[PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg

Sat Nov 9 16:31:51 EST 2013

Just what we need, figures from the 1960s.

On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 4:24 PM, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>wrote:

> Herb:
>
> Are you telling us that building a trolley line in the bottom of a fish
> bowl is "the bright side?"   :<)
>
> The last time I looked at the "other side" of Canal Street, many of the
> homes were still vacant after the hurricane.   The 2010 census showed that
> almost 30 percent of the residents had not returned since the deluge.
>
> The peak population in New Orleans was the 1960 census (627,525).   Then
> we began telling the southern whites that they had to be nice to southern
> blacks and they didn't take that very well.  In the 1960s, New Orleans last
> 10% of its residents.  The western suburbs became white and eastern 'burbs
> became black.  By 2010 the city was down to 343,829.   That 46% drop is far
> from the worst …. Pittsburgh, Buffalo, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit are
> all far worse but they happened because of industrial losses while New
> Orleans is more related to racial and flooding issues.
>
> Herb, I have no idea how many people are riding the cars today compared to
> years ago.   But I can give you some schedule information.   When I first
> visited New Orleans in 1958, Canal Street required 50 cars in order to
> provide a 45 second rush hour headway with standing loads.   It was
> basically a moving sidewalk.   Off peak headways were around 3 minutes.
>
> Today Canal requires 2 cars off peak for a 30 minute headway and 4 cars in
> the peak for a 16 minute headway.  Now, to be completely honest, we have to
> intermingle the Museum of Art - Canal cars that also run every half hour
> with no rush hour additional frequency.   So the maximum demand is 6 cars
> where we once needed 50.
>
> St Charles required 35 cars in 1958.   I think it had something on the
> order of a 2 minute rush hour headway about 5 or 6 minutes off peak back in
> 1958-59.   Today it's stronger than Canal.   It takes an hour round trip
> and runs a 6 minute rush and 7 minute off peak headway.   Might have
> something to do with people in a university are more likely to ride than
> the people in the cemeteries and also the fact that downtown retailing
> moved to the malls … Maison Blanche department store on Canal St. is now a
> hotel.   So it needs 10 cars for the rush today.
>
> The new Loyola line currently has two cars scheduled on weekdays, every 20
> minutes from 6 am to 9 pm and then they lengthen the layover at the ends of
> the line to save the power bill … schedule drops to 30 minutes.   They are
> running it all the way to Harrah's Casino rather than turning it back at
> Loyola and Canal.   Why?   Probably in the hope that someone might ride.
> My guess is they might be hauling 800 people a day but there is nothing on
> line to confirm….
>
> There is data in the APTA file that shows the New Orleans RTA is hauling
> fewer rail passengers this year than they did before the new line opened.
> I did not choose to look at the first quarter because the Loyola line
> opened in January and that means February and maybe March could be
> disrupted.   I gave them a couple of months.   What they reported to APTA
> shows more bus riders in the 2nd quarter of 2013 than in the 2nd quarter of
> 2012 and fewer trolley riders
>
>      2012  trolley 3.550 million, total 8.504 million … trolley was 43.2%
> of the total.
>      2013  trolley was 3.447 million, total was 9.112 million … trolley
> was 37.8% of their total.
>
> This could suggest that the new car line is having little if any success.
>   It could also suggest that the flood neighborhoods on bus routes are also
> finally recovering.
>
> I wish, guys, that I would remember the title of the book so I could
> recommend it to all of you.   About a decade ago I read a book on all the
> idiotic things man does like building homes on the side of a volcano
> (Iceland was the example but Seattle and Portland and Honolulu fit very
> well), building on earthquake faults (think most of California, Japan,
> Alaska) and building towns that are absolutely going to flood (the example
> in the book was New Orleans).   This morning on PBS television, This Old
> House had a great show on rebuilding homes in Point Pleasant, NJ after that
> last hurricane.   The thing that caught my eye was that in spite of global
> warming and rising seas, the new building code is that homes must be built
> on piles above the flood of the last storm … but worry about the next one.
>   You only have to keep the utilities, power lines, gas lines above the
> 2012 sea surge.   Are we dumb?   (The link isn't working now … might later.)
>
>      http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/video/0,,,00.html
>
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 9, 2013, at 12:22 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>
> > When John "Teaparty" Kasich became governor of Ohio he thought the same
> > thing as this guy in Cincinnati. His very first official act was to "can"
> > the high-speed passenger rail system in Ohio. The US Govt had approved
> > money for some of the Ohio rail lines and Kasich publicly stated that he
> > would be using the money for "other things". Much to his surprise and
> > enlightenment, the fed just moved the money to the states of New York and
> > California leaving Kasich to find "corporate welfare" money elsewhere.
> >
> > On the bright side, New Orleans has built and placed into revenue service
> > the new Loyola Avenue line and will begin construction in early 2014 on
> the
> > Rampart Street line.
> >
> > One the cloudy side, why doesn't PATransit try to get money to extend
> some
> > of the Pittsburgh lines? The PAT management doesn't seem too interested
> in
> > running a good transit system. Service levels are no where near what they
> > were when I worked at PAT.
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 12:05 PM, PC <pcc_sr at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> The new mayor of Cincinnati won on an anti-trolley platform didn't he.
> >> The city council is now tipped anti-trolley.
> >> While contract obligations cloud the picture the future is definitely in
> >> doubt.  The mayor elect has already
> >> talked to administration officials in DC to use Fed money for other
> >> projects.  The mayor elect has been
> >> invited to DC to discuss same.  Of course this does not mean approval
> does
> >> it.  The discussions may be
> >> legal in nature to see if the law would allow for such changes.
> >>
> >> <
> >>
> http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/whats-next-for-the-cincinnati-streetcar-project
> >>>
> >>
> >> <http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20131105/NEWS0106/311050179>
> >>
> >> <
> >>
> http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Cincinnati-s-new-mayor-puts-streetcar-in-doubt-4961243.php
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> Ph
> >>
> >> --------------------------------------------
> >> On Sat, 11/9/13, John Swindler <j_swindler at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Subject: Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg
> >> To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" <
> >> pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
> >> Date: Saturday, November 9, 2013, 8:37 AM
> >>
> >>
> >> FTA is still spending big bucks.  Charlotte is getting
> >> some for light rail extension to Univ. North Carolina and an
> >> east-west streetcar line.  Something seems to be going
> >> on in Cincinnati, St. Louis and Kenosha, but I just don't
> >> follow anymore as in years past.
> >>
> >> Likewise maybe Minneapolis - line to St.Paul.  Might
> >> also want to check New Orleans, Tucson, San Francisco
> >> central subway, and Los Angeles Pasadena extension.
> >> Also saw a mention about Norfolk extension to Virginia
> >> Beach, but might still be in talking/planning stage.
> >> Atlanta and Miami???  Again, I don't follow as in
> >> year's past.
> >>
> >> Here's a picture of the blank wall in the North Shore
> >> extension tunnel for a right turn towards East
> >> St./I-279.  The current north shore alignment curves to
> >> left thru vehicle.  The blank wall to right is for
> >> future extension.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
> >> Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
> >> https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Herb Brannon
> > *In Pittsburgh...*
> > *......the Greatest City In The U.S.*
> > Let's Go Pens
> > Let's Go Steelers
> >
> >
> >
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-- 
Herb Brannon
*In Pittsburgh...*
*......the Greatest City In The U.S.*
Let's Go Pens
Let's Go Steelers

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