[PRCo] Re: Pgh.___1985

[Fred Schneider]

There were so many zone fare lines out there that I rode and I can't ever
remember giving a second fare.  Yes, I can remember the itinerant conductor
with the fare box in his hand that got onto Philly's route 6 cars at City
Line and walked through the car as it went north, only to get off and collect
the extra zone fares from the next inbound.

But I cannot remember paying Baltimore Transit the extra zone fares to Towson
or Catonsville but I rode those lines.  And what about routes 56 and 68 in
Pittsburgh.  Did they have zone fares?  What about 87?  I rode all of those
lines but I cannot think back almost fifty years.  Could you ride into
Wilmerding and get a transfer to Trafford, or into McKeesport on 56 or 68 and
then get a free transfer to Glassport?  Who out there has a functioning
"brain housing group?"  Maybe I don't remember because motorman felt nice to
a railfan?  Doubt that.

Oh, and Jim, I always thought the military had a way of isolating its people
from the real world.  And I can say that because I served too.

"James B. Holland" wrote:

> Matt Barry wrote:
>
> > I can still recall that mixed feeling of being very happy a PCC car
> > was approaching, with being slightly scared as those steel wheels
> > swiftly braked at the car stop on Penn at 40th street.       To my
> > ears, the noise was loud and wonderful all at once.
>
> You paint a wonderful picture here  --  next best to actual experience!!!
>
> > Recollection is that I slid a quarter into the fare box and the driver
> > felt bad that he couldn't give me change.       By then, it was the
> > "ready fare system."
>
> I got on the cars sometime in the mid-1960s and asked the operator for
> change for a dollar  --  he looked at me with surprize and said:
> """Where have you been??"""
>
> """Navy,"""       was my reply.
>
> Think the operator recognized me  --  he was quite nice.       Told me
> to get off at SHJ and ask for change there!
>
> Mom apologized for not alerting me but that would be easy to forget when
> you are used to it yourself.
>
> Jim__Holland