Trip report, part 1 - Morgantown PRT
Jon Bell
Pennsylvania and Ohio. The main objective was to ride and photograph the
old PCC streetcars on Pittsburgh's route 47D (Castle Shannon to Drake).
On the way to Pittsburgh, I stopped in Morgantown, West Virginia to see
the PRT (personal rapid transit) system at West Virginia University.
After visiting Pittsburgh, I continued on to my home town in Ohio, from
where I took a day trip to Cleveland to ride and photograph its rail
transit system, especially the Waterfront extension of the Green and Blue
lines, which I had never seen before. Finally, on the way back to South
Carolina, I stopped in Dayton, Ohio to check out its electric trolleybus
system, which I last saw in the early 1970s.
I'll post this report in four parts, one for each of the major
(transit-oriented) stops on my trip, at the rate of one part every one or
two days. I'll put pictures on my Web site
http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/ over the next few weeks.
The first stop was in Morgantown, West Virginia, where I spent an
afternoon on the way to my overnight stop in Washington, Pennsylvania
(just south of Pittsburgh). The Morgantown PRT was built in the 1970s, I
suspect at least partly as political "pork barrel." If I remember
correctly, one of West Virginia's Congressmen was chairman of a
Congressional committee that had to do with transportation.
Nevertheless, the PRT does seem to serve a useful purpose. West Virginia
University is divided between two campuses: one near downtown Morgantown,
in the valley of the Monongahela River, the other on top of the hill
overlooking the city and the river, to the northeast. As in most older
Appalachian towns, roads are hilly and narrow. One can easily imagine
problems with keeping an intensive bus shuttle service running during the
winter, especially.
The PRT consists of one line, about 3.6 miles long, with five stations.
One terminal is at Walnut and Chestnut Streets in downtown Morgantown.
From there, an elevated double-track guideway first runs west toward the
river, then north parallel to the river. The next station is Beechurst,
which serves the downtown campus. After a long stretch on which the PRT
cars seem to reach speeds of about 35-40 mph, the line passes a
maintainance facility, then climbs uphill, still running parallel to the
river, which curves towards the northwest, then west. Near the top of the
hill, the line crosses over Beechurst Avenue, continues climbing, curls
around towards the east, and reaches the Engineering station on the back
(north) side of the hill. Then it descends slightly onto the plateau
behind the hill, passes the Towers station (near a dormitory complex),
curves northeast, and ends at the Medical station, near the university
hospital.
The rubber-tired cars are similar to the people-mover cars used in Miami
and some airports, but smaller. If I remember correctly, there are eight
seats and some standing room, and one door on each side. They do not have
individual operators.
The guideway is a rectangular trough with the power and guiding rails
along the sides, rather than in the middle as with Miami etc. At
switches, the trough simply splits and cars steer towards one branch or
the other by turning their wheels.
The terminal stations (Walnut and Medical) are basically simple turnaround
loops. The intermediate stations (Beechurst, Engineering and Towers) are
more complex. They have turnback tracks, each with a separate platform,
that allow cars to "loop" and change direction at any station.
Furthermore, each platform can apparently be dedicated to a different
destination station. The intermediate stations all have "through" tracks
that allow cars to bypass the station completely, without stopping.
My understanding is that during peak traffic periods, each car can serve a
specific pair of stations, and bypass the others. When you enter a
station and pay your fare, you press a button on the turnstile that
indicates which station you want to travel to. In off-peak periods, all
cars stop at all stations. I happened to visit at the end of summer
semester, so I saw the system operate only in "off-peak" mode. Most of
the "turnback platforms" at the intermediate stations were occupied by
out-of-service cars. In fact, the system was to shut down completely for
semester break two days after my visit.
Travel time between the two ends of the line is about 14.5 minutes in
"off-peak" mode. Each station stop takes almost a minute, because cars
stop first at one gate to discharge passengers, then advance to another
gate to board new passengers. So for an express trip from one end of the
line to the other, I would figure on about 11-12 minutes.
Students use the PRT for "free", by inserting their student ID cards in
the station turnstiles. Non-students pay $0.50 when entering the
stations.
Finding the PRT was easy. Coming from the south on I-79, I turned onto
I-68 east, then exited at US 119 (University Avenue) northward. In
downtown Morgantown, US 119 meets US 19, at which point I could see the
elevated PRT guideway crossing overhead at Walnut Street. Just past it,
on the corner of University and Walnut, is a city-owned parking structure.
For feeding the parking meter ($0.25 per hour, I think) and the PRT
turnstiles, I found it convenient to go to a nearby bank and buy a roll of
quarters.
Even in "off-peak" mode, cars run every few minutes, so it's easy to hop
off and on to take pictures at and near the stations. I had no trouble
covering the entire system thoroughly in an afternoon, with a lot of
hiking around for good picture-taking sites. But beware, the system shuts
down completely at 6:15 pm during summer semester. I found the best
pictures near the Engineering station; from the hillside in front of the
engineering buildings, you can get a panoramic view of the nearby Towers
station, and a good view of the Engineering station itself. Also, the
front and rear windows of the cars give good views along the track.
Morgantown is a bit out of the way for most travelers in the U.S., but if
you're in the vicinity, and you're interested in transit, it's definitely
worth stopping there for a look.
For more details on the Morgantown PRT, see
http://faculty.washington.edu/~jbs/itrans/morg.htm
--
Jon Bell <jtb...@presby.edu> Presbyterian College
Dept. of Physics and Computer Science Clinton, South Carolina USA
[ Information about newsgroups for beginners: ]
[ http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Lab/6882/ ]
Jon Bell
stayed for three days. Actually, I stayed in Washington (PA, not DC :-),
about a half-hour's drive to the south. I figured it would be easier to
find a cheap place to stay there, at the junction of I-79 and I-70. Also,
all of Pittsburgh's rail transit lines are on the south side, and it's an
easy drive up US 19.
My main reason for making this trip in the first place was to ride and
photograph route 47D, the Drake shuttle, the last route in Pittsburgh to
use PCC streetcars. Its last day of regular service will be on September
4 (two weeks from today!), followed by a fantrip on September 5. This will
be the end of the PCC era in Pittsburgh.
The Drake shuttle is a remnant of an interurban line to Washington PA,
built in 1909. It branched from a previously existing interurban to
Charleroi, at a point called, appropriately enough, Washington Junction.
