Route 59A was one of the shorter existing routes that came from the
Pittsburgh Railways Company. Under PRCo, the route was known as the 231 Homestead - Homeville and was started as a bus route on 03/08/1953. Prior to the 231, the line was the 59 Homeville - Homestead trolley route until it was converted to bus. The 231 was always combined with the 210 Glen Hazel from 03/08/1953 as the 210/231 Glen Hazel - Homewood. Most trips ran as the combined designation but a few did run just as the 231 or the 210. The 210/231 was redesignated on 11/13/1960 as the 59 Glen Hazel - Homewood with the
occasionally running single operation to Homeville being the 59A under PRCo.
PAT unwound the PRCo 59 route completely and separated the 231 (59A) portion as the 59A Homeville and the 210 (59) portion as the 59B Glen Hazel. The 59B lasted longer than the 59A under PAT. The unwinding of this route by PAT was due to the fact PAT was planning on eliminating a portion of the route when it the took over the DeBolt Transit Company due to duplication of services.
In an interesting twist that the PaPUC allowed, both PRCo and DeBolt Transit ran feeder buses over the same identical route. The 231 was to feed riders to the PRCo trolley lines in Homestead while the DeBolt feeder was to feed riders to the DeBolt Homestead to Pittsburgh buses. Transfers between the two companies were not accepted hence the duplication of services.
Garages assigned to the 59A:
- Homewood Garage - 03/01/64 - 03/05/64 (approximately)
Destination Signs:
Route ran with window cards only and
former PRCo destination signs.
Routing:
To Homestead - Green Springs Avenue at Commonwealth
Avenue via Green Springs Avenue, Ravine Street, East 8th Avenue, McClure,
East 9th Avenue, Ann to East 8th Avenue.
To Homeville - East 8th Avenue at Ann via East 8th
Avenue, Ravine Street, Green Springs Avenue, Roberta Drive, Commonwealth
Avenue to Green Springs Avenue.
A one way trip on the regular routing took approximately
10 minutes.
Route Highlights:
Started: 03/01/64 (Date of PRCO acquisition)
Ended: 03/05/64 - approximately (DeBolt
acquisition was on 03/06/64. The 59A was merged into the 55B according
to PAT records about the time of the acquisition).
-
The 59A was one of the shorter duration routes in PAT
history lasting only 5 days approximately. The actual elimination may
have occurred a few days after the 55B was in place. PAT records are
unclear on the exact date.
-
Due to the short duration of existence, it it is not
documented if the route was to run 7 days a week under PAT as its
predecessor route had.
-
This was a feeder route to serve the main routes in
Homestead.
-
Upon the acquisition of the DeBolt Homeville route,
the 59A was quickly absorbed into the new PAT 55B Homeville route.
-
Due to the very short existence of this route and the
time frame involved, there have been some questions as to if the route
even ran under PAT. From what we can determine, the route did run but
was quickly eliminated as it completely duplicated the acquired route
from DeBolt Transit which was the 55B Homeville. Due to the staggered
acquisition dates, PAT operated the 59A until DeBolt was acquired and
the two identical routes could be merged into one as by not doing so,
patrons would not be able to transfer from PAT routes to the DeBolt
route or vice versa without paying a full fare on each system.
Schedules (Known PAT issued schedules are listed):
The 59A had no known PAT issued schedule besides the
former PRCo schedule for the route.
Route Disposition:
The 59A was quickly eliminated approximately 03/06/64 due
to a complete duplication of services and merged into the 55B Homeville
route that was acquired from DeBolt Transit on that date.
Click on images for larger view
The route map for the 59A was the same as that for the
55B. |
