PAT bus stories (Pittsburgh, Oakland: home, transfer, living in)

[PB&J O'Rourke]

I've been in Pittsburgh nearly a decade now but I've always had at least two or three vehicles. One is in the body shop after a fender bender, one is up on a jack and non-operative, and I needed to get parts for it.

Made the first half of the hike, 4.6 miles. I stopped at Subway for lunch, as good as always, and headed home.

About a mile in to my return trip I realized I was just NOT going to make it if I kept walking, so I pulled out my phone and used Google Maps, directed from the Port Authority website, to look up the bus route nearest to me, took a three mile chunk out of my walk, and walked the last mile home in misery.

I am way too out of shape for walking in a hilly area. I should have just paid the extra dollar for a transfer, as there's a bus stop about a block and a half from my front door.

At any rate, the point of my post is I was expecting a grumpy, less-than-thrilled driver, a smelly bus, and the dregs of society (... okay, the last part was half true) but what I got was a chipper, friendly bus driver who everyone seemed to know and like, the bus was clean and well maintained, and I didn't have to come home and immediately burn everything I was wearing.

Overall a good use of $2.50, and though I'd rather not have to (especially since I don't keep cash on hand and had to raid my coin jar) I'd gladly take one of the city's buses again if I needed.

So that makes one bus, one trip on the T for me.

[Geeo]

Glad your first time was better than you expected. I ride the buses fairly frequently and have usually found the drivers to be nice and the buses clean. Although I have a car, if I'm heading downtown or Oakland I usually hop on the bus to save money and time looking for parking. Although there have been cuts in recent years, the system works well if you do some research on the routes you'll be taking. Service in the city is pretty good (I live near the East Busway), and the further out you live or need to go the more difficult it will be.

I'm looking forward to going cashless when they roll out the pre-loaded connect cars this year.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

Can we turn this into a "PAT bus stories" thread?

I didn't have a car for my first four years of living here, and I tore the town up on buses. I think the highlight of my bus career was an internship where I had to transfer between three buses everyday to get to the workplace. Many times I wouldn't catch that third bus, or it would inexplicably not show, and then I would jog/sprint the remaining two or three miles, depending on how late I was about to be. I'm sure all the people who drove by me on those days must have thought I was completely insane, hahahaha.

I had a love/hate relationship with PAT.

[PB&J O'Rourke]

Originally Posted by CaptainPittsburgh

Can we turn this into a "PAT bus stories" thread?

Go for it.

I'm up on the North Side, I think it was bus line... 16, maybe, that I rode, in case anyone cared.

[gg]

Most all my experiences with bus service in recent years are with the P1 and P2's on the busway. They are always packed with people and many times don't stop to pick up folks because they are too crowded. I have never had to wait for more than two buses to pick me up, so I have never really been upset about any of it. For the most part everything was okay, but very different than in northern Europe because of the people on the bus themselves. The drivers usually are fine, but I am not sure they like cyclists from what I have heard, but never experienced anything that bad myself from them.

Glad it worked out for you. I think you should use them more often for a while and report your findings. If nothing else it would be educational for yourself and others that read this.

[PB&J O'Rourke]

Unfortunately the buses don't really run where I need to go, I don't spend a lot of time in the city despite living in it. This was out of the ordinary today.

[gg]

Originally Posted by PB&J O'Rourke

Unfortunately the buses don't really run where I need to go, I don't spend a lot of time in the city despite living in it. This was out of the ordinary today.

Okay, I understand.

I did want to add, if I was commuting downtown or along that busway, I would NEVER drive a car, unless I had to. I would much rather ride a bus on that busway than drive. Much less stress and just not having to deal with everyone's style of jack rabbit starts and hard braking all the time. It is odd how people drive around the city, but that is another story. Riding on a bus is WAY more relaxing to me.

[ditchdigger]

Can we turn this into a "PAT bus stories" thread?

I'd rather turn it into a "what I had to do to get to the parts store" thread.

Once, I had a car, a Jeep, a pickup truck, and two dumptrucks, and I had to take the tandem axle (the 10-wheeler, for those who aren't as familiar with the terminology), to the parts store, because it was the only one that was both roadworthy and, registered and inspected.

Ok, back to bus stories...

[BrianTH]

I suspect a lot of this depends on the bus route. My regular bus route has lots of friendly riders, many of whom have been riding together for years. They are typically nice to the drivers (saying thank you on the way out and such), and sometimes when a new driver shows up, I get the sense they are actually a little surprised at all the friendly riders. In any event, in that context at least, most of the drivers are pretty pleasant themselves.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by CaptainPittsburgh

Can we turn this into a "PAT bus stories" thread?.

PAT Bus Confessions