Today is rant time.
My car died back in March, for those that are close to me that already knew, I'm sorry. Crankshaft had a catastrophic failure, followed by the piston rod shooting through my engine during afternoon rush hour between the Campbell's Run and PA-60 exits on the parkway west (that's Pittsburghese for I-376 on the west side of Pittsburgh).
So, in the process I was forced to withdraw from classes at Robert Morris University, and my partner, Michael, must now ride a bus to and from work (Robert Morris) which is a 34 mile journey. Might I add that the Port Authority of Allegheny County hasn't made that a very easy task in the last few months.
See, they hired some outside consultants (read: people from God only knows where, who are unfamiliar with the city of Pittsburgh and our ridership patterns) to try and make Pittsburgh's bus system more streamlined (read: cost-efficient) and serve the people better (read: live close to the city or suffer). In this process, the original 2-bus plan to get to/from work using the 56C and 28K has been completely removed. The 56C turned into the 56 back on June 13th. Complaints? None at all, I actually am happy with the fact they made the route take less side-treks. 28K, on the other hand, has become the G3, which now runs inbound only in the morning and outbound only in the afternoon. Lovely, now he (and myself as well) must ride any of a combination of buses, depending on the time of day. Typical travel time? 3 and a half hours, give or take. The alternate route was the 56C to the 28X (downtown) then the 25A to Robert Morris. The 28X runs on a very timely schedule, but as of April's changes, it no longer would stop in Robinson (G2 picked up that stop, but doesn't run nearly as often, with the exception of morning and evening rush hours).
So, the bus system now has become a mess. To make matters worse, they are complaining of a deficit of 55 million dollars. Okay, well that's a shame, I'm sorry to hear that. But at $2.75 for a 2-zone fare, it's not a cheap option for some people. That is expected to change to $6-7 if the Port Authority can't recover from the projected deficit in next year's budget. Come again? $6-7 just to ride a bus into town? Are you INSANE?! Punish those of us outside the city to make up for the fact that you guys have poor planning and ridership?
I have watched the local buses here in Glassport. We have ONE route, formerly the 55M, now the 55. Not a lot of people ride it, and I understand why, it's a pain to have a route that only goes to McKeesport or West Mifflin (formerly stopped at the Waterfront). They run a 40-some foot long Gillig low-floor bus on that route. Occasionally they send out an antique '96 NovaBus (with no A/C) on the route. There is NO need for that big of a bus on the route! A short commuter bus (like the 60, 61, 62 routes that run in the hills behind Glassport) would be more appropriate. Sure, they're not a comfortable ride, but I'd imagine they are cheaper to run and maintain.
Then there's the issue of student discounts. University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University students get to ride "free". Okay, well it's not necessarily free, it's basically (from my understanding) a year-long subscription to bus passes, with an endorsement placed on the student ID. Lovely; for them. Pittsburgh has multiple universities, not just the big ones or the ones in Oakland (as I'm sure there are others with the option to ride free). Robert Morris University has a main campus in Moon Township, and their former main campus in downtown Pittsburgh. As an RMU student, I get NOTHING when it comes to a discount. Oh, I'm sorry, after 7pm weekdays, all day on weekends, I can ride a bus ONE ZONE for $1. You're kidding, right? I'm a commuter student. I don't live on campus. Punish me for not being able to drive to school? I understand that RMU would have to make a contract with Port Authority and pay upwards of $10 million a year for its students to have an endorsement, but RMU is a private university, they have a tight budget to begin with, and most students don't leave campus.
Now, the good news was that RMU provided a free shuttle between the 2 campuses. So that required one bus to downtown, then jump on the RMU shuttle. Perfect! Well, until they announced they are closing and selling the downtown building. There goes that free shuttle. So, I'm expected to pay full-fare to get to/from school on a weekday if it's before 7pm. After 7, I get a lowly $1 off my regular fare, since the only one-zone ride I take is the 25A from RMU to Robinson. Regular back/forth bus fare is $12.50. You have to be kidding me.
I'll admit it now, I just show every driver my ID at all times. Some don't care and count me as a student of the University of Pitt. Others let me put the dollar in. And the ones that let me put that one lonely dollar in, don't care that it's limited to one zone. In fact, a few of the drivers I see on a regular basis and if they do know about it, by now they should have said something. Then there's the die-hard rule-followers who force me to pay full fare. Yeah, I get it, I'm not following the rules if I don't. But seriously, I have no job, I receive food stamps, and finding a job is impossible! At least let someone with an EBT card ride at half fare or something!
Speaking of food stamps and EBT cards, the welfare office on this side of Pittsburgh has no limit on how long a person can receive stamps. ABAWD exempt status, for those familiar with the term, lifts all restrictions on how long an individual can receive stamps. Basically, federal law states that an Able Bodied Adult Without Dependents (ABAWD) can receive food stamps for 3 months in a 3 year time-frame. However, living in the Monongahela River Valley, we have nothing in the line of work, so we are ABAWD exempt (back in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County was ABAWD exempt also).