The entire route from Washington Junction to Washington was single track
with passing sidings. The Charleroi and Washington interurbans lasted
until 1953, when Pittsburgh Railways cut them back to the Allegheny County
line, at Library and Drake respectively. They continued to run until the
1980s as routes 35 Shannon-Library and 36 Shannon-Drake.
In the 1980s, Port Authority Transit (the successor to Pittsburgh
Railways) built a subway to replace the surface streetcar tracks in
downtown Pittsburgh. Route 42/38 (Mt. Lebanon via Beechview) was upgraded
to modern light rail standards, connected to the Library and Drake routes
at Castle Shannon, and extended about halfway along the Drake route to a
new terminal near the South Hills Village shopping center. Part of the
Drake route (from Castle Shannon through Washington Junction to
Dorchester) was double-tracked and upgraded, and a short spur was built
from Dorchester to S.H.V. The outer portion of the Drake route, from
Dorchester to Drake, about 1.2 miles, was left untouched.
The full Drake route continued to operate as route 47D until 1993, using
PCCs and running via the downtown subway and sharing the section between
Castle Shannon and Dorchester with LRV route 42S (South Hills Village via
Beechview). Some PCCs ran to S.H.V. as route 47S. Then it was cut back
from downtown Pittsburgh to Castle Shannon because of the poor condition
of the track between Castle Shannon and South Hills Junction (the
"Overbrook route", mostly single track with passing sidings, clinging to
the side of a valley, with several old trestles).
Since 1993, route 47D has operated as a shuttle between Castle Shannon and
Drake. Passengers must transfer at Castle Shannon or Washington Junction
to travel to or from downtown Pittsburgh. Service is every 40 minutes
throughout the day. This route still uses PCC cars bought in 1949 for use
on the Charleroi and Washington interurbans. The high-platform stations
on the light rail line and the downtown subway have low-platform sections
to accommodate them.
One of the motormen told me that there are five PCCs left, but one of them
is not operable (presumably used for spare parts). During my visit, I saw
three different cars in operation (one on each day): 4004, 4008 and 4009.
Based on information in my e-mail files, the fourth still-operating car is
probably 4007. The original trolley poles were replaced by pantographs in
the 1980s.
During my visit, route 47D did not operate to Castle Shannon, but began
instead at Washington Junction; I forgot to ask why. Both of these
stations have loops that the (single-ended) PCCs can use for turning.
Proceeding outbound from Washington Junction, the 47D cars first traverse
the upgraded section of the route, and pass several stops (shared with
route 42S) that have been rebuilt with concrete platforms and Plexiglas
shelters: Casswell, Highland, Santa Barbara, Bethel Village and
Dorchester. This section has a "suburban" flavor, with stores, schools
and office buildings visible along the west side of the line, especially
between Bethel Village and Dorchester.
Between Santa Barbara and Bethel Village there is incomplete trackwork for
a branch line, a loop, or simply some weirdly-configured sidings. Can
someone tell me what this is for?
Just after Dorchester, the spur to South Hills Village branches off to the
right, and the line reverts to its original unimproved single-track
configuration. From here on, the stops are simple concrete-block
shelters. First comes Bethel Village, with houses on the left and the
stores etc. still visible on the right. Next comes Fort Couch, and the
line passes under Fort Couch Road through a relatively new concrete
underpass.
Emerging from the Fort Couch underpass is almost like being transported
back a few decades in a time machine. From here on, the line runs along
the bottom of a valley with (mostly) trees on each side. On both sides
are upper-middle-class housing deveopments, and very close by on the left
is Bethel Church Road; but they're mostly invisible from the line, being
up the sides of the valley and hidden behind the trees. Occasionally a
road crosses the tracks (with a stop and concrete shelter), and you see a
house here and there, but otherwise it looks as if you're out in the
countryside.
The next major landmark after the Fort Couch underpass is a passing
siding. Even though only a single car now serves the line, it still uses
the appropriate branch, keeping to the right both outbound and inbound.
Then come the stops at Brookside Boulevard, Brookside Farms, and Walthers.
As the line approaches the end, it leaves the original interurban
alignment and curves sharply right, then left (5 mph), with shrubbery
scraping the windows, then descends a short steep grade to the Drake loop.
Originally the interurban crossed the valley on a trestle here. That
sharp S-curve and the final grade must be why LRVs have never run on
this line.
Although it's marked as a "park-n-ride" facility, the facilities at Drake
are rather minimal: a gravel-covered space for two or three cars next to
the concrete-block shelter, with a narrow shrubbery-overhung area around
the other side of the loop. I parked my car there on two of the three
days of my trip; both times I was apparently the only real user of this
"parking lot."
On both days, my pattern was to photograph and ride the Drake line in the
morning and late afternoon / early evening, riding into town for other
"sightseeing" during the middle of the day. With a 40-minute service
interval, I thought at first that photographing different spots on the
line would be awkward. But with the amount of time at my disposal it
actually turned out to be rather convenient. Counting both inbound and
outbound trips, I had just about enough time between cars to drive around
and find the next picture-taking spot (not a trivial matter for an
out-of-towner, even with a map!), or stop at McDonald's for a quick
breakfast. I ended up getting pictures at all of the to-be-abandoned
stops, and at various places on the modernized portion of the line.
On the second morning, the motorman's sister showed up at Drake with his
3- or 4-year-old nephew, for a trolley ride. We were the only passengers
on that run, so we rode nonstop to Washington Junction, rounded the loop
and went straight back to Drake. The kid got to sit on his uncle's lap
and blow the horn. Then I rode back to W.J. to go into town, and we
stopped at the passing siding so I could get out and take a picture of it.
I *did* do other things in Pittsburgh besides the Drake trolley, but I'd
better describe them in a separate posting.
--
Jon Bell <jtb...@presby.edu>
http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/
James Robinson
> During my visit, route 47D did not operate to Castle Shannon, but began
> instead at Washington Junction; I forgot to ask why. Both of these
> stations have loops that the (single-ended) PCCs can use for turning.
A recent storm knocked out the power substation at Castle Shannon,
killing the local lights and the power switches. Rather than hand throw
the switches and get permission to pass the signals, the cars just
short-turned at Washington Jct.
Jon Bell
>Jon Bell wrote:
>
>> During my visit, route 47D did not operate to Castle Shannon, but began
>> instead at Washington Junction; I forgot to ask why.
>
>killing the local lights and the power switches.
