[PRCo] Re: pat__service__cuts__2007.01.23-changed to 2/1/07

[Joshua Dunfield]

Fred Schneider wrote:
> You also might want to question how much analysis PAT did about which  
> routes are on the kill list.   I understand it was only average  
> patronage per trip without looking at reducing service frequencies,  
> or cutting some trips back at mid point or anything else.

If you're saying the only criterion was average boardings per trip, I
don't think that's the case; the "scorecard" has a number of other
factors, including a number of "equity" considerations: service to
minority, low income, seniors (there's your "old women"), and disabled
populations, as well as "county coverage".

Analyzing all permutations of a route network isn't feasible, even if
you have reliable data on how many people get on and off at which stops.
Could they have done a more complex analysis?  Probably.  Would it have
been that much different?  I don't know.  Do you have any reason to
think it would?

>   So a  
> Mount Lebanon - Airport bus that ran every 1/2 hour with 4 passengers  
> carries the same weight as the Brookline bus with 900 daily  
> riders ... both would be axed.   Does not sound like imagination or  
> planning, just the old women and children first to make the state  
> come up with money so we can continue business as usual.

Well...it definitely takes some imagination to talk about Mt. Lebanon-
Airport buses.

>    But I was  
> told they did make one route change ... that Library is now an  
> evening shuttle from Castle Shannon to Library ... the better to  
> drive away riders.

If you look at http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/Portals/0/ServiceChange.pdf ,
you'll see that a number of routes are being truncated rather than eliminated
(12A, 13A, 13C, 16B, 17B, 18B, 21A...you can find the rest).

> I'm not really going to tell you who my pipeline is.   Would not be  
> fair.

My pipeline, at this particular moment, is the following:

http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/News/ProposedFareandServiceChanges/ServiceScorecardOutcomeAnalysis/tabid/340/Default.aspx

http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/Portals/0/ServiceChange.pdf

-j.