Route 44F came into PAT's route
structure as a new route in 1964. Although designated as Mt. Lebanon - Oakland, the route
actually originated in Bridgeville. This route was a precursor of a very popular series of
routes that would be implemented in the mid 1970's called the U-Bus routes.
Garages assigned to the 44F:
- Bridgeville - Greentree Region - before 8/30/64 - 06/28/69
- Collier Division - 06/29/69 - 09/03/73
Destination Signs:
Originally the route ran with window cards. Single piece
signs ordered in 1969 and 1971 had the 44F reading included. PAT produced some in-shop
signs that were spliced in the split sign buses in 1971. Prior to this, split sign buses
could run with a window card, blank curb side sign and a "To Oakland" or
"Bridgeville via Dormont - Mt. Lebanon".
Routing:
Routing from Bridgeville - Lesnett at Sarah to Winfield, Bank, Dewey,
Station, Railroad, Baldwin, McLaughlin Road, Bower Hill Road to Cochran Road, Washington
Road, West Liberty Avenue, Liberty Bridge and Tunnels, Boulevard of the Allies, Forbes,
Bellefield, 5th Avenue to Craig Street.
Routing from Oakland - Fifth at Craig to Forbes, Blvd. of the Allies,
Liberty Bridge and Tunnels, West Liberty Avenue, Washington Road, Cochran Road, Bower Hill
Road to Railroad, Station, Dewey, Bank, Lesnett to Sarah.
A one way trip on the regular routing took approximately 51 minutes
Route Highlights:
Started before 08/30/64 as a new PAT route.
Ended 09/03/73 when redesignated as the 44U to fit into the new U-Bus
service.
The 44F ran only Monday through Friday with no weekend or holiday
service.
The 44F was the precursor of the U-Bus routes.
The 44F was an early example of a new PAT initiated route. Although
started in 1964, the actual designation by PAT for the first all new PAT route officially
goes to the 89A Garfield Heights in 1965 even though the 44F currently appears to be the
first new PAT route initiated. The distinction may be that the 89A was instituted in
unserved territory while the 44F operated in areas already served.
The 44F appears to be a hodgepodge of trips culled from old Bigi and
PRCo routes, combined and given its own unique identity. Currently we can find no
evidence of this particular type of service existing prior to PAT's takeover in 1964. The
earliest reference we have been able to locate is mention of the route as active in the
08/30/64 Uniform Fare Plan brochures.
The 44F utilized a somewhat unique through route fare zone policy as
it crossed in and out of the same radial fare zones due to its crosstown style routing.
This through route fare zone policy was in many ways a totally separate fare structure
over the standard fare zone policy.
The official name of the 44F route was Mt. Lebanon - Oakland however
the destination signs read Bridgeville - Oakland or Oakland - Bridgeville. Given the fact
that the route started in Bridgeville, the official route name was somewhat confusing.
The 44F occasionally would be routed through Downtown although this
was not a common occurrence.
The time savings for riders was minimal. The main selling point of
this route was the one seat ride from Bridgeville to Oakland without having to transfer in
Downtown.
Schedules (Known PAT issued schedules are listed):
The 44F had 4 distinct styles of schedules.
The schedules from the Bridgeville - Greentree Region were folder BG-3
and were 2 panel paper fold out schedule. The 44F was then moved into an existing schedule
folder, BG-15 and shared the schedule folder with route 41C Cedar Blvd. until 01/26/69.
- BG-3A - 09/08/64 (corrected to 11/27/64)
- BG-3B - 05/20/65
- BG-3C - ?
- BG-3D - 06/26/66
- BG-3E - ?
- BG-3F - 04/23/67
- BG-15? - ? (currently unsure of what schedule suffix the 44F was added when moved
to BG-15 on 2/5/68)
- BG-15J - 01/26/69
Collier Division schedules were folder C-9 and the 44F was included
with the 41B Bower Hill route in a 5 panel fold out schedule in both the late 60's era
schedule format and the MOD era schedule format.
- C-9A - 06/29/69
- C-9B - ?
- C-9C - ?
- C-9D - ?
- C-9E - ?
- C-9F - ?
- C-9G - ?
- C-9H - ?
- C-9J - ?
- C-9K - ?
- C-9L - ?
There may have been schedules issued prior to BG-3A but they did not
carry folder numbers.
Route Disposition:
The 44F was redesignated as the 44U on 9/4/73 with no change in service
or routing.
The 44U story will be documented in another history picking up from
this point.
Click on images for larger view
The route map for the 44F. |
