Downtown: Bus-free? (Liberty, Smithfield: how much, homes, schools)

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

As a delivery driver/delivery driver manager who is often in both Downtown and Oakland I can safely assure you that Pepsi drivers, Wheel Deliver drivers, UPS, FedEx, Edible Arrangements drivers, floral delivery personnel, DHL, Pizza Hut drivers, and every other delivery driver in this city will NOT park on the North Side or in Station Square and lug numerous loads of heavy objects all the way to the Oliver Building or Gateway Center.

I'm only suggesting they not be allowed to do it during rush hours.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by rockthecasbah121

Are you one of the people delivering drugs to McDonalds then? What are you delivering that nets you more money than using your degree?

Food. Just food. No drugs. Our drivers earn $3 per order (paid bi-weekly), and tips (averaging $5 per order) are paid daily. On an average day in our busy Fall/Winter seasons I may do 20 deliveries (although my daily record is 27). That's $60 ($3 x 20 orders) + $100 ($5 x 20 orders) for a total of $160 earned. Our corporate lunch orders tend to have more generous tips (20 people in an office each chip in $0.50 to $1 towards tip for their food so the driver makes a $10-$20 tip). As a senior driver I earn $3.25 per order, and my average during the day tends to be more like $7 per order in tips when you factor in getting one or two larger Downtown/CMU/Pitt/UPMC lunch orders like that each weekday. One day last week I cleared $200 when we had a ton of larger orders.

Granted from this I deduct taxes, fuel, and maintenance on the vehicle, but with a newer fuel-efficient car and writing off most of my mileage on Schedule C as business expenditures (I've already put 11,000 miles on my brand new car, about 80% of which are work-related) I usually owe very little to Uncle Sam, if anything at all. When I hear people (who have vehicles) ballyhooing and whining about how financially-desperate they are I have little sympathy because you can deliver food and make money to pay your outstanding bills within days. If I ever accidentally overspend on something or have a bill come out twice unexpectedly, I just come in to pick up an extra shift or two, and everything is fine.

Obviously our economy is quite robust here in Pittsburgh if I'm perpetually having trouble hiring.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I'm only suggesting they not be allowed to do it during rush hours.

Fair enough to demand delivery rescheduling in terms of the Pepsi trucks, UPS, FedEx, and other big vehicles that just block a lane of traffic, although you'd still have to let the "little guys" (i.e. Edible Arrangements, Pizza Hut, Wheel Deliver, florists, dry cleaners, etc.) deliver at any given times. During tax season our "Big Four" accounting firm clients in the U.S. Steel Tower, BNY Mellon Center, and One PPG always want their food right at the peak of rush-hour. While Jimmy John's can just dispatch someone on a bike to deliver their subs three blocks away I can't exactly bike food Downtown from Pino's or Mad Mex nearly as easily.

[rockthecasbah121]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Fair enough to demand delivery rescheduling in terms of the Pepsi trucks, UPS, FedEx, and other big vehicles that just block a lane of traffic, although you'd still have to let the "little guys" (i.e. Edible Arrangements, Pizza Hut, Wheel Deliver, florists, dry cleaners, etc.) deliver at any given times. During tax season our "Big Four" accounting firm clients in the U.S. Steel Tower, BNY Mellon Center, and One PPG always want their food right at the peak of rush-hour. While Jimmy John's can just dispatch someone on a bike to deliver their subs three blocks away I can't exactly bike food Downtown from Pino's or Mad Mex nearly as easily.

All of those buildings have designated drop-off areas for large trucks I believe. The issue I see is the trucks delivering to places like Jimmy John's at 8 am every weekday. They sit in the lane for 10 minutes and the buses have a hard time switching lanes because of all the cars that can make the switch much faster.

[ctoocheck]

Originally Posted by _Buster

To the people advocating a pedestrian-only downtown (no motor vehicles): maybe you need to think a little more. Besides the obvious long walks in bad weather & at night, just a few of the other problems it would cause would be: there are deliveries nearly every day at nearly every business - these are not going to stop if the businesses are to remain in business. The truck drivers are not going to get off their trucks and wheel the stuff on carts for half a mile. How are physically ill and handicapped people going to get around? How are residents going to move in /out, deliver furniture, renovate their home, etc.?

Not that it is an idea that has any chance of happening -- but if it did happen, it would quickly be the death of downtown. All businesses of any size would move out at the first opportunity, as would most residents.

Wrong.

