16C Bellevue - West View

The creation of the 16C Bellevue - West View route at first glance appears to be a straight forward replacement for the 15 Bellevue trolley route which was eliminated on September 4, 1965. The 16C however, was much more complicated with it absorbing some of the northern portions of 19A Bellevue - Avalon trips to Means and Union Avenues and after 1969, the southern portion of the 19A route as well as having a night bus service that ran differently than the regular 16C route, off-road garage trips and various unscheduled runs which all created various route deviations and confusion.

The route was also directly linked originally with the original incarnation of the 11C Perry Highway route and the later the 11F West View route via through-routing of service for many years in addition to having many long term detours due to bad bridges and construction along the route.

Garages assigned to the 16C:

Manchester Garage - 09/05/65 - 03/30/68

Ross Garage - 03/31/68 - 08/31/97

Destination Signs:

Route ran with window cards and destination signs.

A few notes need to be made regarding the signs for this route. The 16C had many signs associated with it and were used throughout the history of the route even though many of the designations were no longer official.

Routing:

Original 09/05/65 Inbound - Cornell at Fordham Avenue via Center Avenue, Bellevue Bridge, Forest Avenue, Balph Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, California Avenue, Brighton Road, North Avenue, Federal Street, East Ohio Street, Sandusky Street, 7th Street Bridge, Seventh Street, Liberty Avenue to Sixth Street.

Original 09/05/65 Outbound - Liberty Avenue at Sixth Street, Sixth Street Bridge, Federal Street, Stockton Avenue to Sandusky Street, East Ohio Street, Federal Street, North Avenue, Brighton Road, California Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, Freemont Avenue, Forest Avenue, Bellevue Bridge, Center Avenue, Cornell Avenue to Center Avenue.

Original 09/05/65 Inbound Short - Ohio River Blvd. and Riverview Avenue, Starr Avenue, New Brighton Road, Union Avenue, Means Avenue, Jackson Avenue, North Avenue, Carolyn Avenue, Forest Avenue, Balph Avenue, Lincoln Avenue and then via regular route to Downtown Pittsburgh.

Original 09/05/65 Outbound Short - Regular route to Forest Avenue, Carolyn Avenue, North Avenue, Jackson Avenue, Means Avenue, Union Avenue, New Brighton Road, Starr Avenue, Riverview Avenue to Ohio River Blvd. Officially the last stop was Riverview at Ohio River Blvd but some buses returned to Pittsburgh via Ohio River Blvd and is shown as alternate service on the map but no reference to the service to Pittsburgh via Ohio River Blvd exists in any of the schedules throughout the history of the 16C but it did operate.

Original 09/05/65 Night Bus Service Inbound - Avalon Loop, California Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, California Avenue and then via regular 16C route.

Original 09/05/65 Night Bus Service Outbound - Regular 16C route to Lincoln Avenue, California Avenue to Avalon Loop. This routing remained unchanged until it was eliminated on 02/06/77 with the exception of bridge/construction detours.

A conflict on the schedules shows a new Downtown routing on the 02/27/66 schedule but the official announcement of the change shows in the 05/01/66 schedule as the effective date. It is not currently known if the change occurred on 02/27/66 or 05/01/66. The new Downtown routing effective 05/01/66 was regular route to Sandusky, Stockton, Federal Street, 6th Street Bridge, Penn Avenue, Stanwix Street, Fort Duquesne Blvd, 6th Street Bridge, Federal Street, Stockton, Sandusky to regular route.

Effective 05/01/66 - Trips were detoured due to the closing of the Bellevue High Bridge although schedules didn't reflect this detour until 11/14/66. The detour was for:

Inbound: Regular route to Lincoln Avenue, Brighton Road, Perrott, California Avenue and via regular route.

Outbound: Regular route to California Avenue, Perrott, Brighton Road, Lincoln Avenue and via regular route.

Bellevue High Bridge detour ended effective with the 12/03/67 schedule.

Effective 06/26/66 - Outer terminus of the 16C was moved from Cornell at Fordham/Cornell at Center (depending on direction) to the upper gate of West View Park.

Effective 06/26/66 - North Side routing change due to Allegheny Center construction.

Inbound - Regular route to North Avenue, Arch, Stockton to Federal Street and then via regular route.

Outbound - Regular route to Federal Street, Stockton, Arch to North Avenue and then via regular route.

