Bus Service in Brookline
Current 39-Brookline PRT Bus Schedule Last Updated: November 7, 2023 Just as Pittsburgh's Heinz Corporation became synonymous with the number 57 for it's fifty-seven varieties of products, for over half a century, from 1905 through 1966, the community of Brookline became synonymous with the number 39. For public transit riders, which for many years made up the bulk of daily commuters to downtown Pittsburgh, thirty-nine was the designation of the Pittsburgh Railways local trolley route: 39-Brookline. The rail service did, however, have limitations that were overcome with the addition of bus service in the 1930s. Brentwood Motor Coach Company Beginning in 1937, local commuters were presented with a transit alternative to the established 39-Brookline streetcar service when the independent Brentwood Motor Coach Company established two routes through the community. The company was established in 1929 and based along Saw Mill Run Boulevard in Brentwood. It began as a suburban feeder line to the Pittsburgh Railways system and eventually established its own routes into downtown Pittsburgh. The company continued to grow in size, expanding its service to ten distinct routes through the South Hills. The Brentwood buses were mostly FitzJohn motor coaches painted in a three-color paint scheme with striping and all the proper signage. They also operated General Motors "metropolitan" style buses.
The Brookline bus routes serviced areas of the community that were located a good distance from the streetcar right-of-way. Residents along Whited Street, Fordham and Pioneer Avenues, and Ebenshire Village, benefited from the convenience of this service. Ladies attending Elizabeth Seton High School found the Brentwood bus a particularly convenient way to get to school. The bus stopped at the schoolentrance along Pioneer Avenue on both the inbound and outbound route, carrying Seton students both to and from school.
The Brentwood Motor Coach Company was acquired by the Port Authority on March 4, 1964. Their long-established local routes were left in place and redesignated as 41D Brookline - Pioneer Avenue and 46E East Brookline via Whited Street. Allegheny County Port Authority The Allegheny County Port Authority was founded in 1956 to allow for the creation of port facilities in Pittsburgh. The charter was amended in 1959 to allow for the state-funded agency to purchase transit companies that served the Pittsburgh area. In April 1963 the County Commissioners authorized the purchase of the Pittsburgh Railways trolley company and over thirty privately-owned transit companies, including the firm that operated the Brookline Bus. This vast array of streetcar and bus lines were consolidated into one public transit system. On March 1, 1964 Port Authority Transit officially began operations in Pittsburgh. Many aging and abandoned trolley lines gradually phased out as P.A.T. entered a new age in motorized public transportation. Bus service offered a great deal of flexibility in servicing the many neighborhoods in and around Pittsburgh. Brookline Goes From 39 To 41 In September 1966, the 39-Brookline trolley route was discontinued. Port Authority bus service throughout the community of Brookline was established. Local commuters had to learn a a new number, forty-one. That was the designation given to the new Brookline route. 41-Brookline soon became the neighborhood call sign among transit riders, and remained so for nearly half a century. Several new routes were established in Brookline. These included Brookline, East Brookline, Ebenshire Village, Pioneer Avenue and the morning rush hour fliers. Each was given a letter (A through G) to denote the particular route. These routes covered the community much more thoroughly than former trolley line, which was bound by the limitations of its right-of-way. PAT buses regularly traveled these new backstreet routes. However, along with convenience came traffic. In neighborhoods around the city, including the South Hills communities, the lumbering buses often became mired in the rush hour jams. Their stop and go patterns only added to these frequent delays, not to mention the frustation of motorists. The South Busway During the 1960s, the Port Authority experimented with new technologies as part of their Early Action Program in an effort to eliminate the few remaining streetcar routes and reduce the need for bus service in the city. The Westinghouse Transit Expressway, or "Skybus", was a 92-mile revolutionary automated People Mover system that was tested in South Park. After over a decade of investment and trials, the Skybus proposal was shelved in favor of an integrated network of dedicated bus lanes, private busways and the creation of a modern Light-Rail System, known as the "T", which included a downtown subway. One of the private transitways was the South Busway, built along the existing trolley right-of-way that ran through the Saw Mill Run Corridor in Mount Washington, Beechview, Brookline and Overbrook. Construction began in December 1975 and was completed in December 1977. The expressway actually begins in downtown Pittsburgh, were dedicated bus lanes were established along Wood and Smithfield Streets, forming a loop to and from the Smithfield Street Bridge. Buses pass through the renovated Mount Washington Transit Tunnel to the South Hills Junction. After passing through the transit hub, a rebuilt and extended Palm Garden Bridge carried traffic over West Liberty Avenue. The busway continues on a path adjacent to the Norfolk and Western railroad tracks, passing over Edgebrook Avenue and Whited Street on the 4.5 mile path to the terminus Glenbury Street. All South Hills routes were rerouted onto the new busway, eliminating