Why Pennsylvania's Skybus Totally Failed

Thanks to Bespoke Post for sponsoring this video! New subscribers get a free mystery gift with their first membership purchase - go to bespokepost.com/historygift and enter code HISTORYGIFT at checkout.
About the video
The lost Skybus of Pittsburgh represents a fascinating chapter in the city's transportation history. In the 1950s, urban planner and engineer Charles C. Sprague envisioned an innovative solution to alleviate traffic congestion by introducing an automated, high-speed transit system called the Skybus. The system consisted of driverless electric vehicles suspended from elevated tracks. Despite initial enthusiasm and a successful prototype, the project faced numerous challenges, including financial setbacks and skepticism from the public. Ultimately, the ambitious Skybus project was abandoned in the 1960s, leaving behind a few remnants of its infrastructure and a legacy of unrealized potential in revolutionizing urban transportation in Pittsburgh. The lost Skybus stands as a testament to the city's willingness to explore cutting-edge solutions and the complexities that sometimes accompany ambitious endeavors.
Submit your episode idea here. 👉 / ryansocash
Support the Channel by becoming a member 👉 / @itshistory
IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
» CONTACT
For brands, agencies, and sponsorships: [e-mail]
ON-AIR: / @itshistoryon-air
Insta: / ryansocash
» CREDIT
Editor - Karolina Szwata,
Host - Ryan Socash
Music/Sound Design: Dave Daddario
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[@ITSHISTORY]

New subscribers get a free mystery gift with their first membership purchase - go to bespokepost.com/historygift and enter code HISTORYGIFT at checkout. Thanks to Bespoke Post for sponsoring!

[@C2K777]

There's a version of these at London Gatwick Airport in the UK. I used to ride them between the two terminals as a kid along with my friends ( After moving to Crawley, the town the airport is in, from Canada we grew up treating the airport as our own personal playground). They've under gone some overhauls over the decades but are the same vehicles and system as installed 30+ years ago and still called 'The Transit' passing between the two terminals on two parallel elevated tracks in 3 car units 24hrs a day 365 days a year( on site maintenance aside) taking around 90 seconds. There was a much smaller, 1 car system installed to move from one terminal to it's satellite that I think was probably done as a form of proof of concept & likely on a reduced cost basis( being the 1st at any airport in the UK) but that has long been removed.

[@DetroitMicroSound]

How about the story of the Henderson Motorcycle Co. which began in Detroit, downtown at the riverside, and ended in Chicago, owned by Schwinn. The original Henderson was basically a slightly scaled down inline four cylinder car engine in a motorcycle. Police everywhere wanted a Henderson motorcycle, because for a time a Henderson was the only thing that could catch some of the early fast cars, speedsters, etc, racing around on the streets of Detroit and surrounding areas, in the early 1900's. Henderson four engines were also used to power cyclecar racers, in the 1920's, and early 30's. They raced these cyclecars, and the bikes, at the State Fairgrounds in Detroit.

[@paulmentzer7658]

I was involved with Skybus, but first some history. In the 1930s Pittsburgh Railway (Which operated the streetcars in Pittsburgh) filed for bankruptcy and stayed in bankruptcy till the 1950s. Pittsburgh Railway exited bankruptcy when a new owner decided to sell off the tracks to Washington PA at a huge profit. Penndot had built a new four lane highway along the path of the rail-line in Washington county, making the land the streetcar ran on extremely valuable. Anyway, the Washington streetcar along with the streetcars to the Monongahela valley and the Beechview section of the City of Pittsburgh went mostly on they own right of way. The increase auto traffic thus had no affect on the speed of the streetcars on these three lines, in fact it was faster to go by streetcar to downtown Pittsburgh on these lines then to drive. This cause a problem, for when it was decided to take over the streetcar lines, part of that plan was to "modernized" the transportation system by replacing streetcars with buses. On most streetcar lines this was NOT a problem for the streetcars ran on the same roads automobiles ran on, thus no speed advantage for the streetcars over automobiles. That was NOT true of the remains of the old interurban line to Washington, old interurban line to the Monongahela valley or through Beechview. because all three lines were mostly on they own right of way. On the other hand PAT was committed to getting rid of all of its streetcars, except for the above three lines buses speed was the same as the old streetcars, but on these three lines the buses would have to mix with automotive traffic which wouldl almost double the travel time. Then Westinghouse Electric proposed Skybus, thus Skybus was NOT conceived as the best way to move people but as a way to eliminate the last streetcars in Pittsburgh. Worse, to make Skybus work, PAT had to eliminate most of the transit stops in the two heaviest population areas the streetcars went through, Beechview and Bethel Park. Beechview was to go from seven (7) stops to twp (2), Bethel Park was to become a bus way. Both communities revolted against the plan, for they saw SKYBUS as a REDUCTION in service not an increase in service. It was made clear the plan was to eliminate streetcars, even if streetcars provided better service, as opposed to improved service when PAT veto the proposal to build Skybus from Downtown Pittsburgh to the Oakland section of town. The hospitals and colleges are in Oakland. Downtown Pittsburgh is the #2 transit stop in Pennsylvania, Oakland is #3 (Downtown Philadelphia is #1). PAT said buses was good enough between downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland even through the number of riders would exceed the riders when PAT wanted SKYBUS to go through. That made it clear that the purpose of Skybus was to get rid of streetcars NOT to provided the best transtit possible. The opposition became so clear that the federal Government demanded a study be done on what was the most cost efficient way improve transit in that corridor, the study was clear, replace the old streetcar system with a modern Light Rail system that duplicated the old streetcar stops and right of way. Thus the present Pittsburgh Light Rail System was born.

