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

[gg]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

In other words . . .

"I love congestion!"

No, hoping this spurs on a change. This PAT crap is old and bailing them out with more and more taxes to the people of Allegheny County is horrendous. Maybe if they fold the drink tax will go away (unlikely) and a independent well run company will come in and take care of the needs of our region. PAT hasn't worked out and they need to go.

[urbanpreppie05]

Lots of park and rides are going to close down. Hope this is the big shake up that is needed to rid a company that pays $80K or more for some of their drivers and who knows what other wasteful crap that goes on that costs us all piles of extra money in taxes.

You know, you keep saying this...and i'm jumping in. When is the last time you've taken the bus or T? Do you know that any driver that makes that much probably has no life outside of work? Many times drivers work 12-16 hour shifts at a time. A driver is not a 9-5 office job. These people get thousands of people home, to work, to the doctor's office, whatever each day. 99.9% of the time they do it safely, and without incident. What gives you the right to dictate how much they should make? Because they may not have gone to college for this job? How many of these drivers even make this much money?

Public Transit should be a public service (and is and most places around the country). Toronto's tried privatization. It hasn't worked. Lenzner Tours tried to do a private bus route just this past year-and when it wasnt profitable, they stopped running it. Granted, this was a suburban park-n-ride route to downtown, but what happens when the buses stop coming to Elizabeth? Mckeesport? Versailles? Trafford? How will the poor, disabled, or elderly get around? Yes, the Port Authority-IN THE PAST- has mismanaged things. The current administration has been trying to fix things, but as long as those astronomical legacy costs remain, they will never be able to.

[ferraris]

This article is a little dated, but it's all I could find on a quick google search. Port Authority defends overtime - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Seven drivers and two hourly employees grossed more than $80,000, including overtime.

Can we stop acting like the salary of 7 drivers (possibly even fewer now) is causing PAT's financial issues?

The median pay for drivers was $49,000, including overtime. In 2005, the Port Authority had 1,580 drivers on the payroll.

Hmmm....median, that means that there were 790 drivers that made 49K or less. PAT's salaries may be slightly on the high side on average, but not atrociously so. And contracts have been renegotiated since the time of that article anyway.

[BrianTH]

The key part of that article is this:

Bob Grove, a Port Authority spokesman, said it's still cheaper to pay employees to work extra hours than it would be to hire more drivers. Salaries plus benefits and pension payments would be costlier, he said. "It's more efficient to pay overtime," Grove said. "That's why it's done."

So ironically the people complaining about the salaries that can result from overtime are de facto trying to make PAT less efficient and increase its benefits costs.

I think the general lesson here is that there isn't a lot of low-hanging fruit left in terms of PAT becoming more efficient. They should keep working on that of course, but there isn't some magic button sitting in Steve Bland's office that he can push and suddenly PAT will provide the same level of service for a lot less funding. And that is because if such a button existed, he would already have pushed it long ago.

[Lobick]

This:

State is liable to wreck transit at any cost

[gg]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Can we stop acting like the salary of 7 drivers (possibly even fewer now) is causing PAT's financial issues?

Over compensation IS part of the problem. Stop acting like it is no big deal. Spending money you don't have IS a big deal. Do you have any idea the shortfall for next year?

“Right now we’re facing a $64 million deficit for the coming fiscal year,” Ritchie said.

I realize you and Brian want to defend PAT's practices, but you cannot pay drivers that much if you are going belly up. After 20 years on the job they get full pension AND all that healthcare that was promised. How can you people defend this company? $64 MILLION! Where is that money going to come from? The people who use PAT? Hardly! It will come in the form of a cost shift from some other business or whatever. The drink tax brought in how much from on industry and as bars/restaurants close due to the shortfall, what other business in Allegheny County can we suck money from? Oh, but if is fine for a few drivers to make over $80K a year and that article is dated as you said.

Stop defending a company that is killing our area with new taxes and no doubt more new taxes to come. They are chopping service to almost nothing and we get to keep all these new taxes. Who do you want to point the finger at? Me as a tax payer? You? How about PAT and their practices. Sure go ahead and defend them. We can calmly agree to disagree. I am tired of paying the 7% extra if I have a beer or whatever out. What are they going to hit us up next to make people justify moving to Cranberry? I would prefer our region is more competitive, so we don't have people leaving. We already lost 50% of our population. Do you want to make it another 50%? For what? PAT's union? Not worth it. Let them sink and don't give them a dime. See how the greed of that union works out for them. The employees are paying those dues for the golden parachutes for a job like a bus driver. I think the people need to send a message. Sink or swim on your own.

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Who do you want to point the finger at?

The Governor.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Lobick

The Governor.

Yes, although various anti-transit media outlets and the know-nothing PAT-bashers in the public are helping to enable him.

Still, with Corbett's own commission recommending a solution, and the legislature his party controls being willing to act on those recommendations, he really is standing alone in opposition to solving this crisis.

[greg42]

Me, I'm mostly selfish. I don't give a crap about PAT's practices; I just don't want more traffic in my way in the morning or more cars in before me at the parking garage. In addition to the selfish bit, I care much more about the workers and businesses the cuts would affect than I care about how poorly PAT was managed in the past or the present. Thus, I would rather not see any more service cuts, regardless of whether that means continuing bad practices or not.

If you (meaning anyone) think the service cuts won't affect you because you never use transit, you (meaning anyone who believes that) are stupid.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by greg42

Me, I'm mostly selfish. I don't give a crap about PAT's practices; I just don't want more traffic in my way in the morning or more cars in before me at the parking garage. In addition to the selfish bit, I care much more about the workers and businesses the cuts would affect than I care about how poorly PAT was managed in the past or the present. Thus, I would rather not see any more service cuts, regardless of whether that means continuing bad practices or not.

If you (meaning anyone) think the service cuts won't affect you because you never use transit, you (meaning anyone who believes that) are stupid.