In the 80's the boro of Glassport had around 8000 people residing here. In the year 2000, that number had cut in half to 4000. I'm anxious to find out the results of the 2010 census. 2000 residents? I'm one of them. I may not have chose Glassport, because the house was cheap, but I figured it would suffice, as it's close enough without being too close, and far enough without being too far. At this point I almost feel like I'm in a worse spot than in New Philadelphia, Ohio. At least there I could get to Wal-Mart in 15 minutes, or had the option of going to the mall in a 15 minute walk. Here, both of those are so far a bus must be used to get to them.
Anyway, I've encountered quite a few problems while job-hunting here. As the economy began to rebound (or did it?), I had enrolled for spring semester at RMU. I felt that my time would be best used working on classwork, not a 9-to-5 causing my head to spin with all the coursework. Then, come March, my car dies. I've applied for jobs at the nearest fast-food restaurants that I can get access to. They ask me "how would you be getting to work?" or "do you have reliable transportation?". My answer has always been honest (since honesty is the best policy, afterall). I take Port Authority buses. Do you have ANY clue how many places don't want to hire someone because they take the transit system?! Last night I realized why, and sadly it will doom me to never have a job so long as I don't have my own vehicle.
Michael and I were at RMU, he was out at 6:10p from work, the 25A toward Robinson was due at 6:15p. We waited. And waited. And waited, until it was 6:40 and I was calling the Port Authority customer service line. 15 minutes on hold, and I finally got someone.
"Well, I don't see a report of a bus broken down, let me ask traffic what happened."
8 minutes on hold.
"Okay, the bus didn't have functioning A/C, so there was no bus on the route."
EXCUSE ME?! I don't care if it doesn't have A/C, put the darned thing on the route, I want to get home, not wait on a bus! As Michael said to me last night-- "What if I was heading to work? Am I to call and say the bus just didn't come? I'd be fired in a heartbeat!" And he's right.
We took the next 25A to Coraopolis (at 7:00 or so), and then walked to Neville Island to wait for the 21 inbound (not til 7:54). A hybrid bus rolled up, a beautiful, quiet, brand-spankin-new bus. Not a soul on board but the driver. Are you kidding me? I chatted with her, mentioning our wonderful luck with buses. She said that she had just come from lunch and didn't hear of any buses not going out due to A/C issues. The only problem was not enough buses for drivers to run the routes.
Not. Enough. Buses.
I've had it. The Port Authority of Allegheny County has done themselves in. For months I've heard driver after driver after driver complain about Dan Onoroto and the higher-ups (who have neither drove nor rode the buses) preparing the company to be destroyed. It will be split into many private companies and the fares will increase while service will be cut from different parts of the county.
Um. I get it, Port Authority was created in the 50's/60's by buying up over 38 private transit companies in Allegheny county, who wants go back to that. But the increase in fares/decrease in service is ALREADY HAPPENING. So really, what is there to lose?
I would save so, SO much money buying a cheap car back home in Ohio (to avoid the stupid inspections over here) and having the freedom to go where I want, when I want, all over again.
This city has slowly become my enemy. I dreamt of moving to Pittsburgh many years ago as a student in high school back in Youngstown, Ohio. I thought it was the most beautiful, scenic city. It still is, I was bewildered looking at the buildings downtown last night while waiting 45 minutes for the next 56 outbound. But the love-affair has worn off. From the local government to the transit, it's a shamble. What a shame to see all of this go to waste. In many ways, I hope that the Port Authority does go under. Maybe someone else can make things more accessible and cheaper. Hell, bring back the commuter line through McKeesport, it was only 30-some years ago that it was ripped out. I'm not saying the street cars should come back, but GOOD LORD, spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a TUNNEL under the Allegheny River so that people can go to the north shore and do one of 4 things: See the Steelers/Panthers, see the Pirates (that's a joke), visit the casino, or visit the Science Center. Do you know which of those I'd do? MAYBE the Science Center. I haven't been there in 15 years, I'm probably due, but come on-- That was a huge waste of money that could have been spent putting light rail lines back down the Monongahela River to get transit back out here where it's clearly needed, not dig a tunnel because it will "attract more people to the north shore". Sure it'll attract more people, but I bet that running a LR line out here would have had a much higher daily ridership, and some bus routes could be sacrificed to let the rails take up the slack.
But I'm not running the company, am I? Nope. I'd rather not be. I'd work in their IT department, that's my bread and butter. The only reason for me to attend RMU is so I could get the paper (degree) saying I know what I'm talking about with computers. I spend every waking minute with a computer or smartphone in hand. Even on the buses! I have a passion for computers, but I won't make any money on it living in our house out here in Glassport. At least not without a vehicle.
So, on those words I say thanks for listening.
OH, and before I hear it about bus passes and tickets, I must point out that weekly passes are currently $27.50 and monthly are over $100. Even Michael said he would be better off putting gas in a hybrid car for a month and having no restrictions on when and where we can go places. I just want to get out of the county for a day, and I can't even do THAT!
Fin.
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