[@vidguy1976]

Fun fact Pittsburgh Railways was in receivership more years than it was not thru the history of it's existence. By a large margin.

[@michaelcsonka2675]

An example of a contempory system oppened in 1975 just south of Pittsburgh in Morgantown/WVU known as the PRT and has operated successfully ever since. It uses smaller cars and has a heated track elimiating any issues with snow and ice. The actual oldest automated mass transit system.

[@pastorjerrykliner3162]

I lived in Morgantown (not a student at WVU) for almost nine years... Whenever my kids would be with me, they wanted to ride the PRT. I would take the PRT from the Evansdale (Engineering) Campus to get downtown when school was in session...especially during the first couple weeks of the fall semester (when all the students didn't know their way around town)... It was always interesting when the system would go down; the students had all sorts of names for what PRT stood for--Possibly Running Today or Possible Round Trip being among the more polite of them. That being said, what the PRT really needs is NEW equipment...it's running stock is all 1975 with various systems being replaced or rebuilt along the way. The technology has stagnated and what they need is a new burst of innovation and technology.

[@kcindc5539]

I’m from Pittsburgh and attended WVU. I loved taking the PRT from Evansdale to Beechurst - in 1984 it was really the coolest thing (especially at the very start of the semester when you could twirl the turnstiles and force a car to pull up to your boarding spot).

[@williammcgeehan3424]

👉 17:05 Milton Shapp.....not Sharp

[@baloo_2228]

Apparently the one at WVU used parts from the original Pittsburgh version too.

[@bockhouse]

We don't like that acronym these days🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@maybehuman4]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Vancouver's SkyTrain in this presentation. Very similar concept but without the rubber tires that still runs today.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

And its predecessors the Scarborough RT in Toronto and the Downtown People Mover in Detroit.

[@ThatMattWhite]

The Detroit system actually bought (is buying?) the remaining SRT trains. They're not paying a whole lot, but Scarborough would barely get anything for scrapping it and at least they're still going to have some life.

[@TheRandCrews]

@@ThatMattWhitewonder if Detroit will buy a bunch of the Mark I and II Skytrain rolling stock that will be retired soon

[@hughm5996]

Sky train has been a pretty decent system. You know it’s reliable when people take it for granted that it’ll be there and when it fails (infrequently) it’s the end of the world.

[@ChatGPT1111]

And the one is Miami is still working and successful.

[@baystated]

The Mayor vs Commission vs Governor vs Federal Director vs private lawsuit kinds of battles destroys so many urban projects. Decades go by and situations just get worse. And then the dismay when 20 years later, there is no work done and the estimated cost goes up x10.

[@jetfan925]

This is why we can't have nice things as we age.

[@someotherdude]

The California High Speed Rail project is the perfect example. Except it isn't 10x too expensive, it's 100x too expensive. Liberals just love wasting $ on these things. Trams, sky cars, etc. They always fail.

[@rogerk6180]

Time for an overhaul of the systems that manage and govern these things. If government can't operate in service of the public anymore, it should be changed to evolve with time.

[@andrewdiamond2697]

But somehow, highways are immune to this.

[@curtw8827]

As a kid, I rode the demonstration loop at South Park. I later worked at the Westinghouse East Pittsburgh plant wiring up the electric power systems for the BART cars.

[@My-Opinion-Doesnt-Matter]

Was it similar ride like today's APM Innovia systems?

[@curtw8827]

@@My-Opinion-Doesnt-Matter don't know, but it was smooth like the shuttle cars at Tampa Airport. Big fear was how to evacuate stopped cars on the elevated track and slipping on snow or ice on the concrete track.

[@DeanStephen]

Counties don’t have capitals, they have county seats.

[@sonic23233]

No one likes a know it all

[@x--.]

@@sonic23233but how would you know? 🤨

[@ChatGPT1111]

This content creator can't be very bright if he doesn't know this tbh.

[@tolfan4438]

Well the county seat is the capitol of that county so it really is just simantics

[@ChatGPT1111]

@@tolfan4438 by that logic, Washington DC is just the County Seat of the U.S., stage 4 cancer is just a big mole and a machine gun is just a pee shooter for adults.

[@fldon2306]

The sky bus got tired of the cold winter and moved to Miami and became the Mini-Mover… It enjoys the palm trees on Biscayne Boulevard day and night!

[@benjaminrondeau3148]

The Montreal subway system (called Metro) first inaugurated in 1966 and finished in 1975 uses very similar looking, albeit twice as big, Bombardier trains that have rubber tires on a concrete track. In a way, it seems like a direct underground descendent of what the Skybus would have been.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

No, it isnt. The Montreal metro HAS steel wheel behind the tyres to use turnouts and as a support if any of the wheels blown up.

[@B-and-O-Operator-Fairmont]

The Wabash Tunnel dates to around 1900 when the Wabash Railroad built it (and a magnificent river bridge over the Monongahela River) to reach an elaborate downtown terminal. The railroad later became the Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The railroad into downtown was abandoned and the bridge torn down in the 1940s. A few years ago, the tunnel was rehabilitated as a car traffic tunnel, but as one guy I know said, it "was a solution in search of a problem".

[@VIPER0308]

I did a Pittsburgh transportation project for 8th grade english, and the Sky Bus was my favorite part. Love talking about this beautiful and flawed mode of transport. Great video, as always!

[@ITSHISTORY]

That's awesome!

[@kjquinn7856]

An important aspect why the politics of Skybus became so heated was only lightly mentioned toward the end of this video. The Port Authority plan for Skybus was largely designed to benefit the southern suburbs which at the time were the wealthiest suburbs (the presenter mentions Mount Lebanon and South Hills Village and one diagram shows Dormont. The PAT plan left the North Side, West End and much of the East End (Lawrenceville, etc.) with conventional bus service. Any plans for expansion to these areas were far in the future. This issue was similar to the controversy over the original plans for the East Street Valley Expressway which was to link the northern suburbs to downtown by punching a freeway through the center of the North Side...while having no exit and entrance ramps on the city's North Side neighborhoods. Pete Flaherty was a popular mayor and a fiscal conservative. He cut the city payroll and balanced the budget, leaving the city in excellent financial shape. Part of his opposition to Skybus was his view that the costs would escalate and the city would be paying for a system that largely benefited suburbanites. He didn't seem to be opposed to the Skybus technology, but rather the Port Authority's bias toward the suburbs and the potential cost overruns. I was a summer intern for the city of Pittsburgh during the mid-1970's and sat in on some of the meetings with the transportation consultants as the planning for the new rail system was underway. One statistic I still remember: at rush hour, the old trolleys which served the South Hills held ten more passengers than their seating capacity while buses which served the rest of the city ran with five to ten empty seats. The fact that the trolleys ran on dedicated right of ways once out of the city meant that they could move people fairly quickly and efficiently and riders realized that. What was missed in that analysis was that expanding the rail system to the North, East and West might have significantly increased ridership on the whole system. Instead those areas were left with conventional bus service (although now there is a dedicated busway to East Liberty.)

[@Raja-bz4yw]

This is how it was back in the day. Most transit was catered towards people who moved out into the suburbs and not to the people In the cities anymore. Cities got destroyed by highways thanks to suburbs and public transit was an after thought. Their solution was to slap on a bus route that would ultimately get stuck in traffic making transportation worse. Things really haven't improved since then .

