Downtown: Bus-free? (Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Liberty: school, living in, shop)

[Hopes]

I hope they use Ft. Duquesne instead of Liberty or Penn.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by trlstreet

This is a fairly bad idea. Sure, let's make it more difficult for those of us who take public transportation and make it a little easier for those with cars to get in and out of town a few minutes quicker. Aren't we trying to get more people to use public transportation to ease congestion?

When I drive into town, I park on the outer perimeter and walk into the area, just like bus riders will have to do if this is implemented. The reason I park on the outer part of town is because it's much quicker to walk through town than to drive through town. That goes for busses too. When I ride the bus, I get off at the first bus stop and walk through town, even if I'm working on the other side, and I always beat the people who get off at the last bus stop. Our downtown is small. You can walk from one side to the other in less than 10 minutes.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by trlstreet

I'd assume they would route all bus traffic on Liberty, Boulevard, and Grant clockwise? I'd be OK with this if a dedicated bus lane is added to these streets (no deliveries or car drop offs). Or, better yet, why not route bus traffic down William Penn Way as opposed to Grant? I'd think that would help lessen traffic on Grant and bring the bus a little closer for those riders working within the core.

William Penn Way is pretty narrow with lots of limo traffic particularly around Mellon Square, really would make it difficult for people to pass the buses in that that street. Further, it doesn't provide convenient transfer access for folks heading to South Hills as the T station is on Grant St.

Ditto for replacing Liberty Ave. with Ft. Duquesne Blvd. Liberty has access to the Wood St. T station, riders transferring through could have access to the junk food joints across from that T station when they are moving through town.


Moving the line all the way out there would be hurtful to McDonalds as well as their customers, and make the journey of those using town as a transit hub a lot more difficult.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I hope they use Ft. Duquesne instead of Liberty or Penn.

Why!?....Liberty is wide enough to handle bus traffic....Why are you forcing everyone to walk all the way over to Ft Duq Blvd... Is it to accommodate more lazy-ass "I want more free Parking Downtown" Suburbanites?

The Problem downtown is too few buses outside of the Peak hours, causing more people to Drive into town, and this plan will just cause more people to want to Drive.

Pittsburgh needs more/better Public Transit, NOT LESS, it need to stop catering to the Lazy-Ass Car Culture demands here and find ways to get people OUT of their cars, not put more people into them.

Its ridiculous that at 3pm Saturday afternoon the Parkway West is back up just like it's Monday morning.

Some buses can have their Routing downtown streamlined better, also buses don't need to stop every block is another big problem. But having all buses coming into town on the same clockwise/counterclockwise routing on the very edges of the city is uncalled for really, its just going to alienate that many more people from the core.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Some buses can have their Routing downtown streamlined better, also buses don't need to stop every block is another big problem. But having all buses coming into town on the same clockwise/counterclockwise routing on the very edges of the city is uncalled for really, its just going to alienate that many more people from the core.

this kind of idea would definitely hurt a lot of businesses around town by keeping the bus patrons on the outskirts.

But your criticism of "car culture" is a tad unwarranted for Pittsburgh. Lots of area residents really don't have many public transport options and a lot of times those option require long walks from their residences for a few number of trips which may or may not be going where they want to go.

Although I agree that making public transport easier and more effective for those who rely upon it is something good to work for.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Ditto for replacing Liberty Ave. with Ft. Duquesne Blvd. Liberty has access to the Wood St. T station, riders transferring through could have access to the junk food joints across from that T station when they are moving through town.

It's only an extra two blocks to the Wood Street T station.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Why!?....Liberty is wide enough to handle bus traffic....Why are you forcing everyone to walk all the way over to Ft Duq Blvd... Is it to accommodate more lazy-ass "I want more free Parking Downtown" Suburbanites?

When I drive downtown, I park at Fort Duquesne Blvd and walk to wherever I need to go. If walking is good enough for my lazy suburbanite ass, it's good enough for bus riders too. As I said, I ALWAYS get off at the very first stop in town when I take a bus because it's faster to walk through town than it is to drive/ride via car or bus.

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Pittsburgh needs more/better Public Transit, NOT LESS, it need to stop catering to the Lazy-Ass Car Culture demands here and find ways to get people OUT of their cars, not put more people into them.

Pittsburgh needs less large crowds of people standing around with nothing to do with their day. They aren't catching busses. They are using the bus stops to loiter. Police can't move them along because they claim they are waiting for a bus. If they want to loiter, they can do it on Fort Duquesne Blvd where they aren't interfering with businesses.

[Debbie1125]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Why!?....Liberty is wide enough to handle bus traffic....Why are you forcing everyone to walk all the way over to Ft Duq Blvd... Is it to accommodate more lazy-ass "I want more free Parking Downtown" Suburbanites?

The Problem downtown is too few buses outside of the Peak hours, causing more people to Drive into town, and this plan will just cause more people to want to Drive.

Pittsburgh needs more/better Public Transit, NOT LESS, it need to stop catering to the Lazy-Ass Car Culture demands here and find ways to get people OUT of their cars, not put more people into them.

Its ridiculous that at 3pm Saturday afternoon the Parkway West is back up just like it's Monday morning.

Some buses can have their Routing downtown streamlined better, also buses don't need to stop every block is another big problem. But having all buses coming into town on the same clockwise/counterclockwise routing on the very edges of the city is uncalled for really, its just going to alienate that many more people from the core.

I agree. This will encourage more people to drive thus making congestion worse. I know one group who likes the bus free downtown proposal. The owners of parking lots and parking garages.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Pittsburgh needs less large crowds of people standing around with nothing to do with their day. They aren't catching busses. They are using the bus stops to loiter. Police can't move them along because they claim they are waiting for a bus. If they want to loiter, they can do it on Fort Duquesne Blvd where they aren't interfering with businesses.

Please that's just an excuse for the Police not to do their JOBS! The Wood Street T station is a big big big problem of loitering of High School kids. They purposely come downtown to that specific stop looking to pick fights, the police could easily defuse the situation by keeping an eye on who's just "hanging around". None of the buses that stop at the Wood Street T or on Sixth Ave along side Sally's run infrequent enough that anyone should be standing there more than 30 mins at the longest. The Police could just simply ask " I noticed you standing here for a while are you waiting for a Bus???" if "yes", "What Bus"? and then look for that bus and see if he/she/they get on it, if not the police should simply take it from there.

There is a whole lot the Police can do, especially since PAT police congregate right there at the T station as well.

Again to force everyone over to the edges of town simply because a bunch of loitering kids scares "some" people is Extreme and Uncalled for, and not fair to all people who use the system responsibly especially those that cannot walk long blocks to get their bus i.e. Grandma!. Unlike Lazy-Ass Car Driving Suburbanites.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

...especially those that cannot walk long blocks to get their bus i.e. Grandma!.

For people incapable of walking two city blocks, they'll more likely take ACCESS instead of riding the bus downtown.