Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 10:35:59 -0500
From: Ted White <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Before the Beltway (was Re: Meeting place)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Robert MacIntosh wrote:
>  All right, so I exagerated. Population around here in the 60's was
>  only about only about 1.5 million. Now, both Fairfax and Montgomery
>  exceed a million, with PG County not that far behind. That means the
>  metro area is nearing 5 million. And I understand that the bus
>  companies drove the trolleys out of business before Kennedy was
>  President. Convinced everyone that buses were more flexibile and all.
>  Then came transit strikes and higher fuel costs, etc. The bus
>  companies all failed until only the publically backed lines we
>  currently have came into being. And a transit strike now would have
>  an impact on the area. I recall one in the 90's that gridlocked the
>  entire area for the couple of days it took to settle. Fortunately, I
>  was out of town during that time, but everyone who experianced
>  muttered something about a living hell....

*Congress* got rid of the trolleys.  In those days we had the Capitol
Transit Co., which became the D.C. Transit Co. before it was taken over
by the govt and turned into Metro.  Capitol Transit was owned by O. Roy
Chalk, a man who was cordially hated by most transit riders.  There were
other bus lines as well.  I forget the name of the major company that
served Virginia, but a lessor line was the AB&W line -- Alexandria,
Barcroft & Washington, which had red/black buses.  They ran into DC, but
could only pick up passengers headed for Virginia and could not serve DC
riders within DC.

--Ted White