[@Billblom]

PAT proved itself to be not exactly trust worthy. The Trolley line down to an amusement park was bustituted "temporarily" ... but immediately the catenary was torn down so it wasn't temporary. The locals preferred the PCC cars at that point, and ridership dropped.. So ANYTHING that PAT wanted was seriously questioned.

[@jamesszalla4274]

The governor’s name wasn’t Milton Sharp. His name was Milton Shapp. Also, WABCO wasn’t Western Air Brake Co. It was Westinghouse Air Brake Co. It was referred to as Western at least once in the video.

[@olentangyriver1191]

No one asked😂

[@A_10_PaAng_111]

No one cares. 😂

[@Not_You_2]

@@A_10_PaAng_111 I care. He needs to check before making a video

[@Not_You_2]

He does this on so many videos

[@Jeff-uj8xi]

You are correct James and I care. I like accuracy.

[@mintoo2cool]

this has some serious marge vs monorail vibes

[@workablob]

I rode that at the county fair in the late 60s.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

The second generation of this skybus is still operating in downtown Miami as the Metromover. Instead of being abandoned and removed though it was actually expanded! It serves as a collector and distributor for the Metrorail, and now Tri-Rail and Brightline.

[@xoxxobob61]

They are also planning to expand it to Miami Beach too in the next couple of years. The Miami Metro Mover has to be the most successful one in the country.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

@@xoxxobob61 That's a good sign they're switching over to the Metromover. Last time I heard of plans for a beach transit connector the planners were talking of building a monorail! Like the one in Jacksonville was so successful... 🙄

[@chief1b]

@@xoxxobob61 I have been on the Miami Metro Mover twice in the 2000's It's a vital part of the Downtown and does connect well with the Metro and other transit systems like commuter and Brightline. Cheers!

[@xoxxobob61]

@@edwardmiessner6502 They finally killed off that Monorail plan! It didn't make any sense starting another transit system just to connect to South Beach.

[@xoxxobob61]

@@chief1b Also TRI-Rail has finally made it to downtown Miami after so many years of waiting with it's final stop at the Brightline station. 👍

[@luislaplume8261]

The best public transportation in Pennsylvania was the opening of the Broad Street subway line in Philadelphia in 1928.

[@toklat1967]

I grew up a hundred miles east in Altoona. As a kid there was brief discussion about taking SkyBus but you know pipe dreams. On a visit to Busch Gardens in Virginia we found they bought SkyBus and were/are using it as a ride from the park to the brewery tour so I got to ride it anyway. It was a little disconcerting with no rails and felt like it would roll off the track at any moment which was a complaint I remember from Pittsburgh ridera. It was perfectly safe it was just disconcerting.

[@ooinvsaoo]

I have NEVER heard of this thing..

[@dieseldragon6756]

If you've ever used the sort of airport people mover that vaguely resembles a train-like bus, you've probably ridden one without even realising it... 😉

[@hobog]

17:28 yeah it lives on in APM people movers, the ones from Bombardier (now Alstom) with a straddle guiderail in the middle (not SiemensVAL). They're likely to be supplanted by Mitsubishi's CrystalMover. Look up Atlanta airport's Plane Train and Miami's MetroMover. The most heavy-duty one is Shanghai's Pujiang Line APM, but I wager the Plane Train is still the world's busiest APM. APM.

[@Buc_Stops_Here]

Pittsburgh has tried twice. First the Skybus. The second time at Pittsburgh international airport where they have an underground tram between the main terminal and the airside. They are on the verge of shutting that down as well because they lost hub status when USAirways left and with so few flights, the city can no longer afford to offer the tram to the terminals. So they are building a new terminal right by the airsides so people can just walk to the gates. A version of Skybus on wheels by Westinghouse was first used in 1972 by Tampa International Airport where they built an innovative hub central terminal and airsides in 360 degrees around the hub (6 in all). Still in use today they have newer trains now on the track/tires not by Westinghouse.

[@dominator167able]

It's weird watching something on this channel that I'm close to. My grandfather helped design the Wabash tunnel renovation for the SkyBus and I live a 3 minute walk away from the T line that it would of sat on.

[@Randy_Marsh]

Right it is weird as hell lol the oval is 2 mins from me 😂

[@rrad8106]

I RODE THAT!!!! They had a test loop at the South Park Fair Grounds!!! LOVED IT!!!!

