Cranberry to demolish 162-year-old one-room schoolhouse

[greg42]

Originally Posted by ML North

Westinghouse (I think) runs a bus from Monroeville to Cranberry

Ah, that would make sense, given the relocation and how many people might have lived even to the east of that in Murrysville, etc.

Here's an old article from 2 years ago, happens to mention it. Run by Lenzner, same company that does the old Port Authority 13K route from Warrendale/Thorn Hill park and rides. Funny thing is the people in that said they'd pay $10 R/T for a bus downtown, and that's exactly what it costs.

Bus Wishes from Cranberry Commuters - Cranberry, PA Patch

[ML North]

Originally Posted by greg42

Ah, that would make sense, given the relocation and how many people might have lived even to the east of that in Murrysville, etc.

Here's an old article from 2 years ago, happens to mention it. Run by Lenzner, same company that does the old Port Authority 13K route from Warrendale/Thorn Hill park and rides. Funny thing is the people in that said they'd pay $10 R/T for a bus downtown, and that's exactly what it costs.

Bus Wishes from Cranberry Commuters - Cranberry, PA Patch

I work in Cranberry and used the 13K to get to work when my car was being serviced. I woke up around 5AM, caught a city bus into downtown at 530. Caught the 13K downtown around 615, made it to Bladerunners in Warrendale around 7, and then walked a couple miles to my office. I made it to work on time and the whole ordeal cost around $8, which was considerably cheaper than the alternatives (renting a car or calling a cab). But it's definitely not a trip I would want to make every day, haha.

[Shooflypie]

Originally Posted by greg42

Probably a few brave souls who bike in there, but ugh. Too much road in every direction is not conducive to cycling, particularly at typical commuting hours.

I thought Westinghouse ran a bus from the city for reverse commuters though? It's kinda weird when you think about it (if so many employees live in the city that there is call for such a bus, why is the office out there?), but it is a method of public transit so to speak. I'll have to look to see if I'm not dreaming, swear I read about it a couple years ago though.

As far as sprawl goes, short of having widespread policy to discourage certain patterns of development (which would be wildly unpopular), I'm not sure what is to be done. I think the increased commuting cost (fuel) has slowed it a little in some places, but not that much. In Cranberry's case, they do appear to be somewhat more thoughtful about development now, but very little is going to make that place significantly less car-centric given what happened in the preceding decades.

BTW, about the design of that building particularly the exterior, I assume cost was a big constraint? Or they purposely wanted a nondescript building? I mean, I understand the LEED and whatever that entails (although shouldn't dictate appearance too much) but man there's nothing about the building that I would associate with a company that seems to me would want to project a high-tech image these days. Looks like it should house an insurance company....

Westinghouse was running a bus from Monroeville to Cranberry because they were phasing out their buildings campus in Monroeville and shipping their employees to Cranberry via a bus. I don't know if that is still going on or not. That was towards the beginning phase of opening their new HQs. A lot of employees were working in Monroeville and all of a sudden their job is being relocated to Cranberry. Yeah, not the same as out of state, but still would be a pain if you always lived in Murrysville and now your commute to work went from Monroeville to Cranberry.

The design just like everything is always about money. Everything gets VE'd out. Everything. Companies build their HQs for only a short period anyways.

I think what will displace sprawl is going to be a change of opinion in the next few decades. Cars will become more efficient and less dependent on oil we hope. It is a complex issue.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by ML North

I work in Cranberry and used the 13K to get to work when my car was being serviced. I woke up around 5AM, caught a city bus into downtown at 530. Caught the 13K downtown around 615, made it to Bladerunners in Warrendale around 7, and then walked a couple miles to my office. I made it to work on time and the whole ordeal cost around $8, which was considerably cheaper than the alternatives (renting a car or calling a cab). But it's definitely not a trip I would want to make every day, haha.

Heh, yeah. The reverse runs are more for someone coming downtown in the evening and back in the morning (to their car, parked in those lots). I'm not sure what kind of shift that would allow for, but apparently a few people do use it that way. To use it for commuting TO Cranberry, well, it would work fine for a few of those buildings right in Thorn Hill but otherwise a hike. The 8 bucks was probably about 1/4 the rental car cost, but now it would be $15.00, almost double so approaching 1/2 the rental car!

We have one car and I usually just give in and rent a car if I need to leave it all day in the shop. It was a calculated thing. We used to have two cars, but having a few extra one-day rentals a year is way cheaper than keeping an extra car. Although, okay, last year I had a week rental for one breakdown. But even then it still works out better.

[strawberrrylime]

I honestly had no idea this was even there.