Top Progressive things PAT could do Now...... (Pittsburgh, Carnegie: fit in, real estate)

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

They should also cut off all public funding for roads, and instead sell them to private operators. Let the people who use the road, pay for the road.

You'd have to pay a toll to get out of your driveway, of course.

All Northeastern Highways should be tolled if they have a certain amount of volume. That will less the burden on the Govt. What is the point of I-99? Obama should force all states with a certain amount of people to spend half on Roads and half on Public Transit. Some states already do that.

[raubre]

They could start having Pitt students and faculty start paying to ride the bus instead.

[ajl777]

i wish they would have functioning identifiers of what the bus is on the back and sides of the bus

those always seem broken or non existant

[groar]

Originally Posted by raubre

They could start having Pitt students and faculty start paying to ride the bus instead.

pitt actually pays PAT a group rate for their students' and employees' bus passes.

one thing i don't get is why they're not pushing advertising inside buses. all i ever see in there are ads for medical studies, PAT related stuff, and public service announcements. tons of people stare at those spaces (which are already designed to hold placards) every day, why aren't they selling them to advertisers??

[raubre]

Originally Posted by groar

pitt actually pays PAT a group rate for their students' and employees' bus passes.

That I do know, but it if they are going to keep asking for money, they may as well start having them actually pay some sort of fee on the buses.
The unlimited free rides are making the busses too crowded and not really helping them financially.

[grimacista]

Originally Posted by raubre

That I do know, but it if they are going to keep asking for money, they may as well start having them actually pay some sort of fee on the buses.
The unlimited free rides are making the busses too crowded and not really helping them financially.

How do you know that?

Yeah, there are a lot of students that ride the bus and creates crowding in the Oakland-Squirrel Hill/Shadyside corridors. However, this is a very small geographic area of PAT's system. I would say that students don't really use more than Pitt plays PAT (which in turn students pay Pitt in a transportation fee).

Plus, getting kids on buses in college could expose them to a mass transit system that is convenient and usable for them in their professional lives and not just a scary behemoth that they would never go near.

[fleetiebelle]

one thing i don't get is why they're not pushing advertising inside buses. all i ever see in there are ads for medical studies, PAT related stuff, and public service announcements. tons of people stare at those spaces (which are already designed to hold placards) every day, why aren't they selling them to advertisers??

I've wondered that as well. You'd think that a little visual pollution from Pepsi or Verizon or Giant Eagle would get PAT a decent chunk of change.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

I've wondered that as well. You'd think that a little visual pollution from Pepsi or Verizon or Giant Eagle would get PAT a decent chunk of change.

My mom never had a license so when my dad wasn't home we took the bus once in a while. Well I clearly remember seeing many more ads on those buses in 90's than I do today inside the bus.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

I've wondered that as well. You'd think that a little visual pollution from Pepsi or Verizon or Giant Eagle would get PAT a decent chunk of change.

I noticed that too - alot of PAT buses are bare of Advertisements...Where in NYC you'd be hard press to find a bus without ad's...only ones i think are either brand new or freshly repainted and it doesnt last long.....Wonder what's wrong PAT doesnt sell advertising well???

[raubre]

Originally Posted by grimacista

How do you know that?

How do you know that Pitt is helping PAT with thier money problems by doing this? Obviously it can't be helping them or PAT wouldn't be whining about thier financial woes.

According to PAT's Transit Blog TransitBlog - Port Authority of Allegheny County: PA Transportation Crisis: Port Authority Impact

"The University of Pittsburgh will pay Port Authority more than $5.9 million this year so that its students may use our services. Next year, Pitt will pay nearly $6.8 million -- about double what it was paying in 2007.

Along the same lines, other local schools are paying more. Carnegie Mellon University, for example, will pay us more than $1.3 million this year. It was paying about $1 million two years ago."


If Pitt and CMU are giving PAT $8-9 million for thier students and faculty to ride for free, then why are they asking for more? It obviously not enough for PAT. How much more can PAT possibly need?