[@dubdaze68]

The successor of Westinghouse Transportation, AdTrans (now Bombardier) built the legacy designs for airports.

[@hobog]

And now Alstom. Rip

[@TheRandCrews]

@@hobogat least Alstom is getting karma buy having so much debt and redundancy for buying so much of Bombardier

[@dieseldragon6756]

@@TheRandCrews Personally, I blame the Arterios. They were due to enter service in 2019, but South Western Railway have only just introduced the first one into service... *In December 2023!* 😳 But at least I now understand why my (very small) holding in Alstom is continuing to haemorrhage value well beyond the point you might normally expect it to rally... 📉😋

[@perniciousprogressive8333]

Grew up in South Hills back when the Village mall was 1st completed. Dad used to walk down Ft. Couch Rd. to catch a trolley into Oakland (he taught at what was still called Carnegie Tech back then). Family would visit South Park pretty regularly, often stopping at Eatin' Park or Hot Shoppes for burgers, or The Pioneer Inn for subs that we'd take to the park, often eating near the base of the Sky Bus elevated roadway. Along with the skating rinks I've gotta say, the area's public parks were pretty awesome. Long since moved, but we still visit to take our grand kids to Kennywood, and to visit the fabulous museums. Things were so different last time I was there I couldn't believe it. The Sky Bus was of course gone, but I literally searched for hours trying to find a real hoagie shop, but all I kept running into were cookie cutter national chains and bistros. Went looking for Danny's Pizza, that I thought was near the drive-in movie, but that was all gone too. At least you can still get fries on your sandwich at Primanti Bros. There's absolutely nuthin' to like about gettin' old.

[@williameiben8221]

Danny’s is still there, but not what it used to be.

[@perniciousprogressive8333]

@@williameiben8221 yeah, sadly I found that out a while back. Not stereotyping, but the ownership had changed & with it the food that I remembered so fondly. That was just disappointing, but the true outrage was in trying to find a GD hoagie shop. I had stopped in S.H. Village mall (barely recognized) and just started asking random people as I passed, "hey, do ya know where I can find a good hoagie?". I actually had two local woman in an Escalade ask me wtf a hoagie was... I was gobsmacked. One guy suggested a place in Washington, Pa., and I finally ended up somewhere in Dormont I think. I grew up in Bethel Park and USC ( where the dimwitted in the Escalade said they were from) an knew USC to be a bit stuck up. I guess there are some things that never change.

[@emfraza7953]

We lost a tremendous amount of urban ingenuity due to corporations and people moving to low tax, lost cost, low density Southern and Western cities. Nowadays most Americans see public transit as a novelty, it didn't have to be that way. Ironically it was Detroit's own auto industry that hollowed out its infrastructure and thus population. Imagine what the country might look like if the people hadn't scattered to low-tax suburban cities, probably a lot more European with things like universal health care, high speed rail and a far better K-12 public education network. The South sure did rise again, and dragged us all down with it.

[@ChatGPT1111]

This was successfully implemented in downtown Miami several decades ago. It connects the major skyscrapers and still runs to this day.

[@the_mississippian_railfan]

Growing up in Pittsburgh Pa I would go through the old Wabash tunnel on a frequent basis looking at it in the early 2000s you would hardly knew this ran through it let alone a railroad at one point if it wasn’t for the pillars on the mon

[@robertbarrows8847]

Westinghouse sold the system to Bombardier who developed in to a people mover system now used at many airports and as part of the city transport system in Miami.

[@robertwilloughby8050]

As a UKist, this was extensively covered in a 1966 edition of "Modern Railways" that my dad has (had?) and I read A LOT when I was young.

[@mikemissel7785]

I grew up in the area and remember the Skybus, now they use this concept in airports.

[@janmcclure6239]

Capital of Allegheny County? I don't think so.

[@timcargile1562]

Avery well-done video! Thanks. I'm an Ex-BART emploee although it's been a while. I quit in 1979. I was part of the central computer team and received Westinghouse computer training in Pittsburgh in the late 70s. Have a great 2024!

[@johnstanczyk4030]

I wonder if this is related to the nearby Personal Rapid Transit system that was developed at nearby West Virginia University. The system appears similar (the buses are much larger than the PRT's cars), was developed around the same time, and certainly also has trouble in inclement weather.

