[PRCo] Re: Fw: [Weyrich_Transit] FW: Trouble in Pittsburgh - Route 52

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005, Bill Robb wrote:

> But today you do wait in a terminal for your local
> bus, especially in small to mid-size cities.  I live
> in a city of 46,000.  There is a downtown terminal
> where you can wait inside, a college with a small two
> shelter loading area (but no inside waiting area) and
> malls at the north and east ends. You can sit down
> inside at both malls and wait for the bus.
>
> Sadly, very few places offer a streetcar (or bus)
> every five minutes these days even in the rush hours.
> It can be a long cold (or hot) wait on a street corner
> these days.

67F Trafford bus (which in the last round of heavy cuts was truncated to 
Wilkinsburg-Trafford on Sundays) will now run every 1.5 hours Saturday and 
not at all on Sunday. When I was in high school it was half hourly to 
Wilmerding and hourly to Trafford (with the Trafford trips skipping the 
Wilmerding-side loop). The problem with moving into an older neighborhood 
is that along with no potential for growth you don't have things like a 
mall to keep ridership up (67A cuts are all outbound of Monroeville Mall).

We have been a 2 car family for only 3 years (technically a 3 car family 
for just over one, but the electric car is not yet titled in PA) and bus 
cuts mean that probably needs to stay true for a while. I am starting to 
fear getting old here though, as I can't imagine I'll be able to drive 
forever, and by then there should be no bus service at all.

It is nice to travel in other cities, but only New York and Stockholm have
been frequent enough that I just don't care. My wife is in DC this 
weekend, and she reports the Metro blue line's frequency Saturdays is low 
enough that she would have walked if she knew. And I've waited 15 minutes 
for a number 1 in New York during rush hour (but I assume it was held up).

Anyway, I suppose the service is not much worse in Trafford than it was 
before Lincoln Coach turned the screws to Pittsburgh Railways, at least on 
weekdays. I'd rather have a streetcar, but I'm not holding my breath.