Which must explain why the LRVs all had to stop at the signals in the
vicinity of Castle Shannon.
Shortening 47D to Washington Junction has the advantage (from a railfan's
point of view) of leaving enough slack in the schedule to allow
unscheduled stops along the line for picture-taking, if you have a
cooperative motorman.
Bill Waller
>In article <37BE9D...@ERIE.NET>, James Robinson <NOS...@ERIE.NET> wrote:
>>Jon Bell wrote:
>>
>>> During my visit, route 47D did not operate to Castle Shannon, but began
>>> instead at Washington Junction; I forgot to ask why.
>>
>>A recent storm knocked out the power substation at Castle Shannon,
>>killing the local lights and the power switches.
>
>Which must explain why the LRVs all had to stop at the signals in the
>vicinity of Castle Shannon.
>
>Shortening 47D to Washington Junction has the advantage (from a railfan's
>point of view) of leaving enough slack in the schedule to allow
>unscheduled stops along the line for picture-taking, if you have a
>cooperative motorman.
I had to go into the city the night of the storm. We had to "key-by" every
signal from Washington Junction to Neeld. Not only was the signal system
knocked out, but the power system was also flooded out. There was no automatic
control from the Command Center. All movement was coordinated via radio. It was
an interesting ride, indeed. Right now, only the area mentioned by Mr. Bell is
affected.
From what I have been told, the operators are backing off the departure time
from Drake so that they are outbound from Washington Junction on the published
schedule. I have seen more passengers on the Drake in a single tripe lately
than the line used to carry in a week. Many, including myself, with cameras.
As mentioned elsewhere, I have been posting a series of pictures taken on July
31, on alt.binaries.pictures.rail.
Bill Waller, Bethel Park, PA
wsw...@adelphia.net
Steamtown 2000 - updates hosted at
http://www.webpraxis.ab.ca/vrr/
Click on Gate 10 Special Thanks to: Webpraxis Consulting Ltd.
WooF
On Sat, 21 Aug 1999, Jon Bell wrote:
> Shortening 47D to Washington Junction has the advantage (from a railfan's
> point of view) of leaving enough slack in the schedule to allow
> unscheduled stops along the line for picture-taking, if you have a
> cooperative motorman.
The operators on the Ft Dodge, Des Moines, & Southern (in Iowa)
were so cooperative that anyone with a camera was invited to sit
by the motorman at the front of the baggage compartment. And,
without being asked, the motorman would invite you to get off at
one end of the interurban lines high bridge while the car backed
ot the middle of the bridge for a really spectacular photo. The
London & Port Stanley (in Canada) was almost that cooperative --
but they lacked a high bridge. . . .
George Scithers of owls...@netaxs.com
Jon Bell
area, besides railfanning the Drake shuttle as described in part 2.
I did enough riding (and hopping off and on at various places) that I
found it worthwhile to buy a weekly pass ($11 for one zone, $14 for two
zones) at the PAT service center downtown on Smithfield Street.
First, I took a lot of pictures along route 42S between South Hills
Junction and Dormont. This line gets my vote for the most scenic
light-rail line in the U.S.
After leaving downtown Pittsburgh, crossing the Monongahela River on the
"Panhandle Bridge", traversing the Mt. Washington transit tunnel, and
passing the station, storage and maintainance facilities at South Hills
Junction, the line crosses the Saw Mill Run valley via the long Palm
Garden bridge. This was originally for streetcars only, but in the 1980s
it was rebuilt to accommodate buses also. The South Busway branches off
at the far end of the bridge.
Then the line snakes around the side of a hill, climbing steadily. Between
Westfield and Fallowfield, the line runs on a bridge that spans a valley
filled with streets and houses. I got off at Westfield, walked down into
the valley, got some pictures of the bridge, and hiked up the hill on the
other side to the Hampshire stop. (Whew, what a climb.) That bridge (and
valley) has a name, but I've forgotten it.
Then comes the street-running section along Broadway in the Beechview
neighborhood. This is the last place in Pittsburgh where rail vehicles
operate in mixed traffic with automobiles. Passengers still use the old
concrete streetcar "boarding islands" in the middle of the street. This
section was re-paved in the last few years.
Between Potomac and Dormont Junction, the line runs on private
right-of-way diagonally through a grid of residential streets. This is a
good place to get pictures of LRVs popping out between houses, at
crossings protected by traditional flashing "Railroad Crossing" signals.
During the previous two sections, the line runs more or less on top of a
ridge, so you get views across the valleys on both sides, in various
places.
Between Dormont Junction and Mt. Lebanon, the line runs through a tunnel
under Washington Road that was built when the line was upgraded to light
rail status. I understand this was done because the LRVs would not have
been able to climb the hill here, unlike the old PCCs. I suspect that
getting the rail cars off busy Washington Road may also have been a
factor.
Finally, after Mt. Lebanon the line runs along a private right-of-way that
was used as a rush-hour only extension of the original route 42/38
streetcar, and reaches Castle Shannon where it once met the "Overbrook
route" that used to carry the Library and Drake lines. I noticed that the
Overbrook tracks are still in place in downtown Castle Shannon, although
they've been torn up further north (and will be rebuilt soon). The old
Castle Shannon Municipal Building that I remember from the early 1970s,
where the Library and Drake cars used to stop, is gone.
From this point, route 42S runs along a rebuilt right-of-way to Washington
Junction, then follows part of the old Drake line before branching off to
South Hills Village.
One afternoon I sampled the East Busway, riding the EBA (East Busway
All-stops) bus out to Wilkinsburg and back, taking a few pictures at stops
along the way. It's pretty quick, only about fifteen minutes to
Wilkinsburg, but somewhat bumpy in places. Winter weather has taken its
toll on the busway, just as with other roads. At the beginning of the
afternoon rush hour, you can see an impressive lineup of buses near the
Penn Plaza station, waiting to begin their loops through downtown to pick
up passengers and then head out the busway.
The busy-ness of the busway at Penn Plaza contrasts sharply with the
adjacent light-rail station, which is at the end of a short spur from the
Steel Plaza subway station. It sees exactly *two* trains per day, in the
afternoon rush on weekdays only, leaving at 5:03 and 5:09 to serve route
42S to South Hills Village. Most of the passengers seem to come from the
nearby federal buildings. I got some pictures of the Penn Plaza trains,
then rode the second one back out to connect to the Drake trolley.