[@michaelcsonka2675]

Actually the PRT was developed by Boeing and performs exceptionally well in inclement weather do to it's heated track. During severe winter weather in 96 when I was a freshman in Towers Dorm it was one of the only things still running.

[@workablob]

We used to get stoned and drunk and ride the tram there.

[@TheGbelcher]

Combine what we hate about buses with what we hate about trains without any of the benefit of trains. I can’t believe it didn’t work.

[@vodnikdubs1724]

Wooooooo New vid on something weird, gotta love it. JS, we have a lot of odd infrastructure up here in Detroit/flint/Saginaw have plenty of oddities to make for an interesting video 😉

[@BIGGEOFF40]

Awesome video. Lots of interesting information. 👍🏾

[@pghrpg4065]

Pittsburgh International Airport will no longer have a transit system in 2025. As others have stated, Milton Shapp (shortened from Shapiro; ironically, the name of our current governor). To clarify: Beechview is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh; Mt. Lebanon is a separate township. Also, the Commonwealth Court came up. It is unique among courts in the U.S. and deals exclusively with matters involving the government and government agencies.

[@jimmissenda6590]

Grew up in Beechview, live in Mt. Lebanon now. I remember the Skybus controversy growing up.

[@brianbrwa]

If you want to ride an example of this vehicle design, Sea-Tac airport and Miami metromover have examples of these vehicles with automation.

[@skivvywaver]

Local radio guy named Mike Levine was pro skybus. He used to get on the radio and rant about Peter Flaherty. I didn't care really, but it was funny to hear him rant. He had a call in show named "Open Mike". He was a trip.

[@spedzu]

You need to do a historical perspective of West Virginia University's Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system in Morgantown, West Virginia. This is just an hour and a half south of Pittsburgh.

[@SH-ly1uy]

You remember the times when real innovation was deployed in the US? Not just a new like button coming out of Silicon Valley. I mean real innovation

[@OtakuboyT]

But innovation is hard to monetize over and over again. The MBAs have taken over

[@julianshepherd2038]

Like Tesla

[@giselematthews7949]

You mean like in the dark days of the 50s?

[@johnny1893]

Like the atom bomb?!

[@kevinnieto8331]

I know what you mean, when I watch those episodes of “The Men Who Built America” on the history channel I ask the same question, we had Thomas Edison and Tesla who literally gave electricity to the world or Carnegie with his steel that helped start the Industrial Revolution, or ford with his cars for the masses. America was literally pushing innovation for the world and was always setting new standards for the world. But now… besides tech companies we’ve gotten stagnant we no longer put innovation as a priority now, now it’s only about profit. Now as a first world country we are FAR behind the world with public rapid transit and half the population doesn’t even know the difference between a country and a continent the

[@jeffcarr7601]

I noticed the filmed the Skybus traveling in the opposite direction than it did any time I rode it. Also there were times like weekends when there was no county fair happening in which supposedly you could ride it. I remember we took visiting friends over to South Park to show them Skybus and to ride it around the track. Many of these times it was not running due to mechanical problems or at least that is what we were told when we arrived there.

[@kjquinn7856]

I grew up in Pittsburgh and remember the same thing about the Skybus demo. It seemed to have a lot of mechanical problems. One summer I interned with a man who had been a systems designer for the BART system in San Francisco. He told me that Westinghouse tried to throw out 100 years of railroad operations knowledge and started from scratch in the BART design, only to find out that they had to redesign so many things like the signaling system. BART went way over budget in part because of what he called the arrogance of the Westinghouse engineers.

[@edholmwood2263]

Another great video. Very informative and interesting. Thank you.

[@ITSHISTORY]

So nice of you!

[@scottlyttle5586]

I wonder if this system inspired University of West Virgina for their tram system.

[@the_mississippian_railfan]

Growing up in Pittsburgh in the 2000s I was never aware of this things existence till I found one of the old cars near the old slag dumps

[@nathanward9972]

Great video. I actually worked on Miami Metromover and got to see the real SkyBus firsthand. It's fun to imagine an alternative universe where this project actually happened and public transportation as we know it today is completely different

[@5688gamble]

Why not just have a train?

[@richardhetrick4770]

I think trolly would be answer for cost efficanr

[@markshietze4783]

❤ an excellent history video , sir ! thoroughly enjoyable

[@ITSHISTORY]

Many thanks!🙏

[@alexanderboulton2123]

Ah yes. Building pods for a few people, with tires and individual engines, on a long guideway that would be perfect for a train. The perfect alternative for a train!

