Damn'it..... You Board Last When Paying in Cash (Pittsburgh, Progress: neighborhoods, assess)

[sealie]

I have never not had exact change ready in my hand or at least an easily accessible pocket and I have been taking buses since the Reagan administration. What do people think, they're getting mugged for $2.50?

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

There's no way it has ever taken an average of THREE MINUTES each for five people to insert a couple dollars and some coins into the farebox.

It may seem like it's taking forever because you're irritated and running late again... but there's no way those five cash transaction takes more than two minutes in total.

Oh did you read where the Farebox kept spitting out dollars it didn't like, these new fareboxes do that now to curb counterfeits PAT receives.....3 of the people had that problem.... We arrived downtown 15 mins late, it was on-time @ Negley. You do the math.

And for someone who uses Transit sooooooooooo infrequently, you sure are an expert on average times of Cash Payers and just how much it SHOULD slow service down. I guess it really is hard to tech an old dog new tricks.

[tclifton]

So let's say that everyone in the world will do whatever they can to make BB's life easier.
I'm standing at a bus stop, along with 25 other folks.
Do we start a poll before the bus comes to find out who's paying with cash and who isn't? (and ask everyone as they wander over if they have cash or not?)
Otherwise, how will we know the order that we're to get on the bus?

Seriously...how do we implement your original solution to this problem?

[sealie]

Just don't get on the bus. She owns it, her taxes paid for it.

[ferraris]

BB, I think you're distracting from your point when you exaggerate the times. I don't know if you're doing it on purpose as hyperbole or if you're perception is just off, but it does not take an average of three full minutes to pay cash. If the machine spits out the dollar enough times the driver eventually just lets the rider on without full payment in my experience; it would have to spit the same dollar out something like 30+ times to take a full three minutes.

There is a slight delay when waiting for the light to turn green after a cash payer, but it's 2-3 seconds, not 10.

I believe you that your bus was 15 minutes late, but I don't buy that it was entirely due to five people paying with cash.

EDIT: And for what it's worth, I agree with you that ConnectCard should eventually be the only form of payment. But until that time, cash payers aren't second class riders.

[sealie]

Also the next time you board the bus with cash, bring along a small piece of chocolate as a peace offering for any millennial yuppie with steam coming out her ears.

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by tclifton

So let's say that everyone in the world will do whatever they can to make BB's life easier.
I'm standing at a bus stop, along with 25 other folks.
Do we start a poll before the bus comes to find out who's paying with cash and who isn't? (and ask everyone as they wander over if they have cash or not?)
Otherwise, how will we know the order that we're to get on the bus?

Seriously...how do we implement your original solution to this problem?

Just let the woman sighing heavily and audibly rolling her eyes to get one first.

[BobMcKelvin]

Originally Posted by ferraris

Because boarding order isn't going to delay the bus unless the driver starts driving while people are still paying.

Considering most drivers WILL start driving while someone is still paying, boarding order becomes a valid point.

It's telling that those of us who are very familiar with the system (ie daily riders) all agree something needs to change. It's those that use it once in a blue moon that are coming with the childish retorts about always paying cash to make people like BB wait. Do they forget BB is not the only person on the bus who is inconvenienced?

I definitely think a surcharge or other incentive will eventually be implemented to try to encourage riders to use the CC. Then if people want to be stubborn or ignorant to the delays they cause, they can pay extra to do so. Any notion of needing a credit card on file is absurd and just goes to show that those arguing against this issue have very little knowledge of how the system works.

If hcurtis wants to criticize lazy bus riders for not walking an extra few blocks to their stop, he should also be criticizing lazy wannabe bus riders who can't track down a kiosk to refill their card. Granted the machines need to be spread throughout the city a little more before it becomes a realistic approach, but I see no reason why one or two can't be placed at strategic intersections in each neighborhood and at community gathering points like libraries and grocery stores.

BB needs to remember this is a work in progress, and even though the progress may be slow, we are still making progress, and they are listening to our concerns. The following site was launched several months ago and asks for opinions on various issues. Other visitors are then encouraged to vote and comment on ones that matter most to them so PAT can be more in touch with its customer base. Anyone who cares about improving the system and hasn't heard of this site needs to pay it a visit: Forward Thinking: Port Authority of Allegheny County by MindMixer

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by tclifton

So let's say that everyone in the world will do whatever they can to make 'people who actually gets it' lives easier.
I'm standing at a bus stop, along with 25 other folks.
Do we start a poll before the bus comes to find out who's paying with cash and who isn't? (and ask everyone as they wander over if they have cash or not?)
Otherwise, how will we know the order that we're to get on the bus?

Seriously...how do we implement your original solution to this problem?

Fixed that little detail there for ya!

It's already a growing culture as more and more people gravitate to using the CC in the daily lives. Again you can see the annoyance on peoples faces at stations/stops with High Volume of passenger traffic. i.e East Busway, T, Oakland routes in the East End. There are drivers who will make Cash Payers wait to the side to get the Tap'n'Goers out the way, this happens when there only 4-5 people boarding somewhere... Then again the driver can pull off and drive while the Cash Payer fiddles around for cash and plays airplane with the farebox.

Once the majority of people are using CCs, the culture will have grown full bloom. Shaming the persons too stubborn to adapt to modernization for wasting everyone time, that they too WILL GET WITH IT. At least I hope this is what happens.

Again the Visa Commerical, its just the perfect illustration. Say Hi to Evergrey, that's him paying for his lunch with Cash.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy_PxLw1B_c

[gortonator]

the visa ad is so good and appropriate to our dino cash forum members who don't use buses, BB posted it twice (one since removed)!

Perfection in every way