Damn'it..... You Board Last When Paying in Cash (Pittsburgh, Oakland: purchasing, living in)
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Notice most people who use Transit regularly pretty much agreed with me 100%. And those who never use it, or use very rarely can't seem to fathom what the big deal is. Just proves my point to a "T", again no pun.
I'm with you 100%. It's a simple matter of efficiency. This efficiency is also translated to the other traffic on the road that doesn't get stuck behind a bus waiting for multiple people to pay in cash.
BB is not exaggerating, there are times where 2 or 3 inept people can take the same amount of time to board that an entire busload of card tappers could board. Then you have the people who wait for the bus to stop and to walk to the front of the bus before realizing "OH! I need to pay for this trip"...so then you wait for them to dig through their purse/bag for loose dimes and nickels. Then there are the characters who are a quarter short and have to ask everyone else on the bus for some help.
I've asked cash payers on the T to let me tap my card before they start fumbling with their cash so that I could get off right away and not wait in the line. No one gets offended. When you are talking about the milliseconds it takes to register the CC, you're damn right it's a significant delay when people are paying cash. And who cares about the random tourist or infrequent rider...if they want to use the system they can undergo the necessary preparations (ie, loading a card) in order to do so. This still needs to be phased in..cards need to be easier to purchase and reload before it's worth making the change.
This is also a big problem at stations like Mt. Lebanon where fare is paid off-car. Whereas pass holders used to be able to walk past the attendant and flash their pass and keep walking, now they often get stuck in a long line waiting for cash payers to go through so they can tap their card. Some people could have walked to their homes by the time it takes them to get off the station platform. One instance that will stick with me was getting to the station right after a train left and seeing a dejected family of four who missed it because they were stuck behind out-of-towners at the fare booth asking a million questions and trying to figure out how to pay. So they had to sit there for an extra half hour and wait for the next train.
Anyone mocking BlackBeauty is just proving that they do not ride public transit on a daily basis...fixing this one issue would cut at least a few minutes on average off of most trips, yet instead we are going to spend millions on BRT to cut a few minutes off of a few trips.
I'm with you 100%. It's a simple matter of efficiency. This efficiency is also translated to the other traffic on the road that doesn't get stuck behind a bus waiting for multiple people to pay in cash.
BB is not exaggerating, there are times where 2 or 3 inept people can take the same amount of time to board that an entire busload of card tappers could board. Then you have the people who wait for the bus to stop and to walk to the front of the bus before realizing "OH! I need to pay for this trip"...so then you wait for them to dig through their purse/bag for loose dimes and nickels. Then there are the characters who are a quarter short and have to ask everyone else on the bus for some help.
I've asked cash payers on the T to let me tap my card before they start fumbling with their cash so that I could get off right away and not wait in the line. No one gets offended. When you are talking about the milliseconds it takes to register the CC, you're damn right it's a significant delay when people are paying cash. And who cares about the random tourist or infrequent rider...if they want to use the system they can undergo the necessary preparations (ie, loading a card) in order to do so. This still needs to be phased in..cards need to be easier to purchase and reload before it's worth making the change.
This is also a big problem at stations like Mt. Lebanon where fare is paid off-car. Whereas pass holders used to be able to walk past the attendant and flash their pass and keep walking, now they often get stuck in a long line waiting for cash payers to go through so they can tap their card. Some people could have walked to their homes by the time it takes them to get off the station platform. One instance that will stick with me was getting to the station right after a train left and seeing a dejected family of four who missed it because they were stuck behind out-of-towners at the fare booth asking a million questions and trying to figure out how to pay. So they had to sit there for an extra half hour and wait for the next train.
Anyone mocking BlackBeauty is just proving that they do not ride public transit on a daily basis...fixing this one issue would cut at least a few minutes on average off of most trips, yet instead we are going to spend millions on BRT to cut a few minutes off of a few trips.
Perhaps the solution is for her to buy a car. Then she doesn't have to wait for anybody. But if you take public transportation, these are the costs associated with them. If that's not an acceptable cost to you, then find something else that works for you.
Perhaps the solution is for her to buy a car. Then she doesn't have to wait for anybody. But if you take public transportation, these are the costs associated with them. If that's not an acceptable cost to you, then find something else that works for you.
Perhaps. Or the car could be stopped behind a bus loading passengers in an inefficient manner, still delaying this person.
Perhaps the solution is for her to buy a car. Then she doesn't have to wait for anybody. But if you take public transportation, these are the costs associated with them. If that's not an acceptable cost to you, then find something else that works for you.
People like you just keep making my point over and over and over! This right here illustrates the problem perfectly.
Yes, my getting a car would solve all my transit reliability problems, except I would then have problem pertaining to the car, like unnecessary traffic that I don't deal with now, plus gas, and car payments.
