A Brief History of Public Transit in Pittsburgh
From CityLive
Pittsburgh Transportation Timeline
1877: The Duquesne Incline opened; it was the fourth incline to open in the area. At one point Pittsburgh had 17 inclines in use, today just the Duquesne and Monongahela inclines remain.
1890: Pittsburgh’s first electric powered Trolley is built. The trolley would dominate the city’s transportation system until the post World War I era. The trolley line allowed city’s high population density to spread out because it offered a quick and easy mode of transportation. The evidence is shown in population density decreasing from 45 people per acre in 1890 to 29.1 people acre in 1900.
1910: The trolley line hits a road block. It turns out that even with trolley line as many as 80 to 90 percent of the workers still walked to work because of the high trolley fares and the ride would take too long for the steel mill workers. The electricity to run the trolleys became costly. The main problem was that while the trolleys were financed through 50-year bonds, they were only designed to last 20 to 30 years, and were facing debts. Factor in World War I’s increased inflation and the Great Depression leading to less people commuting by trolley to their jobs, if they had one.
1923: The trolley line hits its peak with 593 miles of track. For the purpose of comparison Philadelphia had 710 miles of track and Chicago, which had the most track with 1100 miles. The Pittsburgh line was known to transport 600,000 people daily.
1938-1951: “The WWII Boost” As the United States entered World War II, it gave a much needed boost to the trolley industry. Because the country needed oil and tires for the war effort, people began riding the trolleys again. During this time frame the Pittsburgh Railway Company (PRCo) was in bankruptcy, meaning they did not have to pay off their debts, therefore allowing them to generate a large amount of capital. With their new capital they decided to invest in PCC cars; in total they bought 465 PCC cars. These cars were comfortable and fast and became a legitimate competitor with the automobile.
1951: The death of the trolley. With the American economy riding on the WWII economic boost, it allowed the masses to buy the automobile and thus killed the trolley. Throughout the 1950s PRCo was facing heavy political pressure that started as early as 1925 to start changing their trolley lines into bus lines. In 1951, PRCo finally cracked and began replacing trolley lines with bus routes.
1959: The Second Class County Port Authority Act: The act placed all forms of mass transportation in Allegheny County under a public sponsored, county-wide transportation system. In 1964, all of the privately owned companies were brought under the Port Authority of Allegheny County.
1964: The Port Authority takes over the trolley lines in Allegheny County and the PRCo. In the same year the Port Authority took 31 privately owned transit companies, and in 1965 took control of the Duquesne Incline and Carnegie Coaches.
1965: The Port Authority’s first full year of operation. The Skybus demonstration is built in South Park.
1980: Port Authority reaches all time high for ridership in a year with 112 million riders over the year.
1982: 829,000 people are commuting into the city in privately owned automobiles. In 1952 only 352,000 people drove their own cars into the city.
1985: The T opens. It is Pittsburgh’s only light rail system and its primary purpose was to replace the old street car system for the city.
1999: The city develops its first plans to extend the T to the North Shore area. The plan calls to add two stations on the Norh side. One will be called the North Shore Station and the other the Allegheny station.
- Dan Onorato hopes that the T will someday connect to Oakland and the Pittsburgh International Airport.
2011: The expected completion date of the T’s North Shore Extension project. It will connect the light rail system to the North Shore with a station near the Carnegie Science Center.
Articles Used to Reference This Section
This article goes from the beginning of Pittsburgh’s transportation history starting in 1750's, emphasizing the importance of its rivers. However, it is brief and does not discuss any specific transportation plans in the 20th or 21st century.
This article pertains to the history of trolley system within Pittsburgh, primarily focuses on the Pittsburgh Railway Company (PRCo).
This piece provides a list of all the privately owned transit systems that were taken over by the Port Authority in 1964 and 1965. You can click on each company and it provides brief history of each.
This links to the history of Pittsburgh Port Authority.
This site links to all articles written by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on the North Shore Connector project from start to finish.
This site is dedicated to keeping an ongoing list of Pittsburgh’s transportation history, all the way from the 19th century with the rise of the inclines to present day construction. It primarily focuses on the bridges and tunnels in the Pittsburgh region.
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission is a group which focuses on improving mass transportation through technological development. It includes a long-range plan for the area's transportation system with an end date of 2035.
Articles Pertaining to Pittsburgh Transportation
This article This is about the new/possible construction in the Mon Wharf area. Construction will include over 2,000 feet of biking and hiking trails along the waterfront. The initiative is being led by the Riverlife Task Force. The project will cost $2.3 million and the Mon Wharf parking area will lose around 300 of its 700 spaces. Written by Mark Belko of the Post-Gazette.
A Port Authority update on the money they are spending for the addition of three new lobbying firms. Also, it provides a progress report on the light rail expansion project to the North Shore.
This article is about Pittsburgh dream transportation system. It includes the potential costs and outcome of the study completed by Transportation Action Team. Written by Joe Grata of the Post-Gazette. Joe Grata has covered the Pittsburgh transportation beat for almost four decades and writes the weekly guide: “Grata’s Guide to Getting Around”
This article is an update on the Port Authority and the financial struggles it faces with several of their projects; however the article focuses mainly on the cost of the lobbying firms and the T’s expansion to the North Shore. Written by Jim Ritchie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
This article pertains to the construction of the Steel Valley Trail. It is a bike trail that will connect to the Greater Allegheny Passage, a 185-mile path that will link Cumberland, MD, to Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh. This project is one of Pittsburgh’s 250 Signature Projects, designed to commemorate 250 years of Pittsburgh. Written by Mike Cronin of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Dated May 7, 2008, this piece discusses the selling of the Pittsburgh Transportation Group, that includes Yellow Cab, to a French company called Veolia Transportation. By Vincent Lara-Cinisomo of the Pittsburgh Business Times.
This PDF is a review of the Pittsburgh Skybus system that failed in the 1960s, a rather lengthy artricle (38 pages). It describes why the system failed and where it went wrong. I found that reading the conclusion does a very nice and concise job of describing the obstacles that prevented its success.
An article specifically focusing on the Wabash Tunnel and how it has been used over the last century. On a more interesting note, it describes how many times the tunnel was intended to be a part of Pittsburgh transit system, but for many different reasons it seemed to fail. It has become known as Pittsburgh’s transportation money pit, even though today it is one of the few existing HOV lanes in the city.
