Transit in the Pittsburgh Metro Area

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).

Previously cuts to public transit hasn't had an effect on me, I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio where the WRTA bus was not something ANYONE would ride, partly due to limited service, partly due to safety concerns. Michael, however, grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where the COTA system is (in his opinion) very efficient. I know nothing of the COTA system other than what he has said. Regardless, at 18 I had my first car, by 19 I had wrecked it, had another one, then bought a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am in Jan of 2007. I moved to New Philadelphia, Ohio, where Michael lived when we got together, where public transit is unheard of. Michael at the time was under a 7 year suspension of his driving privileges, and I drove everywhere.

On Friday, July 13, 2007 he fell down the stairs at our apartment, and his right wrist was lacerated to the bone, tendons, arteries, nerves, all severed. He was life-flighted to Akron, $30,000+, 6 hour surgery later and things were reattached, but there was no promise he'd ever get feeling back in his hand. At the time he was a press operator for nearly 3 years at Robin Industries in the middle of Amish country. He loved his job, he was good at his job, and he made good money, 5-600 a week. That accident took a lot away from him, and as a consequence, me as well. Slowly we couldn't afford our living situation, had my ex move in with us, then Michael's mother, who subsequently passed on January 31, 2008. Michael was devastated, as was I. While we tried to pick up the pieces during all of this, our economy collapsed. Tuscarawas County in Ohio had nothing in the line of jobs. The time came where we stared at an eviction notice.

Were it not for my friend of 6 years, someone who is like a father to me, Keith, we would have had a bad situation, neither of us with a home to go to, possibly turning to family for a place to stay. Keith owned a piece of property, half of a duplex in the Boro of Glassport, 30 minutes southeast of Pittsburgh. That property had over $20,000 in back-due taxes from the prior owners never paying it after their family member they inherited it from, had passed on. Keith paid $1000 for it. We paid the same, though not all to Keith. The additional $1000 came in a ton of renovations Michael and his brother put into the place prior to, and after Michael and I moved in, calling this very structure our home. The beginning of a new life for us. No rent, just payments on back-due taxes, and the regular utility bills.

As we prepared to sign the deed, I was involved in an accident outside Columbus, after visiting Michael's family. My Grand Am was totaled. My grandmother, God bless her to this day, wrote a $5000 check off her credit card to buy a 2002 Saturn SC2 so that I had a car when we moved. That car continued a long tradition that I've always had a car since leaving my grandmother's in 2007.

After our move-in on June 1st, 2008, I worked briefly at the local pizza shop delivering pizzas, one of my favorite job positions, and the best one for me. Come August 1st, Michael got a proposition online from Integrative Staffing in Moon Township, by the airport, an hour drive away, to work at Premier Pan in Glenwillard (nearby). I agreed I'd take him to work, as I always had done when he worked at Robin. A matter of days later, I was contacted by TechUSA for a project involving the Pittsburgh Public Schools installing new computers. The times worked perfect, Michael worked at 6am, I worked at 8-8:30am. That lasted til September 26th, 2008 when my project was complete, and the next day Michael was let go from Premier Pan. He couldn't keep up the pace due to his wrist injury.

October of that year the stock market took a nose-dive, but luckily Michael was propositioned from the temp agency to work at Robert Morris University as a dishwasher/dining room attendant in the cafe. That job he has worked extremely hard at, and managed to be hired in fully by March 2009, and subsequently had his hours increased to nearly 65 hours most weeks. His shift was typically 4p-close, which was 12:30am or so. I had no problem taking him to work, and eventually during a snow storm, his boss asked me to stay after it took me nearly 3 hours to get him to work. From that point forward I was entitled to a sandwich and drink while I sat in the cafe and occupied myself on my laptop while Michael worked. There were no issues, he got to work, we saved over 60 miles worth of gas each day that I would have otherwise burnt off.

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.

Looking at all this, it's a tough spot. We get suggestions over and over to move closer to RMU. Not an option, the cost of living is far too expensive here to live in an apartment, not to mention our 2 chihuahuas, and our roommate/best friend. So the next, more logical option is to get a car. In Pennsylvania there is state-wide safety inspection, and county-wide emissions inspection. That cost, on top of cost for plates, and possibly required maintenance in order to pass the inspections, create a huge barrier for entry for anyone to own a car here. In addition, there's difference in car insurance, I'm insured by Nationwide in Youngstown, they don't cover Allegheny County, and I would lose a lot of my discounts (mult-car household, long-term customer from my grandmother, home-owners insurance bundled discount) and in PA there's a funeral provision that is required on policy holders, in addition to the change in garage address having a different rate based on local crime rates. My hometown of Boardman was cheaper than even New Philadelphia, which was virtually crime-free, something that amazed me.

So, what do we do? Continue using buses for now, begging and offering gas money for others to pick Michael up from work at night. But what about this funding crisis?

Port Authority received $45 million from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to assist in the funding crisis, delaying the change in routes. The fares increased at the beginning of the year. The $6.25 to Robert Morris has gone up to around $7.50 now, or somewhere around there. Passes, while they do pay off quickly, are expensive. Especially compared to a car, and carpooling just negates the entire "benefit" of the passes. If 2 people are going to the same place, or nearby (like the job opportunities I've had to ignore up in Robinson because I don't have money to get there), it's far cheaper for them to ride together in a car, than to both pay separate fares on the bus.

Then there's the route changes. 15% service cuts expected in March, even after the $45 million bailout. Lovely, 55 and 25 are on the outskirts, so they will most likely be first on the list. While the 55 isn't of a ton of concern, as Michael and I have gotten accustomed to walking the 30 minutes to the bus stop for the 56, the 25 is essential to his route to work.

What are we to do? Complaints and filing official statements, like we did previously in the fall when Port Authority had a comment period, don't make any promises, and certainly can't stop the plans. One bus route for maybe 2 complaints won't make a difference to the Port Authority board and planners, who probably have never ridden a bus in their lives.

I haven't got much in closing, or even much summarizing I can do, other than saying that on Twitter, TransitGuru and I did go back and forth about funding, and the idea brought forth from TransitGuru of a vehicle mileage tax, whereby every year, as the example provided by bus15237, you pay $1 for every 1,000 miles traveled. That's around $20-30 for me, I easily put that many miles on my car. But that gives me more reason to keep my Ohio plates/license, instead of paying outrageous amounts for the "luxury" of having a personal vehicle. I'm sorry I want to be able to go wherever I want, whenever I want.