Effective 11/19/67 - North Side routing change due to Allegheny Center construction.

Inbound - Regular route to North Avenue, Federal Street, North Commons, West Commons, South Commons, Federal Street and via regular route.

Outbound - Regular route to Federal Street, South Commons, West Commons, North Commons, Federal Street, North Avenue and then via regular route.

Effective 12/03/67 - North Side routing change due to Allegheny Center.

Inbound - Regular route to North Avenue, Federal Street, North Commons, West Commons, South Commons, Federal Street and via regular route.

Outbound - Regular route to Federal Street, South Commons, East Commons, North Commons, Federal Street, North Avenue and then via regular route.

Effective 03/31/68 - Bellevue Road Extention added for select garage trips from the Bellevue Short in combination with the 19A.

Inbound: Ross Garage, Perry Highway, Bellevue Road, Balph Avenue, Orchard Avenue to Union Avenue and regular route to Downtown Pittsburgh.

Outbound: Regular route to Union Avenue, Orchard Avenue, Balph Avenue, Bellevue Road, Perry Highway to Ross Garage. At this point, service to Riverview Avenue at Ohio River Blvd was not shown on the schedule but remained on the map. Service did run however but between 03/31/68 and 11/30/69, it is unclear as to how it ran.

Effective 09/03/69 - The 19A was eliminated and the Sedalia & Chatsworth portion of the 19A was officially assigned to the 16C. Routing on the outer end of most of the 16C Means & Union trips became as follows:

Means at Union Avenue, Sedalia, Chatsworth, Erdner, Union Avenue, Means. Certain trips from the 03/31/68 change continued to utilize Orchard Avenue.

Effective 09/03/69 - Two additional changes to the 16C occurred from the elimination of the 19A. First was additional Bellevue Road trips were added to and from Ross Garage using the 16C designation under the following routing:

Inbound - Ross Garage, Perry Highway, Bellevue Road, Balph Avenue, Lincoln Avenue (and then changed to either the 16B Brighton, 17B Avalon or 16A Aliquippa).

Outbound - Lincoln Avenue, Balph Avenue, Bellevue Road, Perry Highway, Ross Garage (were off-road 16B, 17B and 16A units).

The second change was the 16C absorbed the lower Bellevue service from the 19A.

Toward Riverview Avenue - Balph at Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, Grant, Laurel, Spring, Division, Riverview to Ohio River Blvd. One trip only ran Lincoln, Grant, Ohio River Blvd to Riverview.

Toward Lincoln Avenue - Riverview, Division, Spring, Laurel, Grant, Lincoln to Starr.

Effective 11/30/69 - Bellevue Bridge (Cornell Street Bridge) was closed and later a weight restriction put in place requiring a long term detour.

Inbound - Regular route to Center at Harvard, Harvard, Carlisle, Hinkle, Bellevue Road, Cornell to Forest Avenue and then via regular route.

Outbound - Regular route to Forest Avenue at Cornell, Bellevue Road, Hinkle, Carlisle, Harvard, Cornell and then via regular route.

Service to Riverview Avenue at Ohio River Blvd reappeared on the schedules although severely curtailed from what it once had been. Service had continued to run but was not indicated on the schedule.

Effective 05/01/71 - New North Side and Downtown Routing. Regular route to South Commons, Sandusky, 7th Street Bridge, 7th Street, Penn Avenue, Stanwix Street, Fort Duquesne Blvd., 6th Street Bridge, Federal Street, South Commons to East Commons and then via regular route.

Effective 11/15/71 - Detour due to Ohio River Blvd Extension Construction.

Inbound - Regular route via California Avenue, Boston Street, Pitler, Woodland Avenue, Brighton Road to California Avenue and then via regular route.

Outbound - Not effected

Effective 12/01/71 - Detour due to Ohio River Blvd Extension Construction.

Inbound - Same as 11/15/71 routing

Outbound - Regular route to Brighton Road at California Avenue, Brighton Road, Hodgkiss, Stayton, Superior to Old California and then via regular route.

A question came up in the research of the Ohio River Blvd Extension detour routing as schedules effective 02/24/74 no longer show this detour but starting with the 11/23/75 schedule, the identical detour reappears on the schedule and lasts until the 09/05/76 schedule. From how the schedule reads, the pre-detour routing was in effect during this gap. No explanations were given.

