[PRCo] 9/5/65 - Last day for PAT trolley lines

[Fred Schneider]

Unduplicated route miles in Toronto after the Bloor subway opened might have been around 40ish.   At that time Pittsburgh was still running to McKeesport, Drake, Library, West View.  Millvale and the West End may have been gone but I think  … NO CONTEST Bob.

Now, on the other hand, Pittsburgh may have dropped down to fewer vehicles.   Toronto did have some hellish load factors.   A Pittsburgh rush hour meant … after the 1954 and 1957 strikes, there wasn't much service left because the passengers had all bought shiny new cars.  You just missed the streetcar, another will be along after dinner.   Toronto … the next car is in … well, see it, down in the next block.  

Drake and Library would account for about 15 miles (7.95 to Washington Junction).  Wilkinsburg is about 6 miles out and how many routes were there.   Add in 8, 10 and 15 and we already have more than TTC without even look at the rest of the South Hills, Emsworth, East Pittsburgh, etc. 

I would suggest that what happened is the American  workers used their newly won wage gains to move to new houses on the hilltops after World War II and what we experienced in the war … a car every few minutes running out Ardmore Blvd ... vanished.   The Canadians continued to live in smaller houses built close together on smaller lots and the result is far higher loading patters.

One of my favorite examples is a comparison of two almost identical cities … Harrisburg, Pa. and Victoria, BC.   Both have populations on the same order of magnitude but the Canadian city has ten times more bus riders than the Pennsylvania city … 150,000 on a weekday in Victoria versus 15,000 in Harrisburg.   You stand on the main streets in downtown Victoria in the rush hour and you see buses swallowing up crowds of people.  I did that in 2007.  Harrisburg?  Why would I humble myself to ride a bus?   I own a car.   


On Apr 24, 2014, at 4:09 PM, Bob Rathke wrote:

> I'd question the basis of PAT's 1960's claim.  In the mid-60's Toronto had more trolleys - and probably track miles too - than Pittsburgh. 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> 
> From: "D Brashear" <shadow at dementix.org> 
> To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org> 
> Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2014 3:02:38 PM 
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] 9/5/65 - Last day for PAT trolley lines 
> 
> an ad in yesterday's City Paper from the Port Authority points out that 
> Pittsburgh had the largest remaining trolley system in the US in the 1960s. 
> 
> i find this ironic. 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 3:25 PM, Bob Rathke <bobrathke at comcast.net> wrote: 
> 
>> 
>> Here's a link is to a 9/5/65 article in the Pittsburgh Press, posted 
>> today at the West View Historical Society: 
>> 
>> 
>> http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19650905&id=9gwvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KFEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5394%2C1084868 
>> 
>> 
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