Rose City Transit

Rose City Transit Company
ParentPortland Traction Company
Founded1956
Defunct1969
LocalePortland, Oregon, United States
Service areacity of Portland; not suburbs
Service typebus transit
Routesabout 20–30
Fleetabout 200–230 buses
Annual ridership
  • 1957: 29.1 million
  • 1968: 15.7 million

The Rose City Transit Company (RCT, or RCTC) was a private company that operated most mass transit service in the city of Portland, Oregon, from 1956 to 1969.[1][2] It operated only within the city proper. Transit services connecting downtown Portland with suburbs outside the city but within the Portland metropolitan area were run by other private companies, mainly a consortium of four companies known collectively as the "Blue Bus" lines.[2]

Rose City Transit was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Portland Traction Company (PTC), which was also its predecessor.[3][4] Prior to the formation of RCT, most transit service in the city had been provided directly by Portland Traction under that name since the 1930s.[2][5][6] After PTC's bus routes were transferred to Rose City Transit in 1956, PTC continued to run two interurban trolley lines (to Oregon City and Bellrose) under its own name, but those two lines – the only trolley car lines remaining in operation in Portland after abandonment of the last city streetcar lines in 1950[7] – were the only transit routes still operated directly by PTC, which otherwise was a freight railroad.[2][4][8][9] Although RCT was a private company, it operated under a franchise agreement with the city of Portland, through which the city had some oversight control. Any fare increases or major service changes had to be approved by the city council.[10]

Many transit systems in the United States were changing from private to public control in the 1950s, as growth in private-car ownership and other factors made operating mass transit service increasingly unprofitable. By 1962, all but two major West Coast cities had made the change and begun subsidizing transit, and one of those two exceptions was Portland, served by the Rose City Transit Company (with San Diego being the other).[11] By 1967, RCT was the last remaining privately owned big-city transit system on the West Coast,[12][13] after San Diego Transit became municipalized. Rose City Transit's annual ridership declined from 32.3 million in 1956[14] to 15.7 million in 1968.[15]

Effective December 1, 1969, a newly formed public authority, Tri-Met, replaced Rose City Transit, taking over all operation and facilities, and using the same personnel, under an agreement reached between RCT, the city council and Tri-Met.[16]

  1. ^ Graf, Tyler (November 9, 2007). "The tracks of time". Daily Journal of Commerce. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "Portland Traction Co. [history of Portland transit up to 1971]". Motor Coach Age. Motor Bus Society. September 1971. pp. 4–23. ISSN 0739-117X.
  3. ^ "New Transit Company To Start Operation Friday". (Friday, February 10, 1956). The Oregonian, p. 17.
  4. ^ a b "PTC Lists 1955 Net $470,347: Freight Traffic Offsets Slump in Passengers". (March 15, 1956). The Oregonian, p. 1.
  5. ^ Sebree, Mac; and Ward, Paul (1974). The Trolley Coach in North America, pp. 219–223. Los Angeles: Interurban Press. LCCN 74-20367.
  6. ^ Labbe, John T. (1980). Fares Please! Those Portland Trolley Years, pp. 142, 148. Caldwell, ID (US): Caxton. ISBN 0-87004-287-4.
  7. ^ Thompson, Richard (2006). Portland's Streetcars, pp. 113–114, 121. Charleston, South Carolina (US): Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3115-4.
  8. ^ Turner, Wallace and Lambert, William (January 12, 1956). "New Setup In Owners Due Busses: Rose City Transit Proposed to Run Portland Vehicles". The Oregonian, p. 1.
  9. ^ "Disputed Interurban Lines Sole Rails To 125 Business Firms Near Portland". (January 12, 1956). The Oregonian, p. 6.
  10. ^ "Transit Firm Gets 2 Years". (July 6, 1956). The Oregonian, p. 1.
  11. ^ Holm, Don (January 1, 1962). "Powerful Group Booms Public Ownership Of Transit Line". The Oregonian, p. 24.
  12. ^ Barber, Lawrence (September 1, 1968). "Rosy In Distress: Transit Firm Faces Crisis As Costs Rise". The Sunday Oregonian, p. 1.
  13. ^ Guess, George M. (1990). Public Policy and Transit System Management. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-26372-9. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  14. ^ "Transit Firm Reports Loss; Freight Division Returns Profit". (March 13, 1958). The Oregonian, section 2, p. 4.
  15. ^ "Portland Transit Annual Report Shows Cost Rise, Revenue Dip". (March 22, 1970). The Sunday Oregonian, section 1, p. 28.
  16. ^ "Tri-Met Takes Bus Control; Strike Averted". (December 1, 1969). The Oregonian, p. 1.