[PRCo] Re: Tennyson's Reply

[Matt Barry]

Amazing that our dear public servants never poll their constituents to 
see what they wanted.   Back then, as now.

I recall a poll done by WIIC-TV (now WPXI) in early 1967 -after the East 
End lines were abandoned - asking the public if they preferred rail over 
rubber tire mass transportation on the streets.  I was happy to see that 
rail came in at around 70%.   But nothing came of it, of course.

Fred Schneider wrote:

>    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
>
>
>
>  
>