I also rode the two inclines (Monongahela and Duquesne) of course, and
rail route 52 Allentown, which runs between South Hills Junction and
downtown Pittsburgh "over the hill" (i.e. bypassing the Mt. Washington
transit tunnel). As you snake down the north side of Mt. Washington on
Arlington Avenue, you get a great view of downtown Pittsburgh.
I rode the Library route (42L) out to the end and back once, but didn't
get any pictures because it was raining so I wasn't inclined to get off
the train any more than I had to.
Finally, I visited the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, to the
south of Pittsburgh, on a section of the original Washington interurban of
which the Drake shuttle is a remnant. In fact, I think the PCCs now
running on the Drake shuttle once ran to Washington. The museum has a
"sister" to those PCCs, repainted in its original Pittsburgh Railways
livery. It also has a New Orleans Perley-Thomas car, a "low-floor"
Pittsburgh Railways car (the one that was running the day I was there),
cars from various Pennsylvania systems, etc. Most of the cars in the
collection are still awaiting restoration. Maybe someday they'll restore
the Shaker Heights (Ohio) PCC that I probably rode at some point when I
was a kid. :-)
Next stop: Cleveland.
Dave McL
> I also rode the two inclines (Monongahela and Duquesne) of course, and
> rail route 52 Allentown, which runs between South Hills Junction and
> downtown Pittsburgh "over the hill" (i.e. bypassing the Mt. Washington
> transit tunnel). As you snake down the north side of Mt. Washington on
> Arlington Avenue, you get a great view of downtown Pittsburgh.
Isn't the 52 a street-running route too? You said only Broadway in
Beechview still had street running.
What is the frequency of these services, Jon?
David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand
Jon Bell
Dave McL <davemcl@AXE*THISiprolink.co.nz> wrote:
>Jon Bell wrote:
>
>Isn't the 52 a street-running route too? You said only Broadway in
>Beechview still had street running.
Right, 52 runs in the street all the way between South Hills Junction and
the point where it enters the approach to the bridge over the river. I
should have said that Broadway in Beechview is the only place along 42S
where street-running takes place.
>What is the frequency of these services, Jon?
Route 42S (South Hills Village via Beechview) runs, um, (digs out
schedules) every ten minutes during mid-day on weekdays, and every 3-5
minutes during peak periods. It shares tracks as far as Washington
Junction with route 42L (Library via Beechview), which runs every half
hour during mid-day, and every ten minutes during the peak.
Route 52 (Allentown) runs every 50 minutes through the day, as a single
train that shuttles back and forth between Gateway Center (terminal of the
downtown subway) and South Hills Junction. I think the main reason that
route exists at all is to provide a bypass for 42S and 42L when the Mt.
Washington Tunnel is closed.
And for the sake of completeness, route 47D (Drake shuttle) runs every 40
minutes between Castle Shannon (normally) and Drake, again as a single-car
shuttle.
Dave McL
>
> Details of service freequencies on the Pittsburgh light rail lines.
Thanks for that. Apart from the 42S it hardly seems to justify a rail
service. However I recall from PCC days that the 52 route over the hill
even then had such a long interval between cars and that the line was
only retained as a tunnel bypass.
Ron Newman
> Here's the rest of what I did during my three-day stay in the Pittsburgh
> area, besides railfanning the Drake shuttle as described in part 2.
> First, I took a lot of pictures along route 42S between South Hills
> Junction and Dormont. This line gets my vote for the most scenic
> light-rail line in the U.S.
Just curious -- have you been to Boston? If so, I'd be very interested
in comparisons between Pittsburgh's and Boston's systems, and especially
between Pittsburgh's soon-to-be-abandoned Drake shuttle and Boston's
very-much-alive Ashmont-Mattapan line.
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/
Ron Newman
> Here's the rest of what I did during my three-day stay in the Pittsburgh
> area, besides railfanning the Drake shuttle as described in part 2.
[snip]
> Then comes the street-running section along Broadway in the Beechview
> neighborhood. This is the last place in Pittsburgh where rail vehicles
> operate in mixed traffic with automobiles. Passengers still use the old
> concrete streetcar "boarding islands" in the middle of the street.
Does this mean that they board the streetcars through left-side doors?
Ron Newman
> Route 52 (Allentown) runs every 50 minutes through the day, as a single
> train that shuttles back and forth between Gateway Center (terminal of the
> downtown subway) and South Hills Junction. I think the main reason that
> route exists at all is to provide a bypass for 42S and 42L when the Mt.
> Washington Tunnel is closed.
Do people ride this? With that frequency, it doesn't sound like
a very useful service.
Is it called "Allentown" because it is the remnant of an interurban
that once went to that city?
Jon Bell
>In article <FGwAC...@presby.edu>, jtb...@presby.edu (Jon Bell) wrote:
>
>> Route 52 (Allentown) runs every 50 minutes through the day, as a single
>> train that shuttles back and forth between Gateway Center (terminal of the
>> downtown subway) and South Hills Junction.
>
>a very useful service.
On my single inbound ride from South Hills Junction during early
afternoon, I was surprised by the number of passengers. Not standing room
only, by any means, but people got on at almost every stop headed towards
Allentown. Many of them got off near the intersection of Warrington and
Arlington streets, which is a major commercial area.
>Is it called "Allentown" because it is the remnant of an interurban
>that once went to that city?
That would be a *long* interurban! The city of Allentown is at the other
end of Pennsylvania, with a lot of mountains in between. :-) *This*
Allentown is a neighborhood through which the route passes.
Jon Bell
>In article <FGvBn...@presby.edu>, jtb...@presby.edu (Jon Bell) wrote:
>
>Just curious -- have you been to Boston? If so, I'd be very interested
>in comparisons between Pittsburgh's and Boston's systems, and especially
>between Pittsburgh's soon-to-be-abandoned Drake shuttle and Boston's
>very-much-alive Ashmont-Mattapan line.
Not recently, unfortunately. I made a few day trips to Boston when I
lived in Schenectady NY in 1983-85. I never did see the Ashmont-Mattapan
route. From what I've heard of it, it has much more traffic than the
Drake shuttle.
I think the basic problem with the Drake shuttle is that the portion that
doesn't overlap with the modern LRV routes is only about a mile long, not
many people live within easy walking distance, and there are no parking
facilities except at Drake (and those are rather primitive). Hopefully in
a week or two I'll have some pictures on my Web site so you can see for
yourself.
