[PRCo] West End - Part 3

[Matt Barry]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Letters to the Editor - January 16, 1960
 Prefers Trolleys to West End

 The news of the possibility, however slight, of the resumption of 
streetcar service to the western communities is good news indeed to the 
luckless commuters who have suffered through several months of 
substitute bus service.

 Some of them have found other ways to get to work, but many who have no 
choice have been grumbling and complaining bitterly about the 
overcrowding, the jolting, the difficulty and uncertainty of standing on 
a bus - even the difficulty of getting on at times.

 And the buses make only a minute or two better time than the streetcars 
did, in spite of the easing of traffic jams since the Fort Pitt Bridge 
opened.  Under present conditions, trolleys would undoubtedly save 
several minutes over their previous time.

 Of course the trackage problems involved should have been faced 
realistically when permission was granted to build the new bridge 
without tracks.  But for the sake of a few hundred yards of bridge and 
ramps without tracks, 30 or 40 miles of good trolley lines have been 
sacrificed.

 Probably the best solution now would be to retain the Point Bridge.  
City planners will violently oppose this for esthetic reasons, of 
course, but it would be a boon to commuters now, and to motorists in the 
future when the new bridge becomes inadequate.

 Possibly another route for tracks can be found, but until streetcars 
return, commuting from Crafton and surrounding areas will never be as 
good as it was until last summer.

 M.F. McGrew
Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh  Post-Gazette - Letters to the Editor, January 20, 1960

 Switch to Buses Is Unsatisfactory

 The commuters from Crafton and other western communities are indebted 
to Mr. M.F. McGrew for his accurate description of the substituted 
service by bus in his letter in the Post-Gazette of January 16.

 My experience has convinced me the bus service will never be 
satisfactory unless a drastic change is made.  Frequently, the buses are 
overloaded, poorly lighted and jolt the passengers worse than the 
proverbial hack.  Briefly, we never had it so bad.

 H.L. Montgomery

Pittsburgh

 

Switch from Trolleys to Buses Opposed

 In the interest of better mass transportation for the people of 
Allegheny County and to debate the present, I am writing this letter.

 In the past several months local civic leaders and organizations have 
advocated conversion from street cars to buses as a solution to out mass 
transportation problem.  They have accused our present system of mass 
transportation as being inadequate and antiquated.  

 As to the statement of inadequacy, I am in complete accord.  But in 
saying that our trolleys are incapable of handling the problems of 
modern mass transportation, I must disagree.  For in their zealous 
interest in solving our dilemma by substituting buses for trolleys, they 
overlooked the facts that buses have a decrease in seating capacity of 
approximately 15 seats under that of the trolleys, which have a capacity 
of 56 on most cars; that buses require more maintenance than do the 
trolleys and require more frequent replacements.  Also, that buses are 
subjected to poor driving conditions, lack safety devices on which are 
essential parts on all street cars, and constitute a serious hazard to 
the public health by emitting dangerous carbon-monoxide fumes, which Los 
Angeles has found to be the source of their smog problem.  Our state 
legislature is beginning to also recognize this problem by investigating 
the fumes which are emitted by automobiles and trucks.

 I have interviewed several riders who are subjected to the recent 
conversion to buses on the West End routes, and the general consensus of 
these riders is that buses are uncomfortable, too bumpy, obnoxious and 
because of the decrease in seating, do not guarantee as fair a chance of 
obtaining a seat during rush hours as on the street cars, and finally, 
that they are a nuisance in traffic.  They expressed a desire for the 
immediate reinstatement of the trolleys on their former routes.

 Samuel Fuller
Pittsburgh