[PRCo] Re: Cleveland

[Herb Brannon]

I worked in the Service, Rates & Planning Dept (SRP) as a Planning
Assistant. SRP is the planning and testing arm of the Operations Division.
The main planning area was called Long Range Planning and Development and
was part of the Executive Management. Working in SRP was an interesting and
fun job. Not as much fun as operating the buses and cars but nonetheless
not bad at all.
One of the fun things I did was "vehicle to route testing".  When new
routes or methods of operation were proposed it was the job of SRP to check
out the routing and the type vehicle selected to operate on the new route
or service to make sure all clearances were OK, streets could be navigated
without too much trouble, passenger pick-up areas were safe, etc. This
testing also set the actual running times as opposed to the proposed
running times given in the original written proposal.  When a routing was
to be tested we would call the division which would be operating the
service to set a date to begin testing. Local 85 of the ATU would be
notified as would the Instruction Department. The date would be set and
myself representing Service, Rates & Planning along with a Training
Instructor from the Instruction Dept, a representative of the Amalgamated
Transit Union, and the operator of the vehicle would start the proposed
route from one end to the other then back again. We would all note safety
concerns, traffic bottlenecks, parking problems, passenger
boarding/alighting  concerns,  proposed bus/car stops and any thing else we
saw. Over the next few days the same group would "time" the route during AM
Peak, Base Day, and PM Peak periods. Everyone then met, discussed the items
and decided if the proposal was a yes or a no.

Another thing I did was go to citizens groups to answer questions on new or
existing service. These were mostly church groups and they complained a
lot. A much better audience I confronted were  the students at the Boyce
Campus of Allegheny County Community College. Myself and another guy,
(Arthur Carter) who began working in SRP when I did, went to ACC on several
occasions to talk with students on the new services PATransit was
instituting to that campus.

I worked on one streetcar routing change. That was sending the 49-Arlington
Warrington on a new Sunday/Holiday downtown loop. The normal 49 loop was
Ft. Pitt, Grant, Liberty, Wood, Ft. Pitt. We tested and, for a short time,
put into service Smithfield, 4th, Ross, Forbes, Grant, Liberty, Wood, Ft.
Pitt. It lasted a few months until bus drivers coming inbound on Forbes
claimed the streetcar sitting on Forbes near Grant caused a safety problem
since they had to squeeze by between the curb and the trolley.

There was lots and lots of  not so glamorous work such as checking new
timetable master sheets for accuracy, checking maps for accuracy, being a
"go-fer", running things back and forth between SRP and the operating
divisions, etc.

Like I said it was fun but not near as much fun as pressing down on the
power pedal of a 1700 series PCC and feeling the car pick up speed on the
right of way.

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 10:45 AM, Phillip Clark Campbell
<pcc_sr at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Mr.Brashear,
> I should have written "Cleveland and CVSR are growing."
> It is very impressive; considering the times and the
> economy, it is even much more impressive.  Mr.Brannon's
> enthusiasm is subtle but very clear.  It is nice to take part
> in positive growth.  I wish Cleveland, CVSR and you
> continued success Mr.Brannon.
>
> I was reading through old list emails.  You wrote you worked in the
> Planning department of Pat.  Could you please detail some of
> your experiences and the challenges you faced and how they
> were resolved?
>
> Your writing recently is riveting, very well organized with very good
> information.  You seem to have many good resources and use
> them well.  Thank you for your efforts.  You seemed very quiet
> when I was reading the
>  archives.
>
>
> Phil
>
>
> My apologies Mr.Brashear.  Yahoo extends the quote area below;
> I am not able to respond below your comment to follow your example.
> There isa way to trick the computer but I forget what it is at this moment.
>
>
>
>
> >________________________________
> >
> >
> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 11:44 AM, Phillip Clark Campbell
> ><pcc_sr at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> This is a very impressive resume of the CVSR Mr.Brannon.  It is
> >> very much in line with the current Cleveland transit system.  They seem
> >> to not only counter trends in other cities where massive cutbacks are
> >> the rule but Cleveland and Ohio are growing.  They seem to be
> >> systems to emulate.
> >
> >From: Derrick Brashear <shadow at gmail.com>
> >To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
> >Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 10:48 AM
> >Subject: [PRCo] Re: East Broad Top Railroad won't run this summer | News
> | CentreDaily.com
> >
> >Cleveland, yes. Ohio? Well, it seems like transit in Ohio is all the 3
> >Cs (basically, the places I'd be willing to live)
> >and the rest of it is "hey, can we put another road to some new
> >suburban development?"
> >
> >--
> >Derrick
> >
>
>


-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park