You think its bad for PAT now, it's about to get A LOT WORSE! (Pittsburgh: bike, best)

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by UKyank

The huge tax break & other incentives offered to AEO didn't hurt either

That is so true. The South Side Works is basically the burbs with a worse location. If you don't live on the South Side it is brutal to get there. The even have to give free parking for employees.

If they really wanted to do something for the city they would have moved downtown.

[999cm999]

About 10 years ago, I was 30 years old, living in Columbus, Ohio and looking for another college city to move to. I considered a few options, but ultimately settled on Pittsburgh based on 4 reasons. One of those reasons was that the public transportation appeared to be very good(it's hard to judge a cities public transportation based on only a few visits, but I tried).

After moving here, I was rewarded with a public transportation system that was even better than I could have ever imagined. My first 5 years in Pittsburgh, I lived in Shadyside and Sq. Hill and took the bus downtown.

After meeting my fiance, we moved to the South Hills but still had a bus that stopped right down the street from where we lived.

Fast forward to now, we are still in the South Hills, yet the closest bus stop is 3 miles away when just a few years ago it was 50 yards...that's quite a long walk every morning. So what I do now is drive down to the Southside, park, and take a bus to my job in Oakland.

But now with these latest proposed cuts, my commute will be affected further and I will probably just end up driving to Oakland.

I guess my whole point of this post is to offer one mans perspective on how this gradual destruction of PAT has affected living in Pittsburgh.

If PAT had been what it is now, I would have never moved here.

With these cuts, the city and state might be saving money in the short term, but I believe that they will ultimately hurt Pittsburgh's economic and cultural future for generations to come.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by 999cm999

If PAT had been what it is now, I would have never moved here.

With these cuts, the city and state might be saving money in the short term, but I believe that they will ultimately hurt Pittsburgh's economic and cultural future for generations to come.

Any many other will look at this the same way you do....This will absolutely hurt the City and its ability to compete with other cities.

(1) New York (Transit Score: 81)

(2) San Francisco (Transit Score: 80)

(3) Boston (Transit Score: 74)

(4) Washington, D.C. (Transit Score: 69)

(5) Philadelphia (Transit Score: 68)

(6) Chicago (Transit Score: 65)

(7) Seattle (Transit Score: 59)

(8) Miami (Transit Score: 57)

(9) Baltimore (Transit Score: 57)

(10) Portland (Transit Score: 50)

(11) Los Angeles (Transit Score: 49)

(12) Milwaukee (Transit Score: 49)

(13) Denver (Transit Score: 47)

(14) Cleveland (Transit Score: 45)

(15) San Jose (Transit Score; 40)

(16) Dallas (Transit Score: 39)

(17) Houston (Transit Score: 36)

(18) San Diego (Transit Score: 36)

(19) San Antonio (Transit Score: 35)

(20) Kansas City (Transit Score: 34)

(21) Austin (Transit Score: 33)

(22) Sacramento (Transit Score: 32)

(23) Las Vegas (Transit Score: 32)

(24) Columbus (Transit Score: 29)

(25) Raleigh (Transit Score: 23)

How car-centric is your city? Public transit ranked

Notice all those "peer" cities that rank very high in Public Transportation....Even LA (the ultimate "Car" City) ranks high in Public Transit.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Ya know, if you live in the North Hills, driving to Cranberry sure beats taking a bus or sitting in traffic for an hour to get to your job Dahntahn. Some people, believe it or not, like suburban living.

If you live in a suburb and work there, that is great. There IS employment in the suburbs and it makes perfect sense. Point should be noted.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by 999cm999

After meeting my fiance, we moved to the South Hills but still had a bus that stopped right down the street from where we lived.

1. Where in the South Hills?
2. Are you going to try and compare living in the South Hills to an Oakland or Shadyside? Um, they are two different styles of living and obviously the South Hills bus service isn't going to compare to Shadyside. It never will. Why should it? That promotes sprawl.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Notice all those "peer" cities that rank very high in Public Transportation....Even LA (the ultimate "Car" City) ranks high in Public Transit.

We seem to be holding our own.

Using 2000 Census data, the Census estimated what was happening to the daytime populations of various places due to commuters (non-residents coming in to the place to work). The following is a table I extracted of the percent increase in daytime population due to net commuting (only for the central cities of larger metros):

Washington (DC) 71.8
Orlando 70.7
Atlanta 67.4
Tampa 47.5
Pittsburgh 41.3
Boston 41.1
Miami 37.3
St Louis 35.1
Cincy 31.0
Seattle 28.4
Denver 28.0
Minneapolis 25.0 (St Paul 14.5)
Sacramento 24.8
Cleveland 24.0

[Aqua Teen Carl]

If PAT really does go farther into the sh*tter you can count out all of those young, car-less folks looking at Pittsburgh. That will put a grinding halt to our cultural renaissance pretty quickly.

Yay, progress.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

We seem to be holding our own.

Using 2000 Census data, the Census estimated what was happening to the daytime populations of various places due to commuters (non-residents coming in to the place to work). The following is a table I extracted of the percent increase in daytime population due to net commuting (only for the central cities of larger metros):

and half of those Commuting into the Central City, uses PAT to get there....what do you think will happen to that number once PAT is no longer factor.

[999cm999]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

1. Where in the South Hills?
2. Are you going to try and compare living in the South Hills to an Oakland or Shadyside? Um, they are two different styles of living and obviously the South Hills bus service isn't going to compare to Shadyside. It never will. Why should it? That promotes sprawl.

1) South Baldwin

2) I wasn't making a formal comparison. I was telling a story(very boring one) of how the PAT cuts have affected me.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

. That will put a grinding halt to our cultural renaissance pretty quickly.

Yay, progress.

Can't agree. People will take the bull by the horns and either move close to work, or find better ways. Progress is going to take place with or without relying on some PAT backwards bus. They got greedy and Pittsburgh will figure out a way without them. I feel people grossly underestimate Pittsburgh people and the history here. A cut in service won't slow anything around here. If anything, it will make people move to a greener way and become more efficient. This isn't like NYC. This place is smaller and more resilient than any NYC could ever be. We used to be a one industry town and if you look at a timeline, that was just the other day. Look at us now. Please don't insult the people around here. A cut in PAT means very little to us. We just held the G20 an that International Environmental meeting. Please. We are transforming our rivers into playgrounds and our river fronts into greatness. Don't be silly about all this.