between Portland and Vancouver, Washington, was provided only by the Vancouver-Portland Bus Company, a private company that remained in operation until the end of 1976. Service overview At the time of the transfer from Portland Traction Company to Rose City Transit, the transit system included about 30 routes, using a fleet of about 230 buses (including trolley buses). The adult fare (since early 1955) was 20 cents, with tokens priced three for 50 cents, increasing in February 1958 to 25 cents with tokens two for 45 cents. By mid-1966, the basic fare was 35 cents, which was the highest of any transit system on the Pacific Coast. In a series of changes implemented between October 1958 and April 1959, nearly all routes terminating downtown were connected into through-route combinations – for example, the "Broadway" line was linked to the "Powell" line (a combination which lasted until 2012) – to make operation through downtown more efficient. After these changes, the revised total number of routes in Rose City's system was 21. Routes were designated only by names, not numbers, during RCT's entire existence. Not until 1973, more than three years after Tri-Met took over, were Portland-area transit routes first designated by numbers. As of 1961, about 180 buses were in scheduled service during rush hour. Workforce Rose City's drivers and most other workers were unionized, as they had been under PTC, represented by local 757 of the Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway and Motor Coach of America (later renamed the Amalgamated Transit Union). In 1960, 227 of the unionized employees were drivers. RCT never experienced a strike by its drivers, but an impasse between the company and the union during contract negotiations in 1968 led to a three-day suspension of all service, the first suspension of transit service in the city's history. In mid-1968, the company had 350 drivers and 133 other employees. Electric transit Rose City Transit never operated any streetcar service, but its parent, the Portland Traction Company, continued to operate streetcars on its two interurban lines, from Portland to Bellrose (at SE 136th Avenue north of Foster Road, on what is now the Springwater Corridor trail) and Oregon City after the urban transit lines were transferred from PTC to RCT. These operated until January 25, 1958, but service was then abruptly abandoned and PTC retained only its freight service. The last three city streetcar lines had closed