The OA Oakland - Downtown Red Arrow
came into PAT's route structure in February of 1974. It was a rather unique route and one
of two routes designated as a Red Arrow route. The reasoning for the Red Arrow service was
to provide frequent, direct, two way point to point service.
Garages assigned to the OA:
- East Liberty Division - 04/21/74 - 02/18/77
Destination Signs:
Route ran with window cards and destination signs.
Above are representative of what you would have seen for the route.
Only the 2400-2500 series based at East Liberty Division had the OA
readings which came on a 1975 order of replacement signs. The 1500's based at East Liberty
also had this reading but by the time the 1500's arrived, the route had been discontinued.
Routing:
Original Outbound Routing - William Penn Place at 6th Avenue (Alcoa
Bldg) via 6th Avenue, Bigelow Blvd to Fifth Avenue (Soldiers & Sailors Hall).
Original Inbound Routing - Bigelow Blvd at Fifth Avenue (Soldiers &
Sailors Hall) via Fifth Avenue, Craft Avenue, Craft Place, Blvd of the Allies, Parkway
East, Second Avenue, Grant Street, Seventh Avenue, William Penn Place to 6th Avenue (Alcoa
Bldg).
Final Outbound Routing - Liberty Avenue at Gateway #4 via Liberty
Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Sixth Street, Forbes Avenue, Bellefield Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Craig
Street, Forbes Avenue to Dithridge Street (Carnegie Museum).
Final Inbound Routing - Forbes Avenue at Dithridge Street (Carnegie
Museum) via Forbes Avenue, Bellefield, Fifth Avenue, Craft Avenue, Craft Place, Blvd of
the Allies, Parkway East, Second Avenue, Blvd of the Allies, Commonwealth Place, Liberty
Avenue to Gateway #4.
A one way trip on the regular routing took approximately 10 minutes.
Route Highlights:
Started: 04/21/74.
Ended: 02/18/77 due to low ridership.
The OA ran only Monday through Friday with no Saturday, Sunday or
holiday service.
The OA ridership numbers are somewhat of a mystery. According to PAT
information in the summer of 1976, the OA was a success with high ridership numbers and 6
months later it was eliminated for lack of ridership. It probably will never be known what
caused the sudden change in ridership numbers or if the reported numbers in 1976 were
overly inflated.
The OA ran every 15 minutes in both directions between 8am and 4pm.
Effective 07/06/76, all service began the Gateway #4 city routing. We
currently are unsure of when this routing started for limited trips but is thought to have
been in 1975.
The two way express service is why this route this route was
designated as a Red Arrow route rather than a Red Flyer route.
Schedules (Known PAT issued schedules are listed):
The OA Oakland Arrow had 1 distinct known schedule type.
The schedules from the East Liberty Division were a folder E-21 and
were a single panel schedule card.
- E-21A - 04/21/74
- E-21B - ?
- E-21C - ?
- E-21D - ?
- E-21E - 07/06/76
- E-21F - ?
Route Disposition:
The OA was discontinued and service was picked up by existing regular
service from Downtown to Oakland.
Click on images for larger view
Route map not currently available. |
