[PRCo] Re: pat

[Fred Schneider]

No argument Herb.

But allow me to point out that one of the reasons the automobile  
lobbies have favored express bus lanes along freeways (example  
Shirley Busway and El Monte Busway) was simply that, should they  
fail, the motorists would get another traffic lane at someone else's  
expense.  Light rail doesn't provide that option.  And, in the case  
of the Shirley Busway in suburban Washington DC, just that did  
happen.   It became a diamond lane and anyone with two or three or  
four people in the car now uses the busway.   I think I suggested  
that would happen when I wrote the article for Headlights back about  
1975.

On Oct 23, 2006, at 12:03 AM, <hrbran99 at adelphia.net> wrote:

> I really do not believe that allowing taxis, vans and odd sized  
> buses would mix well with PATransit buses on the busways.
>
> I remember, all too well, when one of my buddies, Allegheny County  
> Sheriff Deputy Ed Butko, was killed when his well marked police car  
> and an articulated PAT bus collided on the East Busway in the early  
> 1980's. The accident occurred in the narrow section of the EB  
> between Herron Avenue and Shadyside stations.
>
> I think the busways should be just that..............BUSways. After  
> the taxis then FedEx and UPS will want joint use to speed their  
> deliveries, then perhaps the USPS will want to use them, then the  
> illegal jitneys will demand equal treatment, then  
> bicycles.................then the busways are just another city  
> street. PAT should think long and hard before opening this  
> Pandora's Box!
>
> And that concludes my turn on the soapbox tonight!!
>
> Herb
> --
> HrB
>
> ---- Jim Holland <prcopcc at p-r-co.com> wrote:
>>     Yellow cabs willing to pay to use busways
>>
>> Friday, October 20, 2006
>>
>> By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
>>
>> Buses that enjoy some of their own highways into Pittsburgh soon  
>> could
>> be sharing them with taxis, vans and even commercial vehicles.
>>
>> The Pittsburgh Transportation Group, which includes more than 300  
>> Yellow
>> cabs, says it would like to use the Port Authority's exclusive  
>> busways
>> and is willing to pay for the privilege.
>