[PRCo] Re: Bus Service

[Fred Schneider]

And I would like the real world to change too, Ken.   I would be much  
happier living in a real world where the intelligencia didn't feel  
they had to evacuate the cities and move to the suburbs and live in  
the most expensive properties possible so that they can isolate  
themselves from the riff raff.   Perhaps one of the things I like  
best about Europe  (Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries, southern  
England, southern Scandanavia)  is that the well off can still live  
in communes that are densely populated enough that they can use  
public transportation to get where they need to go and using a car  
can be voluntary and not mandatory.   I'm not particularly happy with  
the thought that, as I grow old, I may have to give up my car and  
then my only options will be moving into a retirement home or calling  
a cab or walking 1/4 mile for a bus to nowhere that runs 10 times a  
day in order to transfer to a bus to the mall (that I can reach in 10  
minutes with a car).   None of us want to live in North Las Vegas or  
Herron Hill or the Perry Hilltop or Homewood or Brushton or West  
Philly or the city of Lancaster.   So we isolate ourselves in the  
suburbs until it's time to move into retirement communities.   That's  
the United States.

I've lived in this same neighborhood since I was ten but then the bus  
service was every 35 minutes and the buses ran inbound starting  
around 5:45 AM and outbound until 11:30 PM and there was something  
called a downtown with multiple department stores, four five and  
dimes, six movie theaters, all the restaurants you could ever want.    
It's all gone now.   But you gave to go from here into the middle of  
the city to change to the buses to go back outside the city to the  
malls.

On Feb 5, 2007, at 6:47 PM, Ken & Tracie wrote:

> Grew up where off-peak crosstown headways were twenty minutes, rush  
> hours,
> ten.
>
> Main routes were twelve minute headways, rush hour meant  
> "trippers", often
> in sight of each other.
>
> Owned cars since I was seventeen...but kept using mass transit for  
> all my
> needs, i.e., school, shopping, errands, work. Used the car for dating,
> "cruising" with friends, trips out of town.
>
> Then I moved here, where bus service is minimal.
>
> Tracie and I flew into San Francisco during November, 1991. Took a  
> shuttle
> to our hotel, used Muni and BART exclusively for three and a half  
> days.
> Neither of us missed driving.
>
> Been living in the real world for quite a while, Fred. Even so, I  
> can't deny
> that walking three or four blocks to a car line, hopping a PCC and  
> riding to
> work would be my preferred way to get around.
>
> K.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 3:13 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Bus Service
>
>
>> Welcome to the real world, Ken!
>>
>> On Feb 5, 2007, at 4:33 PM, Ken & Tracie wrote:
>>
>>> To clarify something...I am a vintage car hobbyist. I "love" my
>>> vintage
>>> automobiles.
>>>
>>> I HATE urban driving and would use the local transit system to
>>> commute to
>>> work IF:
>>>
>>> 1.) There were routes which passed close enough to work so I
>>> wouldn't have
>>> to walk the last mile in 105 degree heat during the summer.
>>>
>>> 2.) Headways away from the tourist corridors were less than the  
>>> 30-60
>>> minutes, meaning a two hour bus ride to travel nine miles ( Half
>>> mile to the
>>> closest bