtown) area. In a
> level community, enough crosstown lines (especially in the motor coach era)
> were started to form a true grid. In Milwaukee, Chicago, NYC, LA, etc., a
> transit patron can reach all outlying transit served areas of those
> metropolitan areas without *ever* having to ride a trunk line downtown to
> transfer. And as many downtowns have lost industry, retail and corporate
> headquarters, downtowns and the lines radiating out from them have also
> declined.
> 
> I believe Pittsburgh's geography keeps the city center relevent. I could be
> wrong, but the downtown appeared to be thriving during my last visit in 1999.
> I don't see a grid pattern of bus and rail lines being possible in Pittsburgh
> and its suburbs.  The growth is entrenched along ridges, waterways, valley
> floors and hilltops. That alone may have helped keep (rail) transit relevent in
> Pittsburgh.
> 
> > On the
> > other hand, what if instead of the West Busway something could have been
> > done with the extensive private right of way which existed from the West
> > End services, and then perhaps tied into the former Panhandle right of way
> > outbound of the tunnel?
> 
> Looking at a map, it appears feasible. Could residents of the West End be lured
> back to the rails? I always thought that if more of the streetcar system
> survived under PAT management, some the trolleys would have been shifted to
> parallel railroad rights of way (dual gauge?) as industrial rail traffic
> declined. It would have speeded up rail transit and would have gotten transit
> vehicles off the surface streets.
> 
> > It's all pointless speculation, since the way things evolved in this
> > country basically precluded survival of the more rural systems and made the
> > preservation of urban systems require great foresight and potentially
> > greater expense.
> 
> As it is, some of the surviving rail transit systems are still with us due to
> unique circumstances that had less to do with foresight than political
> wrangling.
> 
> > It's still annoying to me, though, that the system we're
> > left with here isn't more useful than it is.
> 
> I wonder if rail transit would be more useful if there was more incentive for
> the agency running the system to do things better. I sometimes wonder if
> privatizing the positions at the top and offering fat bonuses to them  if they
> can reach certain goals outlined in their contract with the County would result
> in a leaner, more effective PAT?
> 
> Ken J.