Port Authority survey: Improving the fare system (Pittsburgh, Oakland: transfer, purchase)

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

That doesn't address my question about the type or scale of operation New Castle has.

And, no I've never been to New Castle.

Drive to New Castle, which will take at least an hour, and stand in downtown (during the day when it is safe). At that point you will look around and say to yourself, "Oh my God, the Allegheny Port Authority doesn't have it's s--- together."

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

Drive to New Castle, which will take at least an hour, and stand in downtown (during the day when it is safe). At that point you will look around and say to yourself, "Oh my God, the Allegheny Port Authority doesn't have it's s--- together."

I don't even understand that. Are you saying it is less crowded on the New Castle buses? Because that's also true of the PAT routes that go to places where nobody lives anymore.

PAT has for several years now gotten me to work and back in roughly the same time as it would take me to drive (unless I were willing to pay $18/day to park), but for less money and I can read the news/do email while going to work. Plus, I can get drunk after work and not worry about what do to with a car because the bus will keep running till midnight.

It has also gotten much better in recent years. PAT never seems to get credit for very real improvements, which I think is at least partially due to the fact that many of it's harshest critics stopped riding in 1996 if they ever were users. You can now find out where nearly every bus in the area is at a glance on your phone. That is so useful (it means I don't need to spend time at bus stops) that I upgraded my phone just because my old phone wouldn't run it. They have improved outbound rush hour service from Oakland to the east by adding the 61D (Greenfield only). They have purchased a fleet of buses that don't spew noxious gases on people standing by the road and that have wide aisles. There is less wait and greater ease than five years ago.

[UKyank]

What's the abhorrent differences of feeding cash into a fare box to load money onto a card vs. feeding money into a fare box on the bus/T itself? I've lived where only the former was allowed & everyone survived without issue & made the whole thing more efficient.

Agree that cash should get the boot.

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Actually, most of America still uses cash to ride their city buses, and most pay less than Pittsburgh patrons. Erie, Youngstown, Canton are just a few of relatively nearby cities that have cash fares and whose bus riders pay less than Allegheny County people.


Patrons who take the bus aren't in that much of a hurry that they can't wait a few minutes for others to board or get off. People who are in a hurry drive themselves or take a ride sharing service. They don't wait on the bus.

^^^Why it is useless to attempt a transit discussion.

[theta_sigma]

People on the bus aren't in a hurry? What is this nonsense? I'm perpetually in a hurry (having to get a toddler out of the house means that we are never, ever on time--it's always something) and I think you'll find that during rush hour the majority of people on the inbound downtown and Oakland buses are indeed in a hurry to get where they are going. People who hold up the bus get glares and eye rolls on the regular.

I don't drive because I am not going to pay $8+ a day every day to park. I get free rides with my Pitt ID so that is a no brainer. My husband rides every day to and from his job downtown with a connect card because if he drove where the hell would he park?

I've been riding PAT to get to school and work since the early 90s. It is so much better now. Heck, it is infinitely better now than it was just 5 years ago (that may have been the nadir, actually). And having an incentive to use a faster, more efficient technology is the dumbest thing to argue against that I have ever heard of.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Actually, most of America still uses cash to ride their city buses, and most pay less than Pittsburgh patrons. Erie, Youngstown, Canton are just a few of relatively nearby cities that have cash fares and whose bus riders pay less than Allegheny County people.


Patrons who take the bus aren't in that much of a hurry that they can't wait a few minutes for others to board or get off. People who are in a hurry drive themselves or take a ride sharing service. They don't wait on the bus.

That is not true. Try boarding the P1 on the MLK East Busway at 8:00am. Everyone is in a rush and nothing is more irritating than a person paying fare with ten quarters. If you live in the East End or eastern suburbs and work in downtown or Oakland, the busway is the best option for the early morning commute.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by doo dah

^^^Why it is useless to attempt a transit discussion.

Originally Posted by theta_sigma

And having an incentive to use a faster, more efficient technology is the dumbest thing to argue against that I have ever heard of.

Its the mindset of Yinzers.. I keep saying this ... The Yinzer midset see no value to Public Transit except to shuffle Broke Ghetto people around. Unless you're talking about the "T" because the clearly it serves a class of people well above the Ghetto.

You hear the distain pejorative tone the Yinzers have when they talk about "Ride the Bus"... Like you're 3rd class citizen because you use Public Transit over contributing to Traffic, and Parking problems this area already suffers greatly from, by driving your personal vehicle everywhere.

[tclifton]

I took the survey and answered that I would no longer ride if I did not have a cash option.

[SammyKhalifa]

What? I don't understand this whole fight.

The Toll Roads in this state already have an incentive to use their EZ-PASS and from I can tell isn't driving people away. You just get money off if you use their device, which makes all the sense in the world. I don't understand why it should be any different in this case or why people are getting into arguments over it.

[SammyKhalifa]

Now I do have to say that needing a card for transfers would be a huge PIA for visitors. Taking the Incline down to Station Sq and transferring to the T (then reversing the process a few hours later) is a pretty common thing for visitors. I doubt many of them will want to buy a connect card.