Drake isn't too far (a half mile or less) from Washington Road (US 19)
which is a major route from the south. If the line could be extended at
least that far, and a good park and ride facility built there, it might
attract a significant amount of commuter traffic from the south, and take
some of the load off the South Hills Village station.
Jon Bell
>In article <FGvBn...@presby.edu>, jtb...@presby.edu (Jon Bell) wrote:
>
>> neighborhood. This is the last place in Pittsburgh where rail vehicles
>> operate in mixed traffic with automobiles.
(When I wrote this, I forgot about the 52 Allentown route.)
>> Passengers still use the old
>> concrete streetcar "boarding islands" in the middle of the street.
>
>Does this mean that they board the streetcars through left-side doors?
No, they use low-level doors at the right front, near the motorman. The
tracks run down the middle of the street, and the islands are on the
"outside" of the tracks, separated from the curb by a lane of traffic.
Those islands are rather narrow; you don't want to lean too far to either
side while standing on one! They have a railing along the outside edge to
keep you from falling into traffic on that side.
During rush hour, the Beechview routes operate two-car trains that have no
personnel in the second car. You can board or leave the rear car only at
the high-platform stations, which all have station personnel collecting
fares during rush hour at least. So if you're heading out from downtown
during rush hour, and you plan to get off at a low-level stop, you have to
use the front car. The electronic signs in the stations always warn about
this during rush hour.
Alan Fishel
as a top line for scenic beauty to ride and to photograph.
Jon Bell <jtb...@presby.edu> wrote in article <FGxB5...@presby.edu>...
> Ron Newman <rne...@thecia.net> wrote:
> >In article <FGvBn...@presby.edu>, jtb...@presby.edu (Jon Bell) wrote:
> >
> >Just curious -- have you been to Boston? If so, I'd be very interested
> >in comparisons between Pittsburgh's and Boston's systems, and especially
> >between Pittsburgh's soon-to-be-abandoned Drake shuttle and Boston's
> >very-much-alive Ashmont-Mattapan line.
>
> Not recently, unfortunately. I made a few day trips to Boston when I
> lived in Schenectady NY in 1983-85. I never did see the Ashmont-Mattapan
> route. From what I've heard of it, it has much more traffic than the
> Drake shuttle.
>
> I think the basic problem with the Drake shuttle is that the portion that
> doesn't overlap with the modern LRV routes is only about a mile long, not
> many people live within easy walking distance, and there are no parking
> facilities except at Drake (and those are rather primitive). Hopefully
in
> a week or two I'll have some pictures on my Web site so you can see for
> yourself.
>
> Drake isn't too far (a half mile or less) from Washington Road (US 19)
> which is a major route from the south. If the line could be extended at
> least that far, and a good park and ride facility built there, it might
> attract a significant amount of commuter traffic from the south, and take
> some of the load off the South Hills Village station.
>
Jon Bell
made a day trip to Cleveland. This was something of an exercise in
nostalgia for me, because when I was a kid in the 1960s, my parents and I
visited Cleveland often, and usually did it by driving to Shaker Heights,
parking there, and riding the "Shaker Rapid's" big yellow PCC cars
downtown. I guess those experiences must have "imprinted" me as a transit
buff. :-)
The Shaker Rapid has two lines: one running along Shaker Boulevard from
Shaker Square to Green Road, the other running along Van Aken Boulevard
from Shaker Square to Warrensville Road. Both lines run in the boulevard
medians, with grade crossings at most intersections. At Shaker Square
(which is actually just inside the Cleveland city limits), the two lines
join and use a grade-separated right-of-way to reach downtown Cleveland.
The system was built to stimulate land and home sales in Shaker Heights.
The outer portions came first in 1913-15, and originally used regular
Cleveland streetcar tracks to reach downtown. Early pictures show
streetcars running through almost-empty fields. The inner "rapid
transit" portion was finished in 1930.
After WWII the lines were operated by a department of the City of Shaker
Heights, which bought the yellow PCCs. They were taken over (along with
the Cleveland Transit System) by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit
Authority in the mid 1970s, and the Van Aken and Shaker Boulevard lines
became the Blue and Green Lines respectively. In the early/mid 1980s the
lines were rebuilt and equipped with modern LRVs from Breda, thereby
retiring the PCCs. I understand that a bunch of those PCCs are now
moldering somewhere in Buffalo, which bought them for a proposed light
rail line that never materialized.
Cleveland has another rail transit line, which I knew as the "CTS Rapid."
This was built in the early 1950s as a "heavy rail" rapid-transit line
using high-platform stations and overhead catenary, and running alongside
mainline railroad tracks. In the late 1960s it was extended to
Hopkins Airport, which became the first U.S. airport to have a
rapid-transit rail connection. When I was a kid, I managed to ride the
CTS Rapid only a couple of times, when I could get away from my parents
long enough. After the RTA took over, it became the Red Line.
The two Rapids shared tracks between the Terminal Tower and East 55th
Street, but they had separate stations. At E. 55, for example, the CTS
Rapid used a station with high-level platforms on the outside of the
tracks, and the Shaker Rapid used ground-level boarding and a simple
wooden shelter between the tracks. Although one station was literally
"enclosed" by the other one, they had separate stairways up to street
level, and there were no free transfers between them.
To allow the Shaker cars to board on the "inside" of the shared tracks
using right-hand doors, both Rapids had to use left-hand running: the
Shaker Rapid just between the Terminal Tower and E. 55, the CTS Rapid all
the way from the Terminal Tower to its eastern terminal at Windermere.
There was a grade-separated crossover for the CTS Rapid at the entrance to
the Terminal Tower, and one for the Shaker Rapid at the point where the
two lines diverged just east of E. 55.
Inside the Terminal Tower, the two Rapids had completely separate
stations. The CTS station was a through station, but the Shaker station
had a loop with separate platforms for deboarding and boarding.
Some of you all probably saw the recent discussion here of Pittsburgh's
fare-collection system in which fares are collected at the "outer" end of
a trip on routes that begin/end downtown, in order to avoid delays due to
fare collection at busy downtown stops. The Shaker Rapid used the
*opposite* system: fares were collected at the "inner" end of the trip,
which for most riders meant at the turnstiles at the Terminal Tower
station. Next to the doors, the PCCs had painted on them the legend "Pay
Enter Eastbound / Pay Leave Westbound." Even now, the Green and Blue
Lines still use this system, although the Red Line (former CTS Rapid) uses
straight "pay as you enter", as do (I think) all the bus routes.