[@cherylmysliwczyk5716]

There are still reamins of this by the main dog park, and they have two cars displayed on Lebonon Church Road in West Mifflin. They used to have it on 885 by the airport but they moved it when they moved.

[@BETTERWORLDSGT]

I don't remember much about it, I was a kid, but I remember Mayor Flahrety, He was the Mayor of Pittsburgh for most of My childhood. He was in the news on KDKA a lot.

[@rrai1999]

This just isn't progress, any railed vehicle is so much more efficient that this just doesn't work.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

The issue is that this crap was destinated to replace streetcars...

[@brucefye3778]

Hi Ryan! Great video on what was a very newsworthy topic for Allegheny County's County Seat of Pittsburgh 5 to 6 decades ago in PA (Pennsylvania to ferners) at the time Milton Shapp, not Sharp was Governor.

[@Maj0rB00thr0yd]

I love that a bunch of the footage is courtesy of Paging Mr. Morrow. Great channel and I can't be shocked, because Nate loves his monorails!

[@DJAUDIO1]

That was very fascinating

[@ntsst3]

Loving the recent focus on pittsburgh!

[@martykarr7058]

What's amusing is that while Skybus ended up getting cancelled, a very similar, though underground system was used when they built the new Pittsburgh International Airport.

[@spedzu]

Which is going to scrapped next year when the airport opens its new terminal at the gates defeating the need for the train.

[@sped6954]

03:08 More commonly known as The Iron City and The City of Bridges. Being from there originally, I never heard of Steel City until maybe 10 years ago. Iron City was pretty much all I heard growing up, also referenced in its very own Iron City Beer from the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. dating back to 1861, but I do remember hearing the City of Bridges every now and then. Is Steel City from somewhere in the recent past, kinda of like how someone might say I'm from the 412, which itself probably wouldn't go much further back than 20 years or so, if even that far?

[@MarloSoBalJr]

The moniker of "Steel City" is because of the Steelers.

[@jimmissenda6590]

The moniker Steel City actually refers to the large number of steel mills that were originally here.

[@hawk7825]

Car companies killed that.

[@mdf3530]

18:58 Bombardier sold off its rail division to Alstom in 2021

[@hobog]

17:50 BART is not driverless. Maybe has driver supervising automatic train control?

[@kjquinn7856]

The driver is there in case of a malfunction. The driver does not actually operate the train. This was a compromise solution because when BART was built, riders didn't fully trust the automation. As a college student back in the mid-1970's, I worked for one of the systems designers of the BART project and he told me about this.

[@alka9613]

@@kjquinn7856 Compromise? Those drivers are still constantly called on the fix things that don't work, like trains not properly stopping in stations and opening doors. These guys make over $100,000 a year, allowing SF Muni bus drivers to justify making nearly just as much. The BART system as it is is a boondoggle.

[@patrickmckenna322]

Milton Shapp!!!

[@michaelsaparito]

There's one of these buses on display near South Park. We drove by it just a few days ago. Most young Pittsburghers have no idea what it was.

[@ianprince1698]

reminds me of the Docklands Light Railway that serves the London, England, business district operated by Transport for London using computer-controlled trains

[@nicholassheffo5723]

Flaherty got into huge political trouble not long after this and it was a mess.

[@mjnc3672]

The former Pennsylvania governor was Milton Shapp, not Sharp.

[@lisafreeman4222]

Awesome video

[@ITSHISTORY]

Thanks for the visit!

[@perniciousprogressive8333]

Here's another Pittsburgh history project for ya. Growing up I recall a giant mountain of slag in West Miflin that we used to think was a volcano when ee were kids. I think they whittled it down and built a Walmart, but the scale of the manmade mess was amazing.

[@jimmissenda6590]

That's where the former Century 3 Mall was built.

[@perniciousprogressive8333]

@@jimmissenda6590 after my time I guess

[@jimmissenda6590]

That's where Century 2 Mall was built.

[@dmfraser1444]

Well we did get an automated light rail system in the Vancouver BC area with steel wheels starting in the 1980s. Though not from Westinghouse. But I believe Westinghouse had a role in BART.