Not mentioned during this construction period was when the 16C began the inbound loopback from California Avenue, California Avenue merge point, old California Avenue, California Avenue merge point and back to regular route on the inbound as regular practice. The reason for this loopback being run after the construction on Ohio River Blvd was complete on the inbound trip resulted from complaints from residents along Old California Avenue that were only receiving outbound service and no direct inbound service.

Effective 02/20/72 - West View routing changed.

Inbound - No change

Oubound - Regular route to Hinkle at Carlisle, Carlisle, Harvard, Center to Center at Cornell and then via regular route on Center.

Effective 10/29/72 - The terminus was changed on the Sedalia and Chatsworth deviation to be Erdner and Union. No change in routing.

Effective 11/23/75 - The changeover point for the through-routing of the 11F and 16C was changed from the upper gate of West View Park to Center at Harvard.

Effective 02/06/78 - Emergency detour due to weight limit on the Robert McAfee bridge.

Inbound - Regular route to California Avenue at Termon Avenue via Termon Avenue Extention, Ohio River Blvd to California Avenue merge point, loop back to old California Avenue, California Avenue merge point, California Avenue and then via regular route.

Oubound - Regular route to Old California Avenue at Woodland, via turnaround to inbound California Avenue, to Marshall Avenue turnaround, to outbound California Avenue to Ohio River Blvd, Termon Avenue Extention, California Avenue and then via regular route.

Effective 06/18/78 - Detour due to weight limit on the Robert McAfee bridge.

Inbound - Regular route to California Avenue at Antrim Street, Antrim Street, McClure Avenue, Woods Run Avenue, Brighton Road, Stayton Street, Woodland Avenue, Shadeland Avenue, Superior Avenue, Old California Avenue, Woodland Avenue, turnaround, California Avenue merge point, California Avenue and then via regular route.

Outbound - Regular route to Old California Avenue at Woodland Avenue, Woodland Avenue, Brighton Road, Woods Run, McClure Avenue, Antrim Street, Fleming, Chidell, California Avenue and then via regular routing.

This applied only to the 16C's going to West View. The 16C's to Means and Union operated via the 02/06/78 detour routing.

Effective 02/15/81 - Orchard Avenue routing was no longer used.

Effective 11/22/81 - Robert McAfee Bridge detour ends, route resumes pre-detour routing.

Effective 02/21/82 - The Bellevue Local portion of the 16C was eliminated.

Effective 06/27/82 - Through-routing with the 11F ends as a new terminus for the 16C was established at West View Park Plaza.

Inbound - West View Park Plaza, West View Park Drive, Perry Highway, Center Avenue and regular route.

Outbound - Regular routing to Center Avenue to Perry Highway, Perry Highway, West View Park Drive, West View Park Plaza.

Bellevue Road Service - Operated from Bellevue Road to Perry Highway, West View Park Drive to West View Park Plaza.

Between August 83 & June 84 - The Bellevue Bridge (Cornell Street Bridge) was reopened to traffic. Buses no longer used the 11/30/69 detour and now operated directly on the bridge.

Effective 01/14/87 - Bellevue Road closed - Bellevue Road trips operated under the regular 16C routing.

Towards Ross Garage - Regular routing to Forest at Cornell, Cornell, Center, Perry Highway, West View Park Drive, West View Park Plaza, West View Park Drive, Perry Highway, Bellevue Road, Jacks Run Road Extension, Jacks Run Road, Connie Drive to Ross Garage.

Towards Bellevue - Ross Garage, Connie Drive, Jacks Run Road, Jacks Run Road Extension, Bellevue Road, Perry Highway, West View Park Drive, West View Park Plaza, West View Park Drive, Perry Highway, Center, Cornell to Forest and then via regular routing.

Effective October 87 - Bellevue Road reopens and detour ends.

Effective 06/04/95 - Routing change on the Erdner & Union portion of the route.

Inbound - Ross Garage, Perry Highway, I-279, Union Avenue to Means Avenue and then via regular route.

Outbound - Regular route to Means Avenue at Union Avenue, Union Avenue, I-279, Perry Highway, Ross Garage.

A one-way trip on the original 1965 routing took approximately 39 minutes and 43 minutes in 1995 with no detours. With 2 bridge detours in effect during the 70's, the average trip took approximately 48 minutes.

