[PRCo] Re: To PCC or Not to PCC?.......That is the Question.

[Kenneth Josephson]

"Fred W. Schneider III" wrote:

> And more often than body style, the public spoke of red cars, green
> cars, yellow cars.  That may have been why so many companies changed
> colors when going from two to one man, or as a way of publicizing their
> new cars.

Many fans know that LA residents referred to the Pacific Electric and the Los Angeles
Railway as "the Red Car" and "the Yellow Car", respectively.

After the MTA took over in 1958 and began repainting PCCs (and in one case, a former PE
"Blimp") green, transit patrons continued to refer to the former LARY cars as "yellow
cars." Even the green ones.

Some systems continued to use "car stop" signs for trolley bus lines, though motor bus
routes used "bus stop" signs.

The term "car fare" still applies in a number of cities. I remember one episode of "Cops"
where a police officer in the Hill District was asking a young woman if she had car fare
to reach East Liberty. This was filmed during the mid 1990s and young woman was simply
bewildered by the officer's question. He finally asked her if "she had money for the
bus."

Ken J.