[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh 7-Charles Street abandonment

[Shirley Tennyson]

   When I worked for Pitsburgh Railways Co. in 1947-1949 there was no
public call for buses, other than from corrupt politic- ians. I will
explain why they were not well intentioned.
I am sure the public hated the Com- pany by 1960 after all of the
strikes and fare increases but that was a different management than I
worked for. You see, the federal government ruled that the Phladelphia
Company (in Pittsburgh) had to dispose of the P.Ry.Co and Equitable Gas
Co. Guggennheims saw an opport- unity and bought up the stock cheap dur-
ing bankrutcy, knowing the company was making good money once the
depression ended. Guggenheims delayed the reorg- anization until 1952
when they captured the modernization fund for themselves.  That left the
new company with no capital.     Anne X. Alpern and Mayor Lawrence were
no innocent do-gooders. Lawrence was a big stockholder in Allegheny
Asphalt & Paving Co. and would have benefitted immensely from buses
which  would require R.Ry.Co to repave the streets that had tracks. An
investgation was opened into Lawrence's paving con- nections but he just
happened to be o a six-month vacation in Ireland until the in-
vestigation was over.                                     In
1948,P.Rty.Co was paying $ 1.55 per hour for motormen with an 8.33 cent
base fare, never increased since maybe 1925 when motormen got half as
much pay and few fringe benefits. C.D. Palmer went to Lawrence and
explained to him why fares had to up 1.67 cents after 23 years of
inflation. Lawrence just picked up the telephone and told the press
:"The public be damned by P.Ry Co."                     Anne X. Alpern
pushed the bustitution into the federal court agenda and got a court
order to hire independant engineers to study bustitution (Lougee & Co).
The study fond about 1947 that with peripheral exception, street cars
were te best choice. P.Ry.Co. proved to the court hat some of the
consultant's exceptions favoring buses were a mistake. he court upheld
street cars after a complate, fair and open proceedure.
Nevertheless, when the Trustees of P.Ry Co. asked the Court to approve
buying 1700 series cars in 1949, Alpern was back in court to block it. I
did a wee bit of the background research work to support 1700 purchase.
Again, it did not happen without a full and open court pro- ceedure.
Judge Loran Lewis was a politcal judge. He was allied with law firms
doing GM work, according to local sources, I ahve no proof, but I did
know Harley Swift. I called  on Swift at EBASCO in New York where he was
their transit con- sutant before going to Harrisburg. He told me who to
see for emploment in Pitsburgh     Later, when I was Deputy Secretary of
Transportation for Pennsylvana, Swift came to me looking for consulting
work after Judge Lewis and Dameron fired him. Swift had promised to
marry PCC cars in back to back pairs and really run a South Hills Rapid
Transit Service. That did him in. I have the newspaper story to confirm
what he told me..                                          Rmember,back
then, Pgh Motor Coach Co. had higher fares than street cars, low- er
wages and faster service but still lost money. The other problem was he
33 in- dependant, low wage, political bus lnes the politicians set up to
kill off PRy.Co. Yo did no see that happen in Philadephia un- der he
same PUC because PTC was pol- pticaly correct, but P.Ry.Co did not pay
off.  Pennsylvania had a Public Sevice Commission until maybe 1936 when
Gov- ernor Earle was elected. He abolished the PSC (with legislative
help) but found hat the public needed some protection after all so he
created the new PUC with his buddies to run it. Almost anyone who sup-
ported Governor Earle could get a Pittsburgh bus certificate
(franchise0. Not so in Philalelphia as I explained above.           When
I left PRy.Co in 1949, ridership was slipping about three percent as
people bought new automobiles and gas- oline. In Cleveland and Portland,
where buses were wipng out street cars at that tme, ridership losses
were double digit. Pittsbugh did not slip untl Tom Fitzgerald was forced
out (retired at a ripe age) and CD Palmer took over with no money and an
annual strike, or so i seemed. Palmer took out his hate for the Union on
the ridres. Tom Fitzgerald never had a legal strike but there were some
short (a few hours) local (one ar barn) wilcats that did less harm.
E d  T e n n y s o n