Route Highlights:

• Started: 09/05/65 with the elimination of the 15 Bellevue trolley,

• Ended: 08/31/97 with the merger of the 71B into the 500 route.

• The 16C ran 7 days a week including holidays.

• The 16C Bellevue - West View to Avalon night coach service was different than the regular 16C routing as it was a replacement for the 14 Avalon night trolley. It ran the 16C route until it reached Bellevue and then continued directly to Avalon Loop.

• What was perhaps the most confusing thing about the 16C were the deviations. As it was tied into the 19A, certain trips referred to as the 19A in schedules when the 19A had been officially eliminated and had a portion referred to as the Bellevue Local. In addition, signs from various configurations of the short were used interchangeably as well as off-road units to and from the garage that were associated with the route under the Bellevue Road service.

• Another confusing aspect was service to and from Riverview Avenue at Ohio River Blvd which went to Means and Union. This service disappeared off the schedules for a about a year but continued to run. When it reappeared, only one trip showed but more than that ran and eventually returned to the schedules. Research shows that this portion of the route may have been off-road 16C units that terminated at Means and Union/Sedalia and Chatsworth which then headed to/from Downtown Pittsburgh via Ohio River Blvd. The 16C had many odd trips that were on the operator day cards but not on schedules such as this example.

• During the many years of the Cornell Street Bridge closing, the main 16C routing was handled mostly by 35 foot, 96 inch wide coaches with some 30 footers on occasion. 40 foot coaches, especially 102 inch wide variety, were unable to handle the very tight turns and narrow roadway on Hinkle Road. Driving on Hinkle road today, it's hard to believe that it handled a moderate schedule of regularly scheduled service (on average, every 20 minutes) for 15 years without incident. The only time you would see a 40 foot coach on the 16C during the bridge closing was on the various shorts of the 16C or on the night coach service although these were usually also run with 35 foot coaches.

• Most operators have agreed over the years, the worst portion of the regular 16C route was the middle section of Forest Avenue due to parking on both sides, narrow road, tight curve and usually meeting oncoming traffic as well as another bus.

• Much of the odd service, such as Orchard Avenue routings, Bellevue Road service by off-road units, unscheduled trips and Ohio River Blvd runs were not really documented very well, if at all, in the schedules and was what helped to make the 16C route user unfriendly.

• The through-routing with the 11F was also confusing and the changeover point between the routes varied through the years. Interesting to note on the schedules was that even when the changeover point was not at West View Park, schedules for the 16C would list arrival and departure times for the park. Many operators changed destination signs at West View Park entrance even when the official changeover point between the 11F and 16C was over a mile away.

• The through-routing between the 11F and 16C was something that came from the trolley operation which was also through-routed under the Pittsburgh Railways Company and early PAT rail operations. This through-routing tightly tied the 16C to the 11F for many years. Surprisingly, it was extremely rare to see a 16C with an 11F sign and vice versa as the operators were very good about changing over the signs.

• Effective 09/03/69 - Both Means and Union as well as Sedalia and Chatsworth signs were used at this point. Erdner and Union signs were added to the mix starting 10/29/72 and all three variations along with some in-shop oddity signs and various window cards were used on this portion of the route.

• Effective 02/06/77 - Night bus service on the 16C was discontinued.

• 06/18/78 - The emergency closing of the McAfee bridge caused a one day wildcat strike at Ross Garage a few days after the closing due to the new routing being imposed immediately after a route pick. A new route pick had to be implemented at Ross to allow operators to pick off the route as they bid on the route without the detour.

• Effective 06/27/82 - Through-routing between the 16C and the 11F ends with the new service to West View Park Plaza. Saturday service to Erdner & Union ends.

• Effective 08/29/93 - An express version of the 16C Erdner & Union service was introduced as the 18C Erdner - Union Express.

• Effective 03/06/94 - The 16C was officially designated as a wheelchair accessible route. Ridership on the 16C was usually good but not as heavy as on the 16B Brighton route. The ridership did noticably increase when 40 foot buses were once again able to run the route. The odd deviations tended to have low ridership however.

Schedules (Known PAT issued schedules are listed):

Manchester schedules were assigned folder PM-23 and were a multi-panel glossy fold out schedule in the 60's era style red. The 16C shared a schedule with the original 11C Perry Highway and the 11D Perrysville Avenue. The 11C became the 11F West View starting with the 05/01/66 schedules. Later 16C schedules dropped the B and BG Flyer schedules and had the 18C schedule included.

