[PRCo] Re: West Penn Railways Fare Zones

[Edward H. Lybarger]

I don't have all the dope here at home, but West Penn's fare zones were
pretty user-friendly.  There was only one major overhaul, and that dealt
with fare changes about 1919-20.  The company first raised the zone fare
from 5 to 6 cents.  The public howled.  The company reduced the fare back to
a nickel but shortened all the zones to produce the equivalent revenue.  The
public howled a lot less, and that zone structure lasted until the end.
Through the years, local riding zones were superimposed on the through
zones.

I know of no instance where West Penn changed or eliminated zones during
park seasons.  Minimum fare was one zone.  They may have sold special park
tickets at reduced rates during the summer.

West Penn operated to Duquesne for only a very brief time in the early '20s,
after PRCo's franchise was lifted by the City of Duquesne.  This was the
subject of a PUC Docket which I also do not have here, but is very clear.
It was a "one-zone" ride!

I have old and new zone charts for the Coke Region, but all the information
exists on those stop lists that the company published from time to time.
The most interesting is the absolutely unwieldy one that shows the 1920
changes in red and blue.  It shows exactly what they did.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org]On Behalf Of Fred
Schneider
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 6:08 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] West Penn Railways Fare Zones


My wife thinks Ed Lybarger is away (she and his wife Janis are closer
than Ed and I).  Some point he will catch up to this and no doubt add
his comments.

West Penn also used fare zones on Division B (Coke Region) in much
the same manner that Pittsburgh Railways did on Washington and
Charleroi but their zones were not as arbitrary.   West Penn zones
often overlapped each other so that a ride from zone A to just
slightly into zone B really was only a one zone ride.   Ed has a lot
of information on them manipulating fare zones in order to get more
money without actually increasing fares.   Therefore the zone charts
in 1920 may not be identical to those in 1930 or 1940 or 1952.
During the summer months, i.e. the park season, West Penn was also
know to abolish certain zones to increase attendance at company-owned
amusement parks.  In this instance I'm talking about fare zones
between Uniontown and Shady Grove Park.

I have no idea what West Penn did in the way of minimum fares ...
seems to me it was one zone and not a minimum of two.

I've never seen a zone chart outside of the Coke Region and I would
be curious to know whether or not West Penn charged the same fare as
Pittsburgh Railways when they both ran cars over West Penn tracks
between McKeesport and Duquesne.   I have a hunch that whatever West
Penn charged in McKeesport might well have been influenced by
Pittsburgh Railways, but that was on the fare chart with Allegheny
Valley and I don't have one.