[PRCo] Tennyson's Reply

[Fred Schneider]

    During the 1940's, Mayor Lawrence was the most important politician
in Pennsylvania.  He had a stand in, maybe Joe Barr but I may remember
wrong, who was Mayor before him while he was Democratic Party Chairman
Then Lawrence became Governor in charge of everything. His City
Solicitor was Anne X Alpern who later became a judge,  They were both
vicious,
    Lawrence was a stockholder in Allegheny Asphalt & Paving Company.
The City had very rough street pavement and did not want to raise taxes
to pave the streets,  Pgh Rys Co had a legal obligation to pave the
streets above their cross ties, maybe  20 feet wide down the middle.
Some major streets were only 40 feet wide.
     In 1940 when PghRys Co filed their initial Reorganization Plan Anne

Alpern attacked it vigorously because it did not call for more buses, In

1941, we suffered Pearl Harbor and in 1942 Uncle Sam said no bus
substitutions anywhere but Alpern and Lawrence  did not seem to realize
there was a war on. When PRC  asked permission of the court to buy 100
more PCC cars (1400s)  the City was right there in court to block it,
The Court approved the new cars, Same with the 1500's  and the 1600's.
When the war was over  the City persuaded the court to order PRC to hire

N Lougee Engineers to study bustitution of the system. Lougee found only

Second Avenue economical  for buses, but PRC attacked that in court as
so marginally advantageous that it was not worth messing up system
access to Kennywood Park, Westinghouse, J&L, and USSteel.
     The City  did win on the interurban lines.  They demanded no money
be spent outside Allegheny County so in 1941 PRC proposed to abandon the

interurban lines but Pearl Harbor changed that.  They did not involve
Allegheny Asphalt & Paving either,  The Washington line was rerailed
about 1945 between Houston and Washington.
     About 1948, the Mayor had his suburban estate driveway in Butler
County (I think it was) paved. The media asked if he paid for it?  The
Mayor left on a vacation to Ireland,  A legal investigation was called
for so the Mayor found Ireland so beautiful he had to stay longer, until

the investigation was concluded. Anne Alpern kept challenging the
company in court.  I had to work on the legal case where the City
opposed the purchase of the 1700 series cars, No one told anyone some
would have B-3 trucks.  The Court found the cars were in the best
interest of the creditors and everyone else. I did a bustitution study
of 56-McKeesport because of the new Dravosburg bridge. I found that
trolley coaches would be least costly,  but again, the difference was so

small that management took on the city to avoid having dual rail and
trolley coach operations on Second Avenue.  General Motors salesmen were

not interested in trolley coaches so they did not push the matter,
Judge Loran Lewis was    interested in GM in some way I never figured
out, possibly through interest in a major local GM franchise. He got his

reward when Port Authority took over and threw Harley Swift out and
brought in John Dameron from National City Lines,
     In 1948, Tom Fitzgerald (Trustee) sent CD Palmer over to the
Mayor's office to explain to the Mayor that there had been no fare
increase since 1925 or some time back there and there had been some fare

reductions on zones and Special Transfers.  Wage rates had doubled in
the interim and it was no longer possible to pay doubled wages at 1925
level fares, three rides for a quarter. A full ten cents was needed
     Lawence picked up the 'phone and called the media., "The public be
damned" PRC says but it was the Mayor that said it.  With buses, no fare

increase would ever be needed. GM said so. Detroit was an exception,  So

was everywhere else. The PUC approved the increase over the Mayor's
objections articulated by Anne X Alpern,  That fare increase put the
middle of the interurban lines into the 15 percent federal tax bracket
to
"discourage transit use" Blue Ridge Bus  got an exemption on commuter
tickets but the IRS ruled that rail strip tickets were not commuter
tickets, I asked Tom Fitzgerald to sell ten trip tickets but he felt he
could not try the case over again. He needed the money from the higher
fares and knew the City would  fight and draw him out.  Back then I
always voted Republican.
     In 1936  before my time the Democrats legislated the Public Service

Commission out of existence, but then had a worry that utilities needed
regulation after all so they created a new Public Utility Commission
and appointed all Democratic politicians to serve on it. All good
Democrat contributors could ask for a bus franchise along a car line in
Pittsburgh and get it. Competition. In Philadelphia, where Republicans
were still in  charge, they got no bus franchises so PTC (ex PRT) was
protected from competition, I do not know what the pay off was for the
bus franchises but no reputable business wanted them. Local eager
beavers went for them. Thirty two were given  out,  Brentwood, Trafford,

Harmony to New Kensington to replace West Penn, Bamford, Ohio River
Motor Coach, Oriole, etc. etc. They skimmed the profit off of PRC
because  they had no system so had no transfers, only full fares,
They had no pension obligations and a low wage scale. It was rough but
Tom Fitzgerald, with help from CD Palmer, beat them off, many of them.
Brentwood was more stable than most. PRC used ten-cent round trips in
local neighborhoods to beat the bus competition. The passenger would pay

a dime and ask for a round trip. The motor man had a pack of Globe
tickets in his box and would give the passenger the return ticket. Such
tickets were not good downtown in the Triangle or in Oakland where
travel was good. Inbound, the passenger had to get off short of downtown

to qualify nd outbound, he would pay enter (others paid leave) and get a

transfer to let him off free.  Pittsburgh motorman on some lines had a
lot
to remember.
    Trafford Motor Coach is a good example of what happened. The first
Trafford  operation was certificated because a dishonest Road Foreman
and Homewood operator  cooked up a deal where the operator would come in

from Trafford an hour early, leaving the Micarta Plant midnight work
shift with no trolley. They testified for the bus. PRC argued that there

was a trolley #62 but had no recorders on that line to prove it.  Manage

ment was not aware that the Micarta workers were  right and honest.
    After the buses got too worn with poor maintenance there was not
money to keep them running reliably. With gasoline rationing the trolley

did well. After the war, a new owner rejuvenated Trafford Motor Coach.
Drivers were told to watch the 62 motorman at Trafford and when he threw

down his cigarette on his end-of- line recovery time, the bus was to
take off in front fo the trolley,. The buses were newer and the trolley
a slow worn out 1925 model, By 1947, PRC had two choices, Abandon  the
line or put on PCC cars. They chose PCC cars and ridership  went up by
hundreds of percents,  To get even Trafford Motor Coach sought through
service to downtown and the politicians gave it to them. After  CD
Palmer took over from Tom Fitzgerald, his frequent strikes and fare
increases kept Trafford in business and  finally ended Route 62.
                 E d   T e n n y s o n