This is the problem with Pittsburgh, it doesn't like Change, it conforms to the system at hand regardless of how inefficient and it isn't until it effects people directly do they want to address the issue. This is part of the reason PAT is in the state it's in NOW!.. People answer to fixing PAT is "JUST KILL IT, and Everyone Buy a Car" "Public Transit is for the Poor Ghetto and Trashy People that can't afford cars anyway"... There's a real disdain for Public Transit in Pittsburgh.
EDIT: I must clarify my statement, because it certainly doesn't pertain to the younger more transient population who really do want better and more efficient transit. But my statement of passive, complacent attitudes towards transit is fully represented in the "Yinzers" and life long suburbanites, you see posting here.
Last edited by Blackbeauty212; 08-14-2014 at 11:05 AM..
People like you just keep making my point over and over and over! This right here illustrates the problem perfectly.
Yes, my getting a car would solve all my transit reliability problems, except I would then have problem pertaining to the car, like unnecessary traffic that I don't deal with now, plus gas, and car payments.
This is the problem with Pittsburgh, it doesn't like Change, it conforms to the system at hand regardless of how inefficient and it isn't until it effects people directly do they want to address the issue. This is part of the reason PAT is in the state it's in NOW!.. People answer to fixing PAT is "JUST KILL IT, and Everyone Buy a Car" "Public Transit is for the Poor Ghetto and Trashy People that can't afford cars anyway"... There's a real disdain for Public Transit in Pittsburgh.
EDIT: I must clarify my statement, because it certainly doesn't pertain to the younger more transient population who really do want better and more efficient transit. But my statement of passive, complacent attitudes towards transit is fully represented in the "Yinzers" and life long suburbanites, you see posting here.
I wish I could rep you again
I'm stunned at this 'we can't consider changing the system to make it more efficient for everyone just because a one legged visitor from Slovenia who is in town for one day in their life and gets caught in a rain storm wouldn't be able to pay cash on a bus to get to their hotel'. Because of this, all regular users like BB, should get a car ...
People like you just keep making my point over and over and over! This right here illustrates the problem perfectly.
Yes, my getting a car would solve all my transit reliability problems, except I would then have problem pertaining to the car, like unnecessary traffic that I don't deal with now, plus gas, and car payments.
This is the problem with Pittsburgh, it doesn't like Change, it conforms to the system at hand regardless of how inefficient and it isn't until it effects people directly do they want to address the issue. This is part of the reason PAT is in the state it's in NOW!.. People answer to fixing PAT is "JUST KILL IT, and Everyone Buy a Car" "Public Transit is for the Poor Ghetto and Trashy People that can't afford cars anyway"... There's a real disdain for Public Transit in Pittsburgh.
EDIT: I must clarify my statement, because it certainly doesn't pertain to the younger more transient population who really do want better and more efficient transit. But my statement of passive, complacent attitudes towards transit is fully represented in the "Yinzers" and life long suburbanites, you see posting here.
But your answer is to "JUST KILL IT" with regards to people paying with cash. If you ban cash, then you've just transferred your problem to other people who can't get credit cards or don't want to get credit cards and prefer to do things with cash.
The problem is that the world doesn't revolve around you and your problems, so since you have to live in a society with other people, it's up to you do decide how to best accomplish what you want within the constraints that exist in the world.
I think everyone is for changing the system... but BB wants to change the people instead.
Cash IS still allowed, so the people who use cash should not be slammed for doing so. PAT is allowing that to happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjost7
I share a similar frustration with the OP. But I am not annoyed with the people--those individuals--paying with cash but rather with the inefficiency of the boarding/alighting process on the P1s in general.
If we all agree that this is a travesty and Pittsburgh is populated by stupid complacent Yinzers who cling to antiquated technology, what problem does that solve exactly? I'm all for PAT putting in turnstiles on any BRT routes and selling plastic reloadable connectcards at the transit center vending machines, but just ranting that people aren't following unwritten and seemingly obscure rules sounds silly to me if you want results.
But your answer is to "JUST KILL IT" with regards to people paying with cash. If you ban cash, then you've just transferred your problem to other people who can't get credit cards or don't want to get credit cards and prefer to do things with cash.
The problem is that the world doesn't revolve around you and your problems, so since you have to live in a society with other people, it's up to you do decide how to best accomplish what you want within the constraints that exist in the world.
You don't even understand how the system works, and yet you sit with your passive "World doesn't revolve around you" high-horse. Get a clue the world doesn't revolve around any one. Not even slow ass cash payers who slow the system down and cause it to be inefficient.
The Connect Card is NOT a credit card, its a pre-pay Transit Card where fares and passes are stored. They don't cost anything... They accept and hold cash value that never expires, so the person holding the card never has to worry about having exact fare.
Fully understand the concept at hand before you come on here with that sorry half-ass attempt at trying to lecture someone on ills of living in society with other people.
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