[PRCo] Re: Making__Reliefs_--_Adjusting__Mirrors

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Wed, 19 Mar 2003, Fred Schneider wrote:

> I remember a married man I met in the army ... a former Cincinnati bus
> driver ... met his wife in the rear view mirror.  From what I see on our
> local buses today, I think the chances of finding anyone suitable in
> 2003 would be similar to eating haute cuisine at McDonalds.

On those rare occasions when I take an express bus downtown instead of
going to Oakland I have noticed that not everyone who works downtown
dresses like a slob. 

And on a more relevant note, the busways have given us that one service
improvement, meaningful express service, that Pittsburgh Railways couldn't
offer (at least with the system they had).

If the East End lines could have fed into express tracks which ran beside
the Pennsylvania tracks from Wilkinsburg or even from Rankin inward, would
it have made a difference in retention of service? I suspect had that
right of way been available for that (and really, no, not a chance; PRR
needed 4 tracks for their own commuter service until about the same time
the Port Authority took over, e.g. "too late") those rights of way would
have survived, but the feeder lines (the outer ends of the surface East
End routes) would still have been dropped like a lead balloon.

-D