[@motocrossedful]

Politics, politicians will ruin anything and everything

[@flyingspirit3549]

Superb historical analysis of the successor to the despised (noisy, dirty) elevated railways built in New York City in the 19th century. Given the incredible advances evident in the Westinghouse system, this would seem to offer a solution to transit in many locations.

[@pladampa]

Westinghouse always appreciated a good fart joke.

[@BravuraLion]

Es ist wirklich schade dass man fast 3 Minuten skippen darf bevor man zu dem eigentlichen content kommt..

[@joethebluesman3312]

interesting… i was somewhat involved in the las vegas skybus from luxor to monte carlo…really a circus circus monorail. The contract went to westinghouse despite senior project manager objecting…he wanted the mercedes benz unit… but westinghouse was it…never and i mean NEVER worked correctly…even scraped against one of the hotels as it passed…after just a few years it was abandoned…

[@BalooUriza]

TLDR: It's a weird gadgetbahn, and those don't scale up and aren't as flexible as real buses and real trains. Plus no thought given to emergency egress.

[@Soundofsilver2007]

Sky buses operate wonderfully worldwide

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

@@Soundofsilver2007 no. People movers do that. It isnt the same.

[@coreybabcock2023]

Morgantown has a similar system

[@nohandle227]

Really informative video. I rode the Skybus back in 1970 and as a kid was in awe of it and of course, paid for my ride, 10 cents...LOL

[@IrishStock3]

The entire sky bus project was and remains a money racket.

[@Gitbizy]

The main train building is still there, but I’m pretty sure all of the elevated structures are gone. I’m going to fly my drone there this spring and will check it fully. Was a really nice concept.

[@raygreenberg6720]

Pennsylvania's governor at the time was Milton J. SHAPP, not Sharp. This is history?

[@mintkitten]

Morgantown WV an hour south of Pittsburgh basically has one! (The PRT) But built by Boeing.

[@A_to_Zappa]

I remember Skybus at South Park as small boy.

[@billolsen4360]

10:14 Apparently, the auto dealers, tire shops & gasoline retailers of Allegheny County had found a friend in Commissioner William R Hunt. Think he may have received a new Cadillac for his birthday as a gratuity?

[@microvrml]

Its a school bus on a monorail....OF COURSE ITS GONNA FAIL

[@JimBrownski]

Dulles airport has this between terminals here in DC

[@TechTokOffical]

Pittsburgh actually does too

[@Tuberuser187]

Rubber wheeled mass transit does have extra costs but they make for a better quality of life in residential area.

[@thomasrapp2536]

Also known as Uncle Millty, his clame to fame was the most graft and corruption per mile of interstate highway built in the USA.

[@dieseldragon6756]

They also provide a means for experiencing acceleration forces beyond those of a shuttle launch for no more than 3€ per trip...And whilst doing this, they also provide a rapid and valuable way of moving around cities in France on the side! 🚇🇫🇷💨💯😉

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

@@dieseldragon6756 there are more trams than VAL systems...

[@gojeda]

Miami Metromover picking up where PAT Skybus left off,

[@mikebetsanes9830]

Hi, love your channel. Sorry if I missed the explanation, but why did you change your intro? Loved the old one.

[@davidschwartz5127]

Amazing it looks like the "People Mover" at Lovefield in Atlanta Airport.

[@BigGuy10Points]

Ohhhhhhhh Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m 30 this just clicked for me.

[@x1pyroveride]

I miss the old into music

[@NoNonsense316]

Ryan, how do you find this stuff? I grew up in PA (granted, it was the other side of the state), but never heard of this Sky Bus. Kudos to you for your superlative research and excellent presentation!

[@ITSHISTORY]

Im pretty curious about that, I guess it’s the key factor:)

[@someotherdude]

Rubber tires take away the efficiency of the railroad, and an elevated track assures huge expense and difficulty in getting out of the skybus, like if it breaks down. The stupidity of this idea, at it's core, is just embarrassing.

[@nitehawk86]

18:36 For now, the terminal upgrades and downsizing that have started a couple years ago are going to end the KPIT peoplemover.

[@jeannovacco5136]

Within the first 6 minutes it's obvious to me that the abuse of eminent domain and the arrogance of central planning was destined in the long run to destroy more than it created.

[@FurthermoreJack]

A highway exclusively for busses

[@garyfrancis6193]

Never heard of it.

[@jameskubajak8489]

My lost Lenore, nevermore.😢