A rider's Story. Prospect Park TDP. Story 6

My roommate and I moved to Pittsburgh, Pa. from Altoona, Pa. in 2008 [1] when she took a job in Canonsburg. We choose the Prospect Park area of Brentwood/Whitehall because it was close to Route 51 and it HAD great bus service. After moving here I found a job at the HotelInn in Oakland. As any other employee in the travel industry to be able to work Saturday and Sunday shifts is very important for me.

Pre TDP

Prospect Park had bus service from 4:00Am - 12:15AM almost 7 days a week with no need to change buses and within one zone fare service to West Mifflin Wal-Mart, Century Plaza (Kohls/ GiantEagle) Target, Leland Point, Caste Village and Curry Hollow Road Shopping Plaza.

Pre TDP there were 4 routes providing Monday to Friday inbound service from as early as 4:07AM to as late as 11:09PM to the Prospect Park area at Parkline/Radford. The outbound service started as early as 4:33am, with a last bus leaving at 12:15AM from 6th/Smithfield. Those routes were 51C Ext, 51B Limited, 46A/F and 35A.

On Saturday we had buses for direct inbound service starting at 4:07AM to as late as 10:48PM from Parkline/Radford. Outbound service from 6th/Smithfield started at 4:45AM with the last bus at 8:30PM. The only direct route to downtown used to be 51C ext that did not provide inbound service after 6:43AM before restarting at 9:48PM. Therefore we had to take a 35A to RTE51/Streets Run Road or RTE51/Stilley to catch a regular 51C or 46G to go downtown. And we had to take a 46G or 51C to Rte 51/Brownsville to catch a 35A since there was no outbound service from 6th/Smithfield between the 4:45AM bus and 8:30PM bus Nor was there any direct outbound service after 8:30PM.

On Sunday there were two routes providing service to Prospect Park riders. Inbound service started at 4:41AM and run as late as 9:44PM (Parkline/Radford). Outbound service from 6th/Smithfield started 5:30AM with the last bus at 10:30PM. Those routes were 51C ext. and 35A. Since 51C ext only ran every 2 hours, in order to get downtown when there was no 51Cext service we had to take a 35A to RTE51/Streets Run or RTE51/Stiley to catch a regular 51C or 46G to go downtown. On our way back we had to take a 46G or 51C from 6th/Smithfield to Rte 51/Brownsville to catch a 35A to Prospect Park between the timepoints covered by 51C ext. But most important I was able to get to work on Sunday.


After TDP

It is very hard for me to work on Sundays since there are no early buses to Prospect Park and I find hard to walk on Willock Road to Brownsville at 5:00am. And if I do go to work when the Y49 starts I find difficult to return home since there are no late buses to Prospect Park and walking Willock Road in the dark can be dangerous.I tried to walk the beam on Lebanon Church Rd from Applebees to Target and almost got hit both to and from.


When shopping, I tried to go to CasteVillage and the connections were very hard to make. I tried to go to Curry Hollow Shopping Plaza and wasn't able to make the transfer from WalMart or the busway. I tried to go to Century III (Kohls, Giant Eagle etc,) and found hard to find a connection from WalMart.

So for me without the 35A I can no longer shop when or where I want to and without the 51C's early Sunday service I can no longer work on Sundays.

Contributed by Robert H. ( @BobbyOBobby)

[1] On a short note, Altoona's bus service had an overhaul just before we moved. They have a transit center where all of their buses started/ended at and where I lived was a 15 minute bus ride before the changes is now a 75 minute ride.

A rider’s story : From Glassport to RMU

These are fragments from the story of Matt and Michael - a young couple like many other couples hoping to build a new future together. Matt is a 24 year old gay, tech enthusiast living in Pittsburgh with his partner Michael who works for Robert Morris University.
Matt was generous enough to give us permission to publish a couple paragraphs from his last blog post and so we did. We selected the paragraphs that are most representative for their experience as bus riders (though we enjoyed reading the full story on his blog “The life of a small town boy in a big city” ) . You could also follow him on twitter @flamingblue8z