PM-23A - 09/05/65 - Corrected to 09/20/65

PM-23B - ?

PM-23C - 02/27/66

PM-23D - 05/01/66 - 11C changed to 11F * Reprinted without correction

PM-23E - 06/26/66 - Corrected to 06/27/66

PM-23F - 11/14/66

PM-23G - 07/02/67

PM-23H - 09/03/67

PM-23J - 11/19/67

PM-23K - 12/03/67

Ross schedules were assigned folder R-8 and were multi panel glossy fold out schedule in the 60's era style black and MOD era black. The 16C shared a schedule with the 11D, 11F, B Flyer and BG Flyer. The folder number changed to R-22 when the 16C and 11F through-routing was eliminated and the 11 series routes retained the R-8 number with the 16C getting the new folder number.

K-8A - 03/31/68 - Initial Ross Garage Schedules were Keating Division

R-8B - ?

R-8C - 09/01/68

R-8D - 12/01/68

R-8E - 06/30/69

R-8F - ?

R-8G - 11/30/69

R-8H - 01/25/70

R-8J - 06/21/70

R-8K - ?

R-8L - 02/21/71

R-8M - 04/18/71

R-8N - 05/71

R-8P - 06/27/71

R-8Q - ?

R-8R - 11/15/71

R-8S - 02/20/72

R-8T - ?

R-8U - 07/09/72

R-8V - 09/03/72

R-8W - 10/29/72

R-8X - 01/07/73

R-8Y - 04/15/73

R-8Z - ?

R-8A - ?

R-8B - 11/18/73 - "RAT" logo schedule

R-8C - 02/24/74 - Start of regular MOD era schedules

R-8D - 05/12/74

R-8E - 07/07/74

R-8F - 09/01/74

R-8G - 11/24/74

R-8H - 05/18/75

R-8J - 11/23/75

R-8K - 01/18/76

R-8L - 02/15/76 - Corrected to 02/16/76

R-8M - 07/04/76

R-8N - 09/05/76

R-8P - 11/07/76

R-8Q - 02/06/77 - * Reprinted without correction

R-8R - 06/19/77

R-8S - 09/04/77

R-8T - 11/20/77

R-8U - 04/23/78

R-8V - 06/18/78

R-8W - 09/03/78

R-8X - 11/19/78 - * Reprinted without correction

R-8Y - 11/18/79

R-8Z - 06/15/80

R-8A - 11/23/80

R-8B - 02/15/81

R-8C - 04/19/81

R-8D - 06/14/81 - * Reprinted without correction

R-8E - 11/22/81

R-8F - 01/03/82

R-8G - 02/21/82

R-22A - 06/27/82

R-22B - ?

R-22C - 11/21/82

R-22D - 02/20/83

R-22E - 06/12/83

R-22F - 08/28/83

R-22G - ?

R-22H - ?

R-22J - 06/10/84

R-22K - ?

R-22L - 11/18/84 - * Reprinted without correction

R-22M - ?

R-22N - ?

R-22P - 11/24/85

R-22Q - 02/16/86

R-22R - 06/15/86

R-22S - 08/24/86

R-22T - 02/15/87

R-22U - 08/30/87

R-22V - 11/22/87 - Neoplan cover

R-22W - 06/05/88

R-22X - 02/11/90

R-22Y - ?

R-22Z - ?

R-22A - ?

R-22B - 11/24/91

R-22C - 11/22/92

R-22D - 02/28/93

R-22E - 08/29/93

R-22F - 03/06/94

R-22G - 06/04/95

R-22H - 11/19/95

R-22J - ?

R-22K - ?

PAT reused the letters in the folder as they cycled through. Letters I and O were not used.

Route Disposition:

The 16C Bellevue - West View was combined with the 71B Hamilton on 09/01/97 as an experimental cross division route and became the 500 Highland Park - Bellevue route. The 18C was retained as a separate route and will be documented at a later time.

Click on images for larger view

Original schedule cover, 1965 routing map, early 70's routing map, 80's routing map and a timetable of the night bus service, Bellevue Local and additional Bellevue Road service.

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This page was updated on November 08, 2006