THE BACKSTORY OF THE
Brentwood Bus Remembering the local bus that led to life-changing moments.
BY PAMELA PALONGUE
TThe Brentwood Motor Coach Company was established in August of 1929, when D. L. Feick purchased two existing bus companies, the Carrick and Bruceton Auto Bus Lines.
The Liberty Tunnels had opened just five years earlier in 1924, making access to other parts of the city more feasible. This meant that workers now had more options with regard to their employment location. However, most Pittsburghers at the time did not own cars, as evidenced by the lack of driveways in pre-war Pittsburgh homes.
The world was becoming just a little bit smaller as transportation advanced with more options. But when Brentwood Motor Coach really began to take off was in 1937.
The trusted line found itself in competition with Pittsburgh Railways Co. and Bamford Motor Coach Lines, which offered alternatives on the same basic routes. It was probably because of this need to compete that the Brentwood Motor Coach Company continued to tweak its services and available lines over the years, right up to the time that it was taken over by Port Authority Transit( PAT) in 1964.
PAT was created in 1956, and in 1959, legislation was passed to allow it to acquire privately owned transit companies, which included 32 independent bus companies and the incline operations.
It seems strange to think of private bus services competing, as we’ ve all grown accustomed to bus systems being provided by our municipal authorities. Stranger still is the fact that these independent bus companies were able to survive financially, while our public transit has at times been forced to cut back on times and routes to continue to provide service.
Though cars are much more convenient and the overwhelming choice today for the commute to work, buses had offered a more romantic approach to travel, and connection with others. Many people were able to find out about better jobs while in transit to their current job. Many lifelong friendships were also formed when passengers connected with their fellow travelers who caught the same bus at the same time every day. And yes, some people even met their future spouses on the bus.
Many Pittsburgh families owe their beginnings to two strangers who might otherwise have never met, but connected while on a ride aboard the Brentwood Motor Coach. It kind of makes standing in the rain and the snow at a bus stop worth it— almost.
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