"It's 1-11-2011. Today, I feel like elaborating a bit on an issue/discussion that started on Twitter between @TransitGuru, @bus15237 and myself.
Port Authority has had a rough year, having a major 50+ million dollar deficit in funding for this fiscal year. In the fall they began threatening to cut 35% of their routes, which included the 55 (runs through Glassport, where I live), along with the 25 (which goes to Robert Morris University, where I briefly attended classes, and where my partner Michael has worked for 2 years now).
........................................................................................................................................
Enter 2010. I was registered as a student for spring semester at Robert Morris, and began classes. The snow storm snowed us in up at RMU, even, but Michael volunteered as the only one to work cashier that day, from 10am to 9pm in the cafeteria. He's devoted to his job, he LOVES his job. In March, my car suffered a horribly catastrophic death, the piston rod blew through the cylinder wall. We were officially screwed, confined to public transit. We began learning the routes, finding how long it would take, etc.I dropped out of classes mid-semester, as it was too expensive (at 2.00 for Zone 1, 2.75 for Zone 2) to afford the both of us going out to Robert Morris. Summer hit, and his hours were 11am-6pm. Perfect for taking the bus both out and back.
As the new school year approached, he wasn't as lucky. Back to the 4p-close shift, and the last bus out at the time was 9:00 or so. Finally, in September, the Port Authority changed routes, and the 25A became the 25, which only ran Mon-Fri until 7:30pm or so, and Saturdays only runs every 2 hours. Sundays, it would no longer run. Michael said he'd be okay, but I had to watch as he would go to work, then when he got off, walked nearly an hour to Sheetz on University Blvd., and waited out there until the G3's first inbound run at 5:03am. He'd be home around 7:30am every weekday morning. G3 doesn't run Saturdays, so he began either walking to Robinson, or Coraopolis, to catch a bus in either community. Sundays, he'd walk from Coraopolis to get to work, but was able to get a G3 on Monday morning after work."

The Board of Port Authority approves 15% cuts for March 2011

The Port Authority’s Board of Directors approved today a 15% service cut for March 2011.

As you may recall, in 2010 Port Authority’s budget shortfall and lack of funding lead to a proposed 35% cut in service for March 2011. However, in December 2010, former Governor Ed Rendell provided a $45 million temporary funding solution for the Port Authority and on December 13^th the SPC approved the transfer of funds to the Port Authority.

Since the $45 million covers the shortfall for this fiscal year ( June 2010 to June 2011) only, the Port Authority faced a tough decision on how to best use these funds. And as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors , Guy Mattola pointed out , the Port Authority only had two options : (1) Postpone the 35% service cut to July 17 2011 or (2) restore 20% of the service that was supposed to be cut on March 17 by cutting only 15% of service and thus stretch the $45 million over 18^th months. According to Vice Chairman Mattola the Board’s decision was based on whatever the Board had grounds to believe that additional funding will be provided in July of this year or not.

Our own president, Jonathan Robinson noted that any cuts were contrary to the intent of the funding solution provided by former governor Rendell who hoped to maintain service as is until further funding sources could be found by governor Corbett. Mr. Robinson also expressed his concern about the negative impact that cutting service will have on Port Authority’s already tainted public image, but he admitted that there is no guarantee form Governor Corbett that there will be any additional state funding in six months.

Amalgamated Transit Union President Pat McMahon stated that legislators need to be forced to come up with a funding solution and that we should let legislators tell to public transit riders in Pittsburgh that they do not deserve decent service.

Board Member Jeffrey L. Letwin noted that the board had to consider the best solution for the region and that their job is to prevent the catastrophic impact of a 35% cut.

But even a 15% cut will have a significant impact on the region. Even though only 29 routes will have to be eliminated instead of almost 50, this still represents an estimated ridership loss of 11,000 - 13,000 passenger trips per weekday. Also the Port Authority will have to eliminate 265 jobs, though it will try to limit job elimination to vacancies and retirements. [1] And cuts will not only affect riders, but drivers as well since there will be more cars on the road, more traffic, more congestion and longer commute times. And an increase in traffic will also affect air quality, an environmental issue that Pittsburgh worked on solving since the steel mills closings in the 1980s …This is why no matter if you ride a bus or drive, as long as you live in the Pittsburgh Metro region, you will be affected by these cuts too.

This is why as Board Member Richard W. Taylor stated, these cuts shall only be temporary cuts until the region will find a solution for more funds and service will be restore.

We express the hope that the riders and their representatives, the Port Authority, ATU and local and state legislators will be able to work together to find a solution for dedicated, sustainable funding for public transportation in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

[1] We will return with a post on the specific routes that will be affected by the cuts.

Special thanks to @lndaley for her live tweets from the meeting. This blog post would not have been possible without the information she tweeted. And go and get your Pittsburgh City Paper now!

Will Pittsburgh make this "best of " list another year?

