TIMEPOINTS VOL 17 NO 4 APRIL, 1959

THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TRACTION REVIEW

Feature Article:

PITTSBURGH RAILWAYS REVIEW-

In these days of the bus reign in local transit; the mention of streetcars is very rare, but rarer yet is a system in which streetcars predominate. This system, of course, is the last of the U.S. streetcar giants, the Pittsburgh Railways.

In the following paragraphs we will condense the pertinent data which appears in the just-released 1958 Annual Report of Prys. Notice carefully the wording of the statements and the amazing equipment, line and traffic statistics. This report could well have been written during the 1940's or 1930's. Even as the PCC empire crumbles, a lot remains (as is shown in the statistics).

Pittsburgh Railways Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - 1958 Annual Report

“The redevelopment in the City of Duquesne to eliminate a blighted area and the reconstruction of certain highways are referred to in that Report necessitated the conversion of the Duquesne-McKeesport street railway route, extending from Downtown Pittsburgh through the City of Duquesne and into the business district of the city of McKeesport, to bus operation. By reason of certain street improvements planned by the City of Pittsburgh, this route together with a shorter street railway route between East Liberty and Munhall utilizing some of the same streets in the City of Pittsburgh as the Duquesne-McKeesport street railway route were converted from street railway to bus operation. Bus operation on these routes commenced on September 21, 1958. In connection with the discontinuance of street car operation on these two routes, 34 street cars were retired from service.

“A plan of Allegheny County to rebuild a bridge crossing the Allegheny River, presently occupied by street railway tracks, required the Company to either spend a considerable sum to build street railway tracks on the new bridge or convert the street railway route to bus operation. Under the auspices of Allegheny County, the two boroughs and one township, on whose streets the street railway tracks would no longer by useful in case of abandonment, agreed to permit the Company to abandon the tracks in place, which made it feasible for the Company to convert the street railway route affected to bus operation. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has approved the conversion of the street railway facilities, but does not require actual conversion until December 31, 1960.

“In each of the Annual Reports for 1955 and 1956 reference was made to certain litigation in which the Company was contesting a decision of the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission permitting the construction of a new Fort Pitt Bridge in Pittsburgh without making provision for street railway tracks, which litigation was decided adversely to the Company. The new bridge will eventually replace the present Point Bridge on which the street railway tracks provide the only access for streetcars to Downtown Pittsburgh from a portion of the System serving an area of approximately 100,000 inhabitants and known as the West End System. During 1958 the Pennsylvania Department of Highways had under consideration the construction of certain approaches to the Fort Pitt Bridge from the Downtown portion of the City of Pittsburgh, which approaches, together with the connection approaches to a proposed new Fort Duquesne Bridge would cross the street railway tracks serving the West End System. Under date of December 29, 1958 the Pennsylvania Department of Highways agreed with the Company to pay to the Company $300,000 in cash and to take over the street railway tracks in the West End System which are on State highways and to relieve the Company from any removal responsibility, conditioned upon the Company converting the six street railway routes in the West End System to bus operation, and upon each of the City of Pittsburgh, the Country of Allegheny, and seven other local municipal governments relieving the Company from track removal responsibility. There are

approximately 34 miles of paved track in streets in the West End System, of which approximately 15 miles are covered by the agreement with the State Department of Highways, and approximately 12 miles are on streets of the City of Pittsburgh and other municipalities which so far have authorized the agreement. The conversion from street railway to bus operation will also require approval by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission.”

SUMMARY OF EQUIPMENT AND SERVICE STATISTICS- Pittsburgh Railways-1951-1958
				1958	1957	1956	1955
Miles of 1st Main Track			215.05		223.89	226.67	227.80
Miles of Single Track				398.97	417.51	426.41	426.60
Miles of Bus Routes
	Regular Routes			269.10	244.89	233.72	237.06
	Sightseeing & Special			54.01	56.05	51.01	56.13
Total				323.11	300.94	284.73	293.19
Car Houses				7	7	7	7
Bus Garages				3	3	3	3
Car Shops				1	1	1	1
Bus Repair Shops				1	1	1	1
Number of Vehicles:
	Street Cars			608	642	654	664
	Buses: 40-45 passenger			127	113	103	88
	25-36 passenger			102	102	102	139
		Total		837	857	859	891
Total Revenue				1958	1957	1956	1955
	Street Cars			69,365,418	71,690.041	89,873,695	94,036,237
	Buses			15,340,767	13,793,621	16,239,139	16,938,439
	Total			84,706,185	85,483,662	106,112,834	110,974,676
Total Passengers
	Street Cars			86,679,811	90,038,608	112,730,520	116,497,506
	Buses			19,119,891	17.039,053	20,134,406	21,013,638
	Total			105,799,702	107.077,661	132,864,926	137,511,144
Passenger Vehicle Miles				1958	1957	1956	1955
	Street Cars			15,626,252	14,987,859	18,427,740	19,117,445
	Buses			5,998,000	5,099,093	6,098,275	6,582,664
	Total			21,624,252	20,086,952	24,526,015	25,810,109
Passenger Revenue Per Mile
	Street Cars $			.9949	.9145	.9453	.9121
				.6224	.5849	.5732	.5318
				.8916	.8510	.8528	.8151
	Average fare per passenger			1958	1957	1956	1955
		Street Cars $		.2241	.1968	.1938	.1865
	Buses $			.2433	.2162	.2153	.2067
	Combined			.2276	.2000	.1971	.1896
				1954	1953	1952	1951
Miles of 1st Main Track			228.36		228.10	287.08	300.83
Miles of Single Track				429.31	430.78	509.50	532.90
Miles of Bus Routes
	Regular Routes			242.41	216.93	198.53	184.02
	Sightseeing & Special			55.45	55.45	55.45	55.45
	Total			297.86	272.38	253.98	239.47
Car Houses				7	10	12	13
Bus Garages				3	3	3	3
Car Shops				1	1	1	1
Bus Repair Shops				1	1	-	-
Number of Vehicles
	Street Cars			675	973	1078	1156
	Buses: 40-45 pass.			88	88	-	-
	25-36 pass.			139	139	228	198
	Total			902	1200	1306	1354
Total Revenue				1954	1953	1952	1951
	Street Cars			92,157,535	133,591,572	149,951,078	172,066,026
	Buses			15,852,292	20,357,721	19,099,990	19,764,544
	Total			108,009,827	153,949,293	168,051,068	191,830,570
Passengers
	Street Cars			113,646,113	164,0666,255	184,271,335	213,098,640
	Buses			19,757,632	24,483,508	22,988,327	23,731,336
Total				133,403,745	188,549,763	207,259,662	236,829,976
Passenger Vehicle Miles
	Street Cars			19,656,986	25,666,948	28,709,319	31,647,234
	Buses			6,298,182	7,696,847	7,373,235	7,389,773
	Total			25,955,168	33,363,795	36,082,554	39,037,007
Passenger Revenue Per Mile
	Street Cars			.8712	.8475	.8338	.7675
	Buses			.5094	.4938	.4835	.4366
	Combined			.7834	.7659	.7659	.7049
Average Fare per passenger
	Street Cars			.1858	.1628	.1596	.1412
	Buses			.2024	.1867	.1866	.1632