Route 34B came into PAT's route
structure from the former Pittsburgh
Railways Company (PRCo) bus route number 32 Mt. Washington. The 32 was the 200 Mt.
Washington feeder prior to PRCo renumbering the route and existed prior to October 1938.
The purpose of the route, when created was not so much to serve as a feeder route but to
connect communities to shopping and non-Downtown work locations.
Garages assigned to the 34B:
- Manchester Garage - 03/01/64 - 03/30/68
- Brentwood Garage - 03/31/68 - 06/28/69
- Collier Division - 06/29/69 - 12/17/78
- Ross Division - 12/18/78 - 08/30/81
Destination Signs:
1800 series example
AMG Example
AMG Example |
Route ran with window cards and destination signs.
We are still investigating the readings for the signs but the above is
representative of what you would have seen for the route.
Routing:
Original routing from South Hills Jct. - Warrington to Estella, Ruxton,
Craighead, Kathleen, Haberman, Bailey, Wyoming, Virginia, Woodruff, Saw Mill Run Blvd,
Woodville, Wabash, Neptune, Sanctus, Main, West End Bridge, Western, Fontella, North to
Allegheny Ave on the North Side.
Original Routing from North Side Allegheny and Western to West End
Bridge, Stueben, Alexander, Neptune, Wabash, Woodville, Shaler, Saw Mill Run Blvd,
Woodruff, Virginia, Wyoming, Bailey, Haberman, Kathleen, Craighead, Ruxton, Estella to
Warrington Ave to South Hills Jct.
Change made on June 22, 1964 extending the route to serve the
Monongahela Incline. Route change was as follows:
Regular route to Wyoming to Virginia to Shiloh to Grandview to Maple
Terrace to Woodruff and then via regular routing on trips to the North Side.
Regular routing to Woodruff to Virginia to Wyoming to Grandview to
Maple Terrace to Virginia to Wyoming then via regular routing on trips to South Hills Jct.
Another minor change occurred to the above routing around 1966 after
the city changed a few streets into one way streets and the North Side trips went up
Wyoming and the South Hills Juction trips went down Shiloh.
On June 22, 1970 the 34B extended the North Side portion of the route
as follows:
Regular route to Western to Ridge to West Commons to Allegheny Square
West on North bound trips.
Allegheny Square West to West Commons to Ridge to Western then via
regular route on South bound trips.
02/20/77 Northbound - Regular route to West End Circle, Carson Street,
Ft. Pitt and Ft. Duquesne Bridges, Ridge Avenue, Allegheny Avenue, Western Avenue to
regular route.
02/27/77 Southbound - Regular route to Western Avenue, Allegheny
Avenue, Ft. Duquesne and Ft. Pitt Bridges, Carson Street, Stueben Street to regular route.
03/14/77 - Route cut back to Mt. Washington at the Monongahela Incline.
A one way trip on the regular routing took approximately 27 minutes.
Route Highlights:
Started: 03/01/64 (PAT acquisition date of PRCo)
Ended: 08/30/81 due to low ridership
The 34B ran only Monday through Friday with no weekend or holiday
service.
The 1964 routing change was from the closing of the Castle Shannon
Incline to serve those incline riders at the Monongahela Incline.
The 1966 routing change resulted from the City of Pittsburgh changing
some streets in the Mt. Washington area into one way streets.
The 1970 routing change was to serve the Allegheny Campus of the
Allegheny County Community College and Allegheny Center Mall.
On 02/7/77, there apparently was some resistance to eliminating a
couple of trips on the 34B as PAT issued a service change announcement specifically citing
the little used trips were not economical and the removal of the trips was better than
increasing the fares system-wide to keep them on.
Effective on the 02/20/77 schedule, the 34B had a detour imposed due
to a weight restriction on the West End Bridge.
On 03/14/77 the route was temporarily cut back and ran only from the
North Side to the Monongahela Incline due to traffic problems caused by the 02/20/77
emergency detour for the West End Bridge. A free Continued Trip or "CT" transfer
was issued to riders so they could transfer between the 34B and 34C at the Monongahela
Incline. The temporary cut back lasted until the route was discontinued.
30 and 35 foot buses were the equipment used on the line due to the
narrow streets in the Mt. Washington area.
The 34B was one of the few routes that connected communities in the
North to communities in the South without transferring in Downtown. The 25B McKees Rocks
Bridge and the 54C North Side - Oakland - South Side were a few of the others that did the
same.
From the 1977 changes until the end, the route remained stable
besides some time adjustments.
Schedules (Known PAT issued schedules are listed):
The 34B had 4 distinct styles of schedules issued during its existence.
The schedules from the Manchester Garage were folder PM-9 and were
combined with the 34C and 44C schedule on the reverse of the 2 panel paper fold out
schedule. The schedules were then changed to the standard 60's style appearance, combined
with the 41E and 34C and redesignated as folder PM-27 in a 4 panel paper fold out
schedule.
- PM-9A - ?
- PM-9B - 08/01/65
- PM-9C - 06/26/66
- PM-27A - 09/04/66
- PM-27B - ?
- PM-27C - 11/19/67
The schedules from Brentwood Garage were folder B-23 and were combined
with the 41E and 34C in a 4 panel paper fold out schedule.
- B-23A - 03/31/68
- B-23B - 09/01/68
- B-23C - 01/01/69
The schedules from Collier Division were folder C-12 and were combined
with the 41E and 34C in a 4 panel paper fold out schedule. The schedules changed from the
60's style to the MOD era style schedule design in 1974.
- C-12A - 06/29/69
- C-12B - 08/31/69 - Reprinted without changes *
- C-12C - 11/23/69
- C-12D - 05/03/70
- C-12E - 06/21/70 - Reprinted without changes *
- C-12F - ?
- C-12G - 06/27/71
- C-12H - 11/14/71
- C-12J - 07/09/72
- C-12K - 09/03/72
- C-12L - 01/07/73
- C-12M - 04/01/73 - Reprinted without changes *
- C-12N - 11/18/73
- C-12P - 06/23/74 - Reprinted without changes *
- C-12P - 03/23/75 - Should have been C-12Q - typo on schedule
- C-12R - 10/12/75
- C-12S - 03/01/76
- C-12T - 07/04/76
- C-12U - 11/07/76
- C-12V - 02/20/77
- C-12W - 03/13/77
- C-12X - 06/19/77 - Reprinted without changes *
- C-12Y - 11/20/77 - Reprinted without changes *
- C-12Z - ?
- C-12A - ?
- C-12B - ?
- C-12C - 06/18/78
- C-12D - 11/19/78
The schedules from Ross Division were folder R-11 and were issued by
themselves on a schedule card.
- R-11A - 12/18/78
The schedules issued from Ross are not complete and will be added
later.
There may have been a few PAT schedules issued prior to PM-9A as the
very early schedules tended not to have folder numbers and/or were reissued former
operator schedules. One was issued on 06/22/64 without a folder number.
Folder numbers did repeat after 22 schedules were issued. Letters I and
O were not used as an issue letter.
Route Disposition:
The 34B was discontinued on August 30, 1981 due to lack of patronage.
No replacement service was instituted besides the already existing 41E and 34C service in
the Mt. Washington area.
Click on images for larger view
The route map for the 34B in the mid 1970's era. |