I am browsing the local news this morning when I notice this article in the Tribune-Review: “Pittsburgh fares well in commuter-cost survey” . According to its author, Rick Willis, Pittsburghers spend less time and money commuting than many other urban-dwelling Americans : “An analysis of commuting costs and trends by the investment website TheStreet.com and bundle.com, a personal finance site, ranked Pittsburgh 18th-best among 90 U.S. cities.” [1]

So, I did a quick on-line search and, probably because I did not put much effort in it, I did not find the exact source quoted by the Tribune-Review but I did find this list on bundle.com. As you note Pittsburgh is among the bottom four cities for gas expenses, i.e. Pittsburgh is the fourth cheapest big city when coming to gas expenses for driving around. Which given the projected increase in gas prices is good news for Pittsburgh commuters.

One of the reasons why Pittsburgh is such a friendly city for commuters, according to the Tribune-Review article quoted above, is “affordability of living”. Because housing is still cheaper here when compared with other major metro areas, most people can afford to purchase or build houses within the city or not that far from the city limits, and thus have lower commute times and costs [2] .

Another reason for lower fuel costs across the region is smarter suburban design [3]; the highway network connecting the suburbs around Pittsburgh helps locals take advantage of their cars better mpg fuel economy for highway driving. And it is interesting to note that Pittsburgh is not among the cheapest cities when it comes to car and car related expenses such as maintenance and parking, perhaps because to spend less on fuel, one has to spend more on the vehicle and its maintenance.

But, perhaps the most important reason why Pittsburgh made this “best of “ cities for commuters list is its public transportation network. Or what is still left of its public transportation network. Interestingly the Tribune –Review article mentions that the analysis of commuting costs it costs found that cities at the top have higher walkability rates and good public transportation networks but it does not comment on this finding . Yet walkability and public transportation are essential factors for keeping commuting costs and times down in urban areas. We had previously covered on this blog the impact that Port Authority’s projected cuts will have on commuting times here. Also considering The Carfree Census Database , we note that eight out of the ten cities mentioned by bundle .com for low gas costs are among the top 25 cities with most public transit commuters. Pittsburgh is number 8 , and according to Mike Lewyn’s “Auto Free Most Livable Cities” in the US it ranks as number one.

Now that is great news. Not only that Pittsburgh is number one in the most livable cities in US according to Forbes.com but it is also first on the top when it comes to Carfree Most Livable Cities in US. Unfortunately the Census Database we quoted considers 2000 data, and that was before the Port Authority reduced its services by 15 % and projected further service cuts for this year. I wonder where does Pittsburgh rank based on 2010 data. I am almost certain that Detroit, which was 25^th on the previous list, will rank higher now and it will only go up once its M1 light-rail line is project will be finished and functional. I fear that Pittsburgh will rank lower.

The point I was trying to make above is quite simple. Pittsburgh worked hard on its way to recovery from the collapse of steel industry in the eighties and it is, one more time, a great place to live in. But its new status is still frail and Pittsburghers cannot afford to ignore any of the factors contributing to the recovery of the city. Yes, Pittsburgh offers more affordable housing than most major cities and growing business opportunities in those industries that fare well even through a recession: research, technology, alternative energy, secondary education and healthcare. Yes Pittsburgh has a great potential for cultural events and an active social life and among its suburban school districts are several who were nominated as best in US for the quality of education in their public high schools. However, to a certain extent, all these advantages were re-built around the accessibility of the city cultural district from its suburbs, the walkability any university has to make sure that students can get to school even though most of them do not drive or afford a car. And to attract green businesses one cannot advertise a polluted city of drivers. And we had a covered the relationship between sociability and walkability here.

So I am afraid that while Port Authority struggles to get enough funding to maintain its ongoing operations, cities such as Detroit and even Cleveland are starting to attract more capital investment and develop new projects. I fear that all the work we had put into re-building this city will not amount to much if our public transit falls to pieces…And at that point the least we would have to worry about will be that Pittsburgh will no longer rank among the top twenty cities when it comes to the average cost and time of commuting.

Notes and Sources

[1] Wills, R. - “Pittsburgh fares well in commuter-cost survey” published 12.30.2010 in the Tribune-Review

[2] As we all know, what one deems as affordable is always relative ...Yes housing costs are lower , but so are incomes.

[3]As I read in the a Time Magazine's edition dedicated to the rebirth of Detroit. The featured article The Future of Detroit: How to Shrink a City is also available on-line.

Bundle.com the ten cities with the lowest gas expenses:

Detroit: $755
Jersey City: $993
New York: $1,078
Boston: $1,111
Philadelphia: $1.207
Washington, D.C.: $1,240
Pittsburgh: $1,246
Chula Vista: $1,290
Toledo: $1,291
Honolulu: $1,378