In the late 1980s the Terminal Tower was renamed Tower City, its concourse
was completly remodeled into a multilevel shopping mall, food court etc.,
and the separate Shaker and CTS Rapid stations were replaced with a
"two-in-one" station that has both high- and low-platform sections. The
E. 55 station had low platforms added on the "outside" of the tracks, and
the left-hand running was eliminated in favor of right-hand running
throughout the RTA rail system. I still vividly remember my first visit
to Cleveland after all this (of which I was unaware at the time) took
place. As I rode the Green Line into town, I first suspected something
was different when we reached E. 55 and I realized the train was running
on the right instead of the left. Then I arrived at the new low-level
Tower City station for the first time. Then I left the station, entered
the new shopping mall, and promptly got completely disoriented. The new
mall bears absolutely no resemblance to the old concourse, and I had to
search for a while before I encountered traces of passageways that I
remembered from the "old days."
To return to *this* trip, I drove into Shaker Heights along Chagrin
Boulevard just as my parents used to do, then along Van Aken, with the
Blue Line running in the median strip. I parked at a couple of different
places along the Blue line, took pictures, then drove to Shaker Square,
where the Blue and Green Lines meet, parked and took more pictures, then
drove back out towards the end of the Blue Line, parked, and rode into
town.
On weekends and holidays, trains run every half hour on both the Green and
Blue lines, with 15-minute combined service between Shaker Square and
downtown (including the Waterfront Line). During midday on weekdays,
service is every 24 minutes on the branches and every 12 minutes on the
combined section. During rush hours, trains run about twice as often.
I wanted to get a $4.00 one-day pass, but found that they could apparently
be gotten only at a certain vending machine in the Tower City station, and
it turned out that that machine was out of order! But I didn't get nicked
too badly after all, thanks to the RTA's recently-liberalized transfer
policy. Paying the regular fare ($1.50 for the Rapid, or for an express
bus, or $1.25 for a local bus) entitles you to up to three transfers
during the next two hours, and you can use those transfers for stopovers,
so long as you don't reverse direction along the route that you started
your trip on.
This policy is implemented using cards with magnetic strips. All vehicles
(both rail and bus) have card readers built into their fareboxes. When
you transfer, you insert the card into the reader, and if you have any
transfers left, you get the card back. I was reminded very strongly of
Chicago's "transit cards." The big difference is that in Chicago, you
must first buy a transit card, then use it to enter a station turnstile or
board a bus. In Cleveland, you pay your fare, and get a card only if you
want to transfer later, by asking the driver, or by pushing a button on
the turnstile in a Rapid station.
So, I used three fares to tour the Red Line end-to-end in both directions:
from Tower City to Windermere on the eastern end, then all the way to the
airport on the western end, then back to Tower City, stopping at various
places to take pictures. On the trip back from the airport to Tower City,
the motorperson invited me to stand behind the right-front window for a
better view; all the stations along that section have center platforms, so
she didn't have to cross over to "my" side to check the doors before
closing them.
The RTA has completely rebuilt the Red Line stations at Windermere, at W.
25 St.--Ohio City, and at West Boulevard (formerly W. 98--Detroit), and is
now in the middle of rebuilding the West Park (or is it Triskett?)
station, all in a modernistic glass-and-steel style.
Since it was Sunday, fares were collected by station personnel only (so
far as I could tell) at Windermere, University Circle, Tower City, and the
airport. At all other stations, the train operator collected fares.
Some runs used single cars. Others used two-car trains, with (I think) an
operator in each car to collect fares at the unmanned stations.
Red Line trains run every fifteen minutes on weekends and holidays and
every twelve minutes during mid-day on weekdays. During rush hours,
trains operate every six minutes west of Tower City, but only every twelve
minutes east of Tower City. The eastern half of the line runs through
decayed areas that have lost population.
After returning to Tower City, I toured Cleveland's newest rail line, the
"Waterfront Line" extension of the Green and Blue Lines. The tracks
branch from the Red Line just west of the Tower City station, descend to
ground level in the "Flats" area along the Cuyahoga River, then swing
northward parallel to the river and pass the Settlers' Landing and Flats
East Bank stations, both of which are near an "entertainment district"
that has sprung up in abandoned warehouses etc. Then the line crosses
over the Norfolk Southern (ex Conrail) railroad tracks which parallel the
Lake Erie waterfront, runs eastward along the north side of the railroad
through the newly opened "W. 3rd St. at Cleveland Browns Stadium" station,
the North Coast station at E. 9th St. (near the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame), and ends at the South Harbor station next to a large municipal
parking lot which has existed for many years, just off the Shoreway
expressway.
The "turn" at the NS railraod tracks has an interesting geometry, because
the line must first cross over the railroad tracks, then pass under a
bridge which carries a street over the railroad. If the line simply made
a 90-degree turn from north to east here, there would have to be an
unacceptably steep grade between the railroad and street crossings. So
the line instead veers off at an angle to the northwest, climbs over the
railroad tracks, and some distance beyond, makes a 180-degree hairpin turn
back towards the southeast, starts its descent, straightens out towards
the east and passes under the street bridge.
The Waterfront line is operated as a simple extension of the Green and
Blue lines. In normal service, trains from Shaker Heights simply proceed
through to South Harbor instead of turning around at Tower City as they
previously did. During rush hour, some trains do still turn at Tower
City.
The unusual fare-collection system on the Green and Blue Lines (described
earlier) has led to another unusual system on the Waterfront extension.
If you reach a Waterfront station on a train coming from east of Tower
City, you pay your fare (or present a transfer or pass) on exiting, just
as when exiting at Tower City. If you *board* at a Waterfront station,
you pay the normal $1.50 Rapid fare, and receive a Waterfront Line pass
good for four hours unlimited use along the W.L. (i.e. between Tower City
and South Harbor). Every time you board *or* leave a W.L. station you
must present this pass, or pay another fare (or present a transfer).
Outside the W.L. the pass behaves like a standard transfer during this
four-hour period.
During the day, I was surprised by the number of passengers on all the
rail lines. It wasn't standing room only, but still rather impressive for
a Sunday afternoon. It turned out that not only were many people heading
downtown for the usual attractions (R&R Hall of Fame etc.), the new
Cleveland Browns football stadium was holding public tours, with two-hour
lines to get in.
Next and final stop: Dayton, Ohio.