the buses from Saw Mill Run Boulevard and the Liberty Tunnels South Interchange. The 41-Brookline routes entered and exited the South Busway via the refurbished West Liberty Avenue trolley ramp. Other local routes entered the busway using an entranceway along the lower end of Pioneer Avenue. The South Busway helped remove much of the South Hills bus traffic from the Saw Mill Run Boulevard and the Liberty Tunnels, relieving congestion for motorists. It also reduced travel time for buses, from Glenbury Avenue to downtown Pittsburgh, to a mere eleven minutes. Today, forty-three years after opening to traffic, the South Busway is still a vital part of the Pittsburgh public transportation network. <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> Building the South Busway (1975-1977) Below are some newspaper clippings and with photos showing the mid-1970s construction of the Port Authority South Busway Building the the $19.4 million, 4.5 mile buses-only route from the South Hills Junction in Mount Washington to Glenbury Street in Overbrook began in 1975 and was completed in December 1977. The South Busway was part of the Port Authority's long-delayed $295 million Early Action Program, which included the construction of the East Busway, dedicated bus lanes downtown, and relocating all light rail traffic in the Golden Triangle into an underground subway system. The South Busway was the first phase of that plan to be completed and the project was massive. It involved 160 construction workers and the movement of 435,500 cubic yards of earth from the hillside adjacent to the West Side Belt railroad tracks. It also required pouring 21,100 cubic yards of concrete, use of 1,950 tons of structural steel, laying of 73,600 square yards of pavement, installation of 19,800 feet of sewer pipe and building 7,300 feet of retaining wall. Downsizing of the Port Authority At the dawn of the new millenium, as Pittsburgh's population and transit ridership declined, the Port Authority faced numerous financial burdens. The result of these was a series of changes in the services offered. In Brookline this meant the consolidation of the numerous local routes into just one, along with a decrease in the number of buses and hours of service. The realigned route still covers most of the same streets as in the past. The most significant change was the service hours. Another major change was that the Brookline route no longer travelled along West Liberty Avenue to the Brookline Junction. Buses now follow the old Pioneer Avenue route from the South Busway to Brookline Boulevard. From the intersection of the Boulevard and Pioneer, buses head down the main street and veer off on Chelton Avenue to cover the Ebenshire Village area. The winding route returns to the boulevard at Breining Street and proceeds east to a looping drive along Altmar and Reamer Streets. The Return Of The 39-Brookline Then, in 2011, during the downsizing of the transit Authority, Brookline's bus route designation was changed back to the number 39. For many, the change came and went without much thought. The old-timers in the community, however, felt a sense of reminiscence when the familiar buses rolled up and down Brookline Boulevard emblazened with a brightly lit 39-Brookline across their brow. Taking public transportation to and from work, or to another travel destination, is still a popular choice. Crowded buses during rush hour are ample proof of that. For Brookliners, that trip once again begins on the 39-Brookline. In June 2022, the Port Authority of Allegheny
County was rebranded as Pittsburgh Regional Transit. Ridership throughout the
transit system was nearly 36,000,000. Along with the new name came a colorful new
design for buses that is slowly being implemented.
All things considered, a ride on a
PRT bus is still a reliable transportation alternative. For a reasonable
base fare, available with a Connect Card or one-way cash fair, a commuter
can travel to town and back, or transfer to one of the many connecting
routes and get just about anywhere in the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The End Of The Line For An
Old Thirty-Nine American Motor Coach Association
of Pittsburgh The Formation of PAT (1956-1964) The Early Years At PAT (1964-1972) Pittsburgh Area Transit History Index A Tragic Day For Brookline
Transit Riders On the morning of February 10, 1978, one
of Pittsburgh's most horrific public transit accidents occurred near the Palm
Garden Bridge along the Port Authority's recently completed South
Busway. A near head-on collision between an
inbound 41D-East Brookline bus and an outbound Mt.Lebanon/Beechview streetcar
resulted in the tragic toll of four dead and twenty-eight injured, most of whom
lived in Brookline. These photos were taken by Post-Gazette
photographer James Klingensmith, who arrived on the scene as paramedics were
busy removing victims from the wreckage. The newspaper reported the accident
on the Post-Gazette front page the following day. The probable cause of the violent
collision was a faulty switch along the rail line leading out of the South
Hills Junction car yard. The outbound streetcar reached the switch, which
suddenly flipped to the left turn position leading to a loop off of
the main line. The trolley veered directly into the path of the oncoming
bus. Upon impact, the bus, which was filled
to capacity with over fifty rush hour commuters, veered to the right off of
the busway. It sheered off a utility pole and came to rest partially atop a
parked car. The incident happened so suddenly that there was no time for
either the bus or trolley driver to react. The bus driver and three passengers
seated near the front of the vehicle suffered fatal blunt trauma injuries.