(Just for dramatic effect). This is just not necessarily correct: we needn't close ALL downtown streets to cars, just limit their access in many areas. And people still need to walk from garages to their destinations; that wouldn't change. Deliveries still need made, and that needn't change either
Even pedestrian zones in Europe often except buses, taxis, and deliveries, and vehicles for handicapped people (at very least outside of [pedestrian] rush hours). There could be more frequent designated loading spots to keep lanes free.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by rockthecasbah121

All of those buildings have designated drop-off areas for large trucks I believe. The issue I see is the trucks delivering to places like Jimmy John's at 8 am every weekday. They sit in the lane for 10 minutes and the buses have a hard time switching lanes because of all the cars that can make the switch much faster.

Once again fair enough. If Jimmy John's is currently receiving their daily fresh bread deliveries, drink deliveries, etc. during the height of the morning rush-hour then perhaps a manager should arrange to arrive at like 6:30 AM to accept deliveries a couple hours earlier so their trucks will be gone.

I have no trouble with businesses receiving their deliveries AROUND rush-hours, and, to be quite frank, it would be great if Bill Peduto or a member of city council proposed legislation prohibiting businesses Downtown (and in Oakland) receiving their deliveries during designated rush-hour periods.

You'd still have to contend with UPS/FedEx throughout the day, though. If Susie Sunshine at Piatt Place or the 151 FirstSide Condos ordered bon-bons from Amazon, she's not going to be thrilled with her shipment arriving at 6 AM or 9 PM.

I didn't mean to derail this discussion from moving buses out of our core to moving delivery vehicles out of the core. I just became irked because so often people on here toss out this Utopian vision of "let's ban all cars and use Segways to get everywhere" without thinking about logistics. When you're on your lunch break at ALCOA or Reed Smith and are picking up a bag of Herr's Potato Chips at the corner 7-11, guess how that bag of chips got there? Guess how McDonald's got that chicken patty? Guess how Brooks Brothers got that snazzy suit in their front window? Delivery vehicles.

[rockthecasbah121]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Once again fair enough. If Jimmy John's is currently receiving their daily fresh bread deliveries, drink deliveries, etc. during the height of the morning rush-hour then perhaps a manager should arrange to arrive at like 6:30 AM to accept deliveries a couple hours earlier so their trucks will be gone.

I have no trouble with businesses receiving their deliveries AROUND rush-hours, and, to be quite frank, it would be great if Bill Peduto or a member of city council proposed legislation prohibiting businesses Downtown (and in Oakland) receiving their deliveries during designated rush-hour periods.

You'd still have to contend with UPS/FedEx throughout the day, though. If Susie Sunshine at Piatt Place or the 151 FirstSide Condos ordered bon-bons from Amazon, she's not going to be thrilled with her shipment arriving at 6 AM or 9 PM.

I didn't mean to derail this discussion from moving buses out of our core to moving delivery vehicles out of the core. I just became irked because so often people on here toss out this Utopian vision of "let's ban all cars and use Segways to get everywhere" without thinking about logistics. When you're on your lunch break at ALCOA or Reed Smith and are picking up a bag of Herr's Potato Chips at the corner 7-11, guess how that bag of chips got there? Guess how McDonald's got that chicken patty? Guess how Brooks Brothers got that snazzy suit in their front window? Delivery vehicles.

I don't think a complete ban on vehicles downtown is realistic for those very reasons; however, why any commuter subjects themself to the torture that is driving in to downtown eludes me. Coming from the east, you can park at the different consol, hill district, and uptown lots and not have to deal with downtown. Coming from the north and west, you can park at the stadiums and ride the T. Are people demanding $22 parking spots right next to their office in order to not have to walk maybe a quarter mile?

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Obviously our economy is quite robust here in Pittsburgh if I'm perpetually having trouble hiring.

Not necessarily.


Finding people who have their own cars and auto insurance and willing to drive them in heavy city traffic delivering food can be difficult in the best of times.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

I remember one time last year I had a large delivery of educational materials coming to my building downtown. The truck driver dispatch person called me at work, flipping out because the guy couldn't find anywhere to park his giant truck. I was pretty surprised by this and ultimately had them patch me through to the driver's cell phone.

Not knowing what else to do, I just directed him to illegally park by our freight elevator and had our delivery people run out and grab all the materials as quick as possible, haha. I guess that makes me part of the problem.

Based on that experience, I can see where you are coming from, SCR.

[pman]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I'm only suggesting they not be allowed to do it during rush hours.

seems pretty reasonable.the city could also stop pushong garahe construction which also creates congestion