James Robinson
> ... and just recently, <they bought> completely new ETBs from Electric
> Transit Inc., a joint venture with Skoda of the Czech Republic.
> I saw only Skoda ETBs on the streets, and after I got home I found out
> from a Web site that the last of the old Flyers had had its last run
> just about a week before.
So tell us your impressions of riding in the Skodas. I am curious to
know what they are like.
I was in Dayton this spring and saw not only Flyers, but BBC ETBs
(ex-Edmonton) in service as well. Didn't have time to ride the new
Skodas.
> I really wish I had had at least a full day in Dayton. Next time I'll
> plan on two or three days, with time out to visit the aviation-related
> sights in the area (Wright Brothers shop, Air Force museum).
The Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson is superb, and you really need
to set aside a good part of the day to see it all. Don't miss the
collection of old Air Force One aircraft in the remote hanger. You can
just imagine Dick Nixon flying home after resigning.
Jon Bell
didn't want to extend my trip because I had already had commitments that
required me to be back home on a certain date. However, I had allowed (as
usual) two days to drive from northeast Ohio to South Carolina, and I
realized that by "stretching" the second day a bit, I could spend part of
the first day in Dayton and stay there overnight. So I did just that. I
left early in the morning, arrived in Dayton shortly after noon, and after
finding a motel and checking in, I had most of the afternoon left for
sightseeing.
Dayton is the smallest U.S. city that still operates electric trolleybuses
(ETBs), the others being San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston.
ETBs serve Dayton itself plus the close-in suburbs of Kettering and
Oakwood, with a total population of about 250,000. The entire
metropolitan area is about 600,000. When I last visited Dayton in the
early 1970s, most of its original ETB system was still intact (I think)
and it was using Marmon-Harrington ETBs dating from the 1940s (I think).
(My knowledge of ETB history in general, and Dayton's in particular, is
unfortunately rather sketchy.)
Since then the system has been threatened with extinction a few times, but
in the late 1970s it bought new Flyer ETBs (which I think were really just
new bodies built around the old electrical systems and transmissions), and
just recently, completely new ETBs from Electric Transit Inc., a joint
venture with Skoda of the Czech Republic. I saw only Skoda ETBs on the
streets, and after I got home I found out from a Web site that the last of
the old Flyers had had its last run just about a week before.
Neither the printed timetables nor the system map (posted at the main
stops downtown) distinguish between diesel and ETB routes. I saw the
following routes using ETBs:
(Weekday intervals)
Full operation: Off-peak Peak
4 - Hoover / Hearthstone 22 min. 20 min.
5 - Valley Street / Far Hills 30 20
7 - North Main / Watervliet 20 12
8 - Salem / Lakeview 15 10
Short-turn service only:
2 - Lexington / East Fifth
Each route crosses the city, passing through downtown on the way, and in
most cities would probably be two separate routes.
Route 2 has been extended beyond the ends of the overhead wire, and normal
service is provided by diesel. ETBs serve only about five short-turn
trips per day.
Most of the overhead for routes 1 and 3 is apparently intact, but
practically all service is diesel. Some other ETB routes have been
converted to diesel since the 1960s, but I don't have a list.
All ETB routes converge at the intersection of Third and Main Streets in
downtown Dayton. Routes 2 and 4 run east and west on Third; 5, 7, and 8
run north and south on Main. On Main Street about a half block south of
Third is a Miami Valley RTA information booth and pass sales outlet. A
single fare is $1.00, with free transfers. I bought a weekly pass for
$7.50 for convenience and as a souvenir.
In the time I had available to me I rode route 7-Watervliet to the end,
took some pictures, then rode partway back into town, got off, and took
more pictures. (This route serves older middle-class and commercial
areas.) I then rode route 3 back into town, which is when I discovered
that that route had been dieselized. Next I rode 5-Valley Street which
has a large one-way loop through a residential neighborhood at the outer
end. Finally, I caught one of the infrequent 2-Lexington ETBs, rode it to
the end (a rather scenic ride through residential neighborhoods, with some
one-way sections), and then walked a short distance to catch 8-Salem and
return downtown.
By this time it was after 6 pm. Just before I gave up and went back to my
motel I watched the first of the synchronized evening "meets" at Third and
Main, with an impressive lineup of diesels and ETBs on both streets,
waiting for their 6:30 departure.
I really wish I had had at least a full day in Dayton. Next time I'll
plan on two or three days, with time out to visit the aviation-related
sights in the area (Wright Brothers shop, Air Force museum).
Unfortunately I've seen only fragmentary bits of news about the Dayton
ETBs so I don't really have a clear picture of what's been happening
there, and I have no idea of what plans the RTA has for the future of the
ETB system. I would expect that the new Skodas will be running for many
years, but I don't know about any plans for expansion or restoration of
service on dieselized routes. I thought I remembered reading that route
5-Far Hills was to be extended southward, but I saw no sign of that; it
still ends at Stroop Road, just as it did on my last visit over 25 years
ago.
On a linguistic note: whereas San Francisco calls these vehicles "trolley
coaches," and Philadelphia (and I think Boston) calls them "trackless
trolleys", and most fans call them "trolleybuses", Dayton calls them
simply "trolleys."
Dave McL
> Dayton is the smallest U.S. city that still operates electric trolleybuses
> (ETBs), the others being San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston.
> ETBs serve Dayton itself plus the close-in suburbs of Kettering and
> Oakwood, with a total population of about 250,000.
A fascinating account, Jon. Thanks. Please, can you give your
impressions of how many people ride the trolleybuses in that town? The
frequency of service is much less than in Wellington here in New
Zealand, where the area served by trolleybuses has a population of only
around 150,000, yet off-peak frequencies of 12, 15 or 20 minutes
(depending on the route) and peak frequencies of 5 to 10 minutes.
Jon Bell
>> I saw only Skoda ETBs on the streets, and after I got home I found out
>> from a Web site that the last of the old Flyers had had its last run
>> just about a week before.
>
>know what they are like.
Nice and clean, of course, as they should be since they're new. Seats
upholstered with a velour or terrycloth-like cover. They run smoothly,
more so than the San Francisco ETBs that I've ridden, which tend to be
jerky. One of them whined rather annoyingly, enough for one of the
passengers to comment about it to the driver. They ride about as well as
could be expected with the typical bumpy potholed Ohio pavement. They all
have bike racks on the front, which were actually used, once by a kid who
hopped on for a few blocks to avoid a hill. (Yes, Dayton has a few hills,
although it's no San Francisco in that department!)
