|
|
The 96A Golden Triangle
can be traced back to 04/08/57 as a
Pittsburgh
Railways Company route. Originally route 305 Golden Triangle, the PRCo
route was renumbered on 11/13/60 to the 125 Golden Triangle. The purpose of
the route in PRCo time was basically the same as it was under PAT, to
provide transportation between the State Office Building, County Court House
and the 3 major department stores.
Under PAT, a reduced fare was implemented in 1964 to help
encourage people to "Loop the Loop" in the Golden Triangle. The 96A faired
well during its existence.
Garages assigned to the 96A:
- Manchester Garage - 03/01/64 - 03/30/68
- Ross Division - 03/31/68 - 07/06/85
Destination Signs:
Representations of the various destination
signs used are shown above. PATrain connection service used window cards
that read "PATrain Connection - Golden Triangle Loop Bus - B&O Station".
Routing:
Original 1964 PAT routing (and PRCo's original routing) -
Penn at Stanwix, Liberty Avenue to Commonwealth Place Loop, Liberty Avenue,
Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue, Diamond Street, Forbes Avenue, Smithfield
Street, Sixth Avenue, Seventh Street, Penn Avenue to Stanwix.
02/20/72 routing - Penn at Stanwix via Stanwix, Blvd. of
the Allies, Commonwealth Place, Liberty Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue,
Diamond Street, Forbes Avenue, Smithfield Street, Sixth Avenue, Seventh
Street, Penn Avenue to Stanwix.
02/23/75 PATrain trips - Penn at Stanwix via Stanwix,
Blvd. of the Allies, Commonwealth Place, Liberty Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Grant
Street to B&O Station, Grant Street, Forbes Avenue, Smithfield Street, Sixth
Avenue, Seventh Street, Penn Avenue to Stanwix.
01/03/82 routing - Penn at Stanwix via Stanwix, Blvd. of
the Allies, Commonwealth Place, Liberty Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue,
Diamond Street, Forbes Avenue, Smithfield Street, Liberty Avenue, Seventh
Street, Penn Avenue to Stanwix.
11/20/83 routing - Penn at Stanwix via Stanwix, Blvd. of
the Allies, Commonwealth Place, Liberty Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Grant Street,
Penn Park on the East Busway (recovery point), return via East Busway,
Liberty, William Penn Place, Sixth Avenue, Seventh Street, Penn Avenue to
Stanwix.
A round trip on the 96A took approximately 12 minutes.
Route Highlights:
Started: 03/01/64 (PAT acquisition date of PRCo).
Ended: 07/06/85 (date of the "free for all" zone
in downtown)
The 96A originally ran Monday through Saturday
with no holiday or Sunday service until 07/04/76 when Saturday service
was eliminated.
Effective 07/05/64, the 96A began a reduced fare
structure with initial fares being 10 cents. This reduced fare remained,
although went up over time, until the route was eliminated.
02/20/72 - Service was extended in the Golden
Triangle area to improve service and reduce problems trying to get
through the Commonwealth Place turn-around on Liberty Avenue from stops
on either side and crossing a lane of traffic on each side.
Effective 02/23/75, the 96A began limited service
to the B&O train station to serve the PATrain.
The routing remained constant, besides the 2
changes mentioned above, until the subway construction began in 1982.
The route was run primarily by 30 and 35 foot
coaches. During the early MOD period of the 70's, the route was run
primarily by 1800 series GM TDH3501 coaches painted on the MOD
yellow/white/yellow livery and carried yellow flags. 1500 series Flxible
35096-6-1 coaches were also frequently found on the route after 1977.
Occasionally a 40 foot coach would slip through and run the route as
well.
Although Downtown Pittsburgh is relatively small
in area and can be walked around in less than 10 to 15 minutes, the
route received decent ridership.
The elimination of the route met with some minor
resistance from the City of Pittsburgh, more so from losing the route
name "Golden Triangle", as they felt the route was an important part of
the city's image. No cash was forthcoming from the City to keep the
route running.
Schedules (Known PAT issued schedules are listed):
The 96A had 6 distinct styles of schedules.
The initial schedule did not have a folder number:
07/05/64
Folders from Manchester Garage were folder PM-1 and were
initially a plain white fold out schedule and later it was merged into
existing folder PM-2 in the early 60's design.
- PM-1A - 09/06/64
- PM-1B - 06/27/65
- PM-1C - 10/23/66
- PM-2F - 12/03/67 - 96A added to an existing folder number
Ross Division schedules were R-10 and were the of the
late 60's style and were a 4 panel fold out schedule. This schedule changed
from red to blue in 1970. In 1974, the schedules adopted the MOD era design
in blue and then went back to red in 1983. The 96A changed folders into an
existing folder in 1983 as well. The first schedule from this group was
designated K-10 as Ross Division was originally to be called Keating
Division.
- K-10A - 03/31/68
- R-10B - ?
- R-10C - 06/30/68 - Reissued without changes *
- R-10D - 09/01/68
- R-10E - 12/08/68
- R-10F - 01/01/69 - Corrected to 02/23/69 and 06/29/69 under same folder
- R-10G - 08/31/69
- R-10H - ?
- R-10J - ?
- R-10K - ?
- R-10L - 09/06/70 - Corrected to 11/01/70 under same folder
- R-10M - 12/13/70
- R-10N - 06/27/71
- R-10P - 09/05/71
- R-10Q - 11/14/71
- R-10R - 02/20/72
- R-10S - ?
- R-10T - 09/03/72
- R-10U - ?
- R-10V - 02/11/73
- R-10W - ?
- R-10X - 09/02/73
- R-10Y - ?
- R-10Z - 03/31/74
- R-10A - 07/07/74
- R-10B - 09/01/74
- R-10C - 01/12/75
- R-10D - 02/23/75
- R-10E - 08/31/75 - Became a 5 panel fold out schedule
- R-10F - 02/15/76
- R-10G - 07/04/76
- R-10H - 09/05/76
- R-10J - 11/07/76
- R-10K - 02/06/77 - Reissued without changes *
- R-10L - 09/04/77
- R-10M - 11/20/77 - Reissued without changes *
- R-10N - ?
- R-10P - ?
- R-10Q - 09/03/78
- R-10R - 11/19/78 - Reissued without changes *
- R-10S - 06/17/79
- R-10T - 11/18/79
- R-10U - 02/10/80
- R-10V - 06/15/80
- R-10W - 01/04/81 - Reissued without changes *
- R-10X - 04/19/81
- R-10Y - 06/14/81
- R-10Z - 08/30/81
- R-10A - 01/03/82
- R-10B - 04/18/82
- R-10C - 06/27/82
- R-10D - 08/29/82
- R-10E - 11/21/82
- R-10F - 02/20/83
- R-10G - 06/12/83 - Re-issued with corrections on 08/29/83
- R-16H - 11/20/83 - Reissued without
correction *
R-16J - 02/17/85 - Reissued with corrections on 03/01/85
Folder numbers were re-used after 24 issues. Letters I and O were not
used as folder suffix indicators.
Route Disposition:
The 96A Golden Triangle was discontinued effective
07/07/85 when the "Free for All" no-fare zone was implemented for the
Downtown area as the route was entirely within the new no-fare zone. Service
was picked up by every route that entered Downtown, including the light rail
subway lines.
Click on images for larger view
 
Route maps for the 96A showing the original, post 1972 and final routings. |
|
