[PRCo] Re: Boarding buses and trains

[Harold Geissenheimer]

Greetings to all

Pgh Railways had both departure clocks at the end of the line
loops and headway recorders on the throats approaching downtown.

The clocks were designed to keep a motorman from leaving early.

The headway recorders did not differentiate between cars or lines
but showed the overall flow.   Headway recorders were used by
many systems.

I believe the clock was a Pittsburgh only thing.  Winnipeg had time
clocks at the end of each bus line and drivers had to punch a timecard!
Just like the Pgh clock/.

Harold

John Swindler wrote:

> >Fred W. Schneider III commented:
> >
> >
> >Kind of makes one long for the old days, doesn't it?  Back when
> >Pittsburgh Railways had headway recorders, and the dispatcher's office
> >knew what was going on.  And the street supervisors also understood.
> >
> >I listened to a Johnstown supervisor talking about the days when Horner
> >St. was a carline with passing sidings ... "Worked well with the right
> >motormen, but get an inexperienced man and the schedule was all screwed
> >up."  They worried about keeping a schedule, but they also were small
> >enough to know every motorman's capabilities!
> >
> >Schedules can also be a problem at trolley museums if we make it a
> >problem.  The Pumpkin Patch service this year coincided with an event at
> >the county fair grounds.  Dave wrote a schedule that called for 15
> >minute service from Richfol (the car house) to Arden loop to serve the
> >fair goers overlapping a 30 minute headway on the very same route to
> >take kids up to the loop to pick up pumpkins.  You know, it worked.  I
> >worked both the pumpkin car with a 25 minute round trip and the fair
> >cars with a 15 minute round trip.  Everybody made it work ... meets at
> >the Fair Grounds were right on the advertised.  Four times out of five
> >cars would be entering the siding from each end simultaneously!  But
> >once in a while the public or a motorman going to the Henry screwed it
> >up, and the dispatcher would be stomping his feet.
> >
>
> That's just the point, Fred.  Running on time is not the priority.
>
> I would submit that the priorities should be:
>
> 1.  Safety, Safety, Safety
>
> 2.  Making sure the guests have a good time.
>
> 3.  And maybe a far distant third is running on time.  Because running on
> time is primarily for the benefit of the dispatcher.  It may help increase
> the number of guests accommodated within a given amount of time, but is that
> the priority????  Maybe for the dispatcher and some railfans playing
> motorman, but not for the guests.
>
> And finally, what does JTC operation on Horner St. have to do with PTM's
> demonstration ride??  The comparison is irrelevant.  PTM isn't in the public
> transportation business.  It's in the education/entertainment business.
>
> Things I learned with the Chicago Transit Authority many years ago:
>
> 1.  There is no sin with being late.  The only sin is operating ahead of
> schedule.  Why??  Safety for the former.  Accommodating the customers for
> the latter.
>
> 2.  Late pm and night buses were generally half hour headway written by some
> schedule writers who knew what they were doing.  If you arrived at a time
> point on time, and the light turned green, I learned NOT to go charging
> ahead to the next time point.  You coasted slowly through the intersection
> and looked both ways for an approaching bus.
>
> If an approaching bus was within a couple blocks, I'd stop (and most other
> night operators) on the far side to wait for any possible transferring
> riders.  During the daytime, one generally tried to keep close to schedule.
> But at night, it was "screw" the schedule.  It was only a guide.  It was
> accommodating the customer that was important.  (as an aside, there was
> sufficient running time built into the night schedules so as not to cause a
> problem.  And the schedule writers must have known what they were doing,
> because of the frequency of meets at intersecting bus lines)
>
> And by the way, I noticed that Jim Holland would wait for customers on his
> late pm trackless run earlier this year.
>
> John
>
> >Jim Holland wrote:
> > >
> > > Good Morning!!
> > >
> > > > John Swindler wrote:
> > >
> > > > This might come as a shocker to those who were in the service years
> >ago, but
> > > > to paraphrase recent Army doctrine:
> > >
> > > > Most employees want to do a good job.
> > >
> > > > When employees say that keeping on time is more important, I bet that
> >9
> > > > times out of ten they have been criticized in the past for not running
> >on
> > > > time, but never heard any comment about helping the customer. (the
> >ratio is
> > > > three ata-boys equals one criticism)
> > >
> > >         .......And this is the public's attitude as well  --  BE  On
> >Time, Regardless.   Here in
> > > EssF we have Prop-E passed by the public that we must run on time.
> > >
> > >         But do they know how schedules are made  --  as an  *average*
> >of running times checked at
> > > different times of the day, the week, and on various vehicles driven by
> >a variety of
> > > operators//drivers??
> > >
> > > > Therefore, the problem is not the driver or conductor, but clueless
> > > > supervisors who don't understand the organization's mission.  Or how
> >to
> > > > supervise.  Yes, running on time is one of the employees tasks, but is
> >it
> > > > the primary mission??
> > >
> > >         Here in EssF the management is fine as long as they don't get
> >complaints  --  but when
> > > complaints come in, they point fingers and write bulletins   ---   "Thou
> >Shalt
> > > [not]......."   Most have no idea as to what is happening in the
> >streets.
> > >
> > > > Am tempted to make a link with public operation of 'demonstration
> >rides' at
> > > > trolley museums, and railfans who think they are there to play
> >motorman, but
> > > > suspect most of you are fed up by now with my bad attitude.
> > >
> > >         WHO  says John has a bad attitude?!?!(:->)   .......but admit
> >that  *playing--streetcar*
> > > at the museums and trying to emulate a 30,000--foot operation in just
> >1,000--feet is Not a
> > > Little Bit Annoying!(:->)
> > >
> > > > Or the bus driver in Scranton (or maybe it was Wilkes Barre;
> > > > whatever) who complained that it wouldn't be so
> > > > difficult to run on time if not for all these passengers.
> > >
> > >         Nice thing about electric TCs is one can sneak by before being
> >noticed!!(:->)
> > >
> > > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> > >
> > > James B. Holland
> > >
> > > Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation
> > >     "O"--Scale  St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars  &
> > >         "O"--Scale  Parts  mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
> > >         Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (PTM) http://www.pa-trolley.org/
> > >     Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
> > > N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.nmra.org
> > >
> > > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> >
>
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