>I was in Dayton this spring and saw not only Flyers, but BBC ETBs
>(ex-Edmonton) in service as well. Didn't have time to ride the new
>Skodas.
Can you point me to a picture of a BBC? It's possible I saw some of
those, if they don't look radically different from the Skodas. I just got
my pictures back, so I'll take a closer look at them. I'll put them up on
my Web site eventually, of course, but it'll probably be a few weeks
because the semester begins here next week.
I think the Skodas have longer poles than usual, which might cause them to
de-wire more often. It happened twice during my afternoon's riding.
Jon Bell
>> Oakwood, with a total population of about 250,000.
>
>impressions of how many people ride the trolleybuses in that town?
Well, I don't think I rode any that were really *full*, but at the height
of afternoon rush hour I was riding inbound on two routes, and outbound on
that short-turn trip on route 2. Routes 2 and 8 seem to serve mostly
black neighborhoods, but route 7 (at least the half I rode) serves white
middle-class neighborhoods, and a fair number of people were on each of
those buses. I didn't actually count, but I'd say at least 10-15 riders
leaving downtown on the off-peak trips, and overall they represented a
reasonable cross-section of people. Not at all like the bus systems
nearby in South Carolina which are ridden almost exclusively by blacks.
>The
>frequency of service is much less than in Wellington here in New
>Zealand, where the area served by trolleybuses has a population of only
>around 150,000, yet off-peak frequencies of 12, 15 or 20 minutes
>(depending on the route) and peak frequencies of 5 to 10 minutes.
Near my hometown is Youngstown, Ohio (which also had trolleybuses until
1959), with about the same population. I don't know what its bus system
is like now, but back around 1970 when I rode it occasionally, no route
ran more often than every half hour.
It must be basically historical accident that trolleybuses managed to
survive in Dayton. Several other Ohio cities had trolleybuses (Akron,
Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati, Youngstown) and most of them were
converted to diesels during the 1960s, stretching up to about 1967 I
think. Dayton probably just happened to be the last straggler, and then
the "oil crisis" hit, and the rise of the environmental movement.
Dave McL
> It must be basically historical accident that trolleybuses managed to
> survive in Dayton. Several other Ohio cities had trolleybuses (Akron,
> Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati, Youngstown) and most of them were
> converted to diesels during the 1960s, stretching up to about 1967 I
> think. Dayton probably just happened to be the last straggler, and then
> the "oil crisis" hit, and the rise of the environmental movement.
Yes, Dayton was one of the first to follow Toronto in the Flyer
programme (San Francisco did too). Its ETBs have had a shaky time, with
a lot of talk over the last decade that they would be scrapped. And then
they go and order the Skodas! Apparently there was some manager there
with a soft-spot for trolleybuses. I hadn't realised how many routes had
been dieselised.
Wellington in New Zealand still has trolleybuses only as a result of the
1979 oil price shock. The management there wanted to dieselise the
system but the city council, which owned it, turned green and replaced
the old ETBs with a fleet of Volvos. In 1993 the system was sold to
Stagecoach of the UK which really likes the trolleys and which
reinstated evening and weekend ETB operation which the council
management had abandoned in 1972. Amazing, after 21 years of diesels in
the evenings and all weekend, ETB services resumed. However the Volvos
are getting old (the newest dates from 1986) and they will be replaced
in about four more years .... with new trolleys, we are all hoping down
here.
BTW, I gather Cleveland is planning to reintroduce trolleybuses on some
special transitway route, and has or is about to order a fleet of artics
in conjunction with the MBTA (Boston).
Mike Ward
>Near my hometown is Youngstown, Ohio (which also had trolleybuses until
>1959), with about the same population. I don't know what its bus system
>is like now, but back around 1970 when I rode it occasionally, no route
>ran more often than every half hour.
And I believe it's like that on today's WRTA - which may have a route
or two in rush hour that runs every 20 minutes, but certainly not much
more than that. Then again, Akron's Metro, which runs somewhat more
service than WRTA, has some routes that run about every 90 minutes (or
less - not counting routes like the North Coast Special that runs up
to Cleveland).
To the best of my knowledge, Warren still has no fixed route general
transit service.
Mike
Dobrow Stephen
On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, Jon Bell wrote:
> In article <37c4...@news.iprolink.co.nz>,
> Dave McL <davemcl@AXE*THISiprolink.co.nz> wrote:
> >Jon Bell wrote:
> >
> >> ETBs serve Dayton itself plus the close-in suburbs of Kettering and
> >> Oakwood, with a total population of about 250,000.
> >
> >A fascinating account, Jon. Thanks. Please, can you give your
> >impressions of how many people ride the trolleybuses in that town?
>
> Well, I don't think I rode any that were really *full*, but at the height
> of afternoon rush hour I was riding inbound on two routes, and outbound on
> that short-turn trip on route 2. Routes 2 and 8 seem to serve mostly
> black neighborhoods, but route 7 (at least the half I rode) serves white
> middle-class neighborhoods, and a fair number of people were on each of
> those buses. I didn't actually count, but I'd say at least 10-15 riders
> leaving downtown on the off-peak trips, and overall they represented a
> reasonable cross-section of people. Not at all like the bus systems
> nearby in South Carolina which are ridden almost exclusively by blacks.
>
> >The
> >frequency of service is much less than in Wellington here in New
> >Zealand, where the area served by trolleybuses has a population of only
> >around 150,000, yet off-peak frequencies of 12, 15 or 20 minutes
> >(depending on the route) and peak frequencies of 5 to 10 minutes.
>
> Near my hometown is Youngstown, Ohio (which also had trolleybuses until
> 1959), with about the same population. I don't know what its bus system
> is like now, but back around 1970 when I rode it occasionally, no route
> ran more often than every half hour.
>
> It must be basically historical accident that trolleybuses managed to
> survive in Dayton. Several other Ohio cities had trolleybuses (Akron,
> Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati, Youngstown) and most of them were
> converted to diesels during the 1960s, stretching up to about 1967 I
> think. Dayton probably just happened to be the last straggler, and then
> the "oil crisis" hit, and the rise of the environmental movement.
>
What saved the trolleybuses in Dayton is that during its private
operation, the president (W Owen?) was a trolley bus fan and kept them.
When there was a takeover by a regional agency, environmental concerns
kept them going.