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Old 11-18-2010, 08:09 AM
 
178 posts, read 399,467 times
Reputation: 198

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Quote:
Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown View Post
People get into civil service so that they can help peple and get a decent salary (is $60k actually rich?)
lol, seriously?

My friend is CPA with an MS in accounting and he works in the Pittsburgh office of one of the largest international CPA firms in the world. Granted, he is young, but he makes less than 60K and has a crappy 401k match and gets $100 taken out of each check for medical. Oh yeah, he also had to go to school for five years and works something like 60 hour weeks for a third of the year.

And you know what? That's pretty fair. Because in the real world, compensation is set by the "invisible hand" of the market.

Only in the competitionless world of the public sector where unions are able to shake down taxpayers do you get bus drivers making $60k with a defined benefit pension plan and retirement after 20 years.
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Old 11-18-2010, 08:11 AM
 
5,802 posts, read 9,890,414 times
Reputation: 3051
You guys do realizes that Police Fire and EMS are just bottomless black holes as well draining cash from local governments...They don't turn profits...Public Transit is not meant to turn profits..It's a Public Service...Like Fire, Police and EMS it is vital to the lifeblood of the region...why is Transit not treated the same and those other government run assets.

Transit is critcal in 2010 in order to have healthy robust economies and vibrant cities.....maybe Pittsburgh needs a dose of life without Transit to truely get the picture...

Again I truely see this turning into the Collapse of Steel in the Burgh all over again.....limited Transit can and will cause a depression like era...I'm sure Pittsburgh doesnt want to go through that again..
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Old 11-18-2010, 08:15 AM
 
Location: Troy Hill, The Pitt
1,174 posts, read 1,585,967 times
Reputation: 1081
Quote:
Originally Posted by RestonRunner86 View Post
Good thing it's only an hour's walk or less from Polish Hill to Downtown or Shadyside!
45 to either actually.
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Old 11-18-2010, 08:17 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
12,529 posts, read 17,536,827 times
Reputation: 10634
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedBall View Post
lol, seriously?

My friend is CPA with an MS in accounting and he works in the Pittsburgh office of one of the largest international CPA firms in the world. Granted, he is young, but he makes less than 60K and has a crappy 401k match and gets $100 taken out of each check for medical. Oh yeah, he also had to go to school for five years and works something like 60 hour weeks for a third of the year.

And you know what? That's pretty fair. Because in the real world, compensation is set by the "invisible hand" of the market.

Only in the competitionless world of the public sector where unions are able to shake down taxpayers do you get bus drivers making $60k with a defined benefit pension plan and retirement after 20 years.
Could not agree more.
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Old 11-18-2010, 08:25 AM
 
Location: Philly
10,227 posts, read 16,811,894 times
Reputation: 2973
it wouldn't be a bad thing if the state required some reforms in exchange for funding them. while transit isn't supposed to make money, something needs to be done to address escalating fuel and labor costs. buses are only so big..articulated can reduce the cost per passenger. I think the recent study was a step in the right direction but only a start. I also think PAT needs to improve financial reporting and transparency.
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Old 11-18-2010, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Portland, OR
4,275 posts, read 7,627,786 times
Reputation: 2943
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212 View Post
You guys do realizes that Police Fire and EMS are just bottomless black holes as well draining cash from local governments...They don't turn profits...Public Transit is not meant to turn profits..It's a Public Service...Like Fire, Police and EMS it is vital to the lifeblood of the region...why is Transit not treated the same and those other government run assets.

Transit is critcal in 2010 in order to have healthy robust economies and vibrant cities.....maybe Pittsburgh needs a dose of life without Transit to truely get the picture...

Again I truely see this turning into the Collapse of Steel in the Burgh all over again.....limited Transit can and will cause a depression like era...I'm sure Pittsburgh doesnt want to go through that again..
I agree. I think they need to hit rock bottom for them to realize that they messed up and should have gotten thier priorities straight (PAT, the union, politicians, etc.)
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Old 11-18-2010, 08:37 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
29,739 posts, read 34,357,220 times
Reputation: 77039
I wonder if UPMC or Pitt or CMU would get involved somehow, since they've got thousands of employees and students who depend on PAT to get to work and school.
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Old 11-18-2010, 08:43 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
12,529 posts, read 17,536,827 times
Reputation: 10634
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212 View Post
You guys do realizes that Police Fire and EMS are just bottomless black holes as well draining cash from local governments...They don't turn profits...Public Transit is not meant to turn profits..It's a Public Service...Like Fire, Police and EMS it is vital to the lifeblood of the region...why is Transit not treated the same and those other government run assets.
Because it takes an educated person to be an EMS, a guy with guts/brains to be a Policeman, but anyone can drive a bus.
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Old 11-18-2010, 08:54 AM
 
5,802 posts, read 9,890,414 times
Reputation: 3051
Quote:
Originally Posted by Copanut View Post
Because it takes an educated person to be an EMS, a guy with guts/brains to be a Policeman, but anyone can drive a bus.
But what if that EMS or Police offers car is in the shop and they have no reliable source other that public transit....

Hey maybe you make sure you have a fleet of cars sitting the drive way, but not everyone is afforded the same....

Just remember your words when you're sitting on the Parkways and it takes 2hrs to get into or out of Town...the Parkways East and West are going to be sheer Hell.....Take a trip to LA and see what car culture life is like....It's not pretty...
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Old 11-18-2010, 09:00 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
1,776 posts, read 2,696,843 times
Reputation: 1741
Quote:
Originally Posted by Copanut View Post
Damn, 7 years of college down the drain.
Did you go to college for 7 years JUST to make as much money as you can doing any job possible? Or did you go to college to get a job that you loved?

Sounds to me like your priorities are out of whack, complaining about how much other people make doing a job you probably don't even want to do. I went to college to do something more than drive a vehicle around. I may make a little less money than the bus drivers that are pulling 60-70k, but I'm happy. And I also don't have to put in 60-70 hour work weeks in order to make my money, whereas those bus drivers are.

Welcome to America, the land of people who ***** about how "unfair" life is to them and ... *GASP*, someone who didn't go to college is making more money than they are, even though the job is probably pretty miserable to begin with.
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