The driver died at the hospital and the three passengers were pronounced
dead on arrival. The trolley car was empty except for the motorman
who suffered only minor injuries. Although a moment of panic ensued
among the stunned and injured passengers on the bus, the calm and quick
thinking of several male passengers aided in an orderly evacuation of the
vehicle. "Blood was everywhere," reported Michael
Robbins, a passenger treated at Mercy Hospital. "There was no screaming.
Most everyone kept their cool. It was just a lot of moaning and
groaning." The driver of the bus was Brookline
resident and long-time PAT employee Andrew Petrusky, 55, of 1621 Fiat Street.
Others who suffered fatal injuries were Brookline's Elva Semon, 54, of 2136
Plainview Avenue, Donna Louise Harmon, 21, of 5870 Irishtown Road, Bethel Park,
and Monica Ewansik, 40, of 2447 Saranac Avenue in Beechview. Brookline travelers with severe to mild
injuries that were transported to local hospitals included Marie Schafer,
Patricia Burgess, Ruth Ann Fabrizio, Mary Pilarski, Linda March, Marjorie
Mitchell, Carla Arpgaus, Aileen Brown, Robert Dunlap, Bernadette Harris,
Sandra Horne, Patricia McDonald, Carol Rosipal, Francis Schell, Lynetta Talak,
William Zwick, Patty Diven, Mila Coccimiglio, Alice Skiba, Michael Robbins,
Mary Ellen Glandville, Frank Lanzetta, James Budd and John Raymond. Others injured in the crash were
Tracy Lappert and Patricia Goedert of Beechview, Frank Dixon of St. Clair
Village and trolley driver Robert Ray of Bethel Park. The South Busway had been opened
in December of 1977. At that time concerns were raised about the safety
of having both buses and trolleys passing with such frequency along the
same narrow roadway. With this accident happening so
soon after the opening, transit safety along the busway was once again
a major concern. Bus traffic was suspended until a thorough investigation
was conducted. In the aftermath of the investigation,
which yielded inconclusive results, additional safety devices were installed
to prevent any sudden switch malfunctions. Also, procedures were put in place
to eliminate the possibility of vehicles passing so close together in the
vicinity of a switch. Third Worst Crash In
Pittsburgh Transit History The fatal bus/trolley collision
on February 20, 1978 was the third worst commuter transit tragedy on
record in the City of Pittsburgh. The worst accident in Pittsburgh's
mass transit history came on Christmas Eve, 1917, when a runaway Knoxville streetcar roared
through the Mount Washington Trolley tunnel and overturned at Carson Street.
Twenty-one people were killed and scores of others were injured. On November 14, 1944, seven people
were killed and thirty-five injured when two Pittsburgh Railways streetcars
collided in a heavy fog near the old Munhall Junction. The outbound Homestead/East Pittsburgh streetcar,
one of the old-style Jones Cars, slammed into the back of a East Liberty/Homestead
PCC car. The impact came with such force that the older trolley, which was loaded
with war workers, telescoped itself over the rear of the PCC car. Another fatal crash that fell to
fourth in terms of human tragedy occurred on March 10, 1959, when a Brentwood Motor Coach bus careened into a
rush hour crowd at Forbes Avenue and Smithfield Street after brake failure. Two
pedestrians were killed and sixteen injured in the accident. Other Mass Transit Accidents Since
1978 On September 12, 1980, the South Hills
Junction was the scene of another collision, this time between two trolleys.
An outbound Dormont trolley suddenly veered off the main line towards a storage
barn. The car began to rocking and nearly tipped over. It swayed into another trolley coming
in the other direction. The two cars made sideswiped each other. The second car,
which had no passengers, actually righted the teetering car and prevented it
from falling. Four people were injured in the second switching mishap at the
busy junction. On Friday, June 26, 1986, the Washington
Observer-Reporter covered a head on collision between two trolleys along West
Carson Street near McKees Rocks. Along a single-track section of line, the
trolleys were traveling slowly in opposite directions around a siding when
the crash occurred. As the cars approached the siding, an
obstruction blocked the view of the motormen. This led to the collision
slow-speed collision where the drivers and twelve passengers
were taken to local hospitals after suffering minor injuries. The following year, almost a decade
after the deadly February 1978 bus/trolley collision noted above, another
potentially disastrous trolley accident occurred near downtown. The incredible
crash occurred in almost the same location as the Christmas Eve 1917
disaster. On October 28, 1987, during the morning rush hour, an inbound streetcar
suffered brake failure as it entered the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel. After
emerging from the lower tunnel portal, the speeding car jumped the tracks. The streetcar skid across the crowded
Carson Street intersection, sideswiping a bus and a PAT Transit truck before
slamming into the landmark P&LERR terminal building along Smithfield
Street. Although thirty-three passengers were
injured in the crash, no lives were lost due to the quick thinking of the
motorman, John Stromple, who calmly moved everyone to the rear of the car
and shielded them. Stromple, along with seven other PAT employees, also
suffered injuries in the accident. |