You think its bad for PAT now, it's about to get A LOT WORSE! (Pittsburgh: daycare, pool)

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

I'm almost certain it has to do with my route and the angry people it attracts. Riding the bus to Manchester is quiet and pleasant. But taking the 51? It's World War III in there all the time.

There's definitely a different vibe among your fellow riders depending on the route. The 74 is particularly rough, and not just because it's a Homewood route, but because it picks up kids from the Shuman Detention Center. I feel particularly bad for anybody trying to commute to the Highland Drive VA that has to deal with that everyday. Even worse for the vets that rely on PAT to get there for treatment. I can't imagine being in pain or dealing with stressful mental issues while having to share a bus with the worst of Pittsburgh's youths. The 74 is one of the few "places" in Pittsburgh where I have actually heard of random people be harassed.

For most routes though, the differences in riders just means someone reading a book versus someone having a loud & foul-mouthed conversation on their cell phone. Neither are dangerous, but one is much more annoying.

[Blackbeauty212]

Finally someone who sees what Gov DoNothing is really trying to do here.

One would have to go back to Pennsylvania Gov. John Fisher, who ruled the state from 1927 to 1931 on behalf of the coal and steel barons, to find a state leader as anti-union as Gov. Tom Corbett. His efforts to starve and privatize public education and collapse public transportation while shielding gas interests from reasonable taxation and adequate health, safety and zoning regulation are stunningly bold. Once the teacher and transit unions are broken, can construction unions and state workers be far behind?

The governor's prescription for Allegheny County's transit crisis is to demand that workers who have already made numerous concessions take a knife to their union contract with no guarantee that any further sacrifice will trigger governmental relief. In this tactic, he is following the national Republican playbook to blame workers for the nation's economic ills. While the poor get poorer, the middle class gets squeezed; the irresponsible wealthy whose actions precipitated the crisis get richer and more powerful.

Union busting won't help: Pennsylvania's problem is shortsighted politicians - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[BrianTH]

So we have now become the national poster-child for dysfunctional transit funding:

For public transit, the recession’s still not over - The Washington Post

[Blackbeauty212]

for those how continue to question if Public Transit is critical to Pittsburgh...

In Transit use, critical to a thriving city, we're #9,based on non-poor workers who commute via public transportation. No sense getting puffed up about this high ranking since, sadly, that is likely to change with many bus and T routes on the block.

City Vitals 2.0: How does Pittsburgh stack up?

And this excludes the Working Poor

[FreightTrainRunning]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

I take the bus sometimes, and they're horrible. Uncomfortable, loud, crowded (51), dirty, smelly, overpriced, and dudes always want to start fights. I can't tell you how close people are to throwing blows at literally nothing. Oh and fights do happen quite often.

I'm a big fan of public transit, but the reality is that the buses (or at least my route) are a nightmare through and through. No one wants to talk about that part though.

I don't take the bus too often these days but I used to take them a lot and I never had a problem with them. They were usually clean and I never saw a fight.

[ML North]

Originally Posted by GeneW

I don't take the bus too often these days but I used to take them a lot and I never had a problem with them. They were usually clean and I never saw a fight.

I often take buses between Downtown, North Side, Hill District, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, and Oakland. I use the 16, 17, 81, 61, 71, and occasionally an east busway route. Since the T from the NS is currently free, I've reduced my usage of the 16 and 17 (I think I used to take the 18 too). To say that the taking the bus is a "nightmare through and through" is a gross exaggeration, although I'm willing to guess that anyone who reads this forum with any regularity would have guessed that.

Anyway, at least in my opinion, taking the bus is the opposite of a nightmare. No one has ever picked a fight with me, in fact, I frequently have pleasant conversations with other passengers. Sitting in traffic trying to drive from the North Side to Oakland at 5 PM? That's a nightmare.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Well I guess I was just imagining those fights on the bus.

[ML North]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Well I guess I was just imagining those fights on the bus.

Of course you weren't. But if that is in fact your experience, I wouldn't imagine that it's characteristic of the entire system. Especially given that of the thousands of people who ride the bus each day, the amount of them getting beat up is a small enough number that such events are rare enough to make the news.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by ML North

Of course you weren't. But if that is in fact your experience, I wouldn't imagine that it's characteristic of the entire system. Especially given that of the thousands of people who ride the bus each day, the amount of them getting beat up is a small enough number that such events are rare enough to make the news.

Oh no, definitely not. I think I mentioned either in this thread or another that the majority of routes I've been on were peaceful and far less crowded. However, my usual route (the 51) services many areas of "the working poor" so to speak. When you have such a crowded bus with tired people going about the daily grind but still are having trouble making ends meet (among other problems) tempers are bound to flair. And they certainly do.

[Impala26]

Originally Posted by ML North

Of course you weren't. But if that is in fact your experience, I wouldn't imagine that it's characteristic of the entire system. Especially given that of the thousands of people who ride the bus each day, the amount of them getting beat up is a small enough number that such events are rare enough to make the news.

Not too unlike the notion that folks who have a resoundingly negative experience at a restaurant or resort are more likely to leave some form of negative feedback than those who are neutral or even POSITIVE towards such establishments.

"Yinzer Pessimism"

Actually no though, I'm pretty sure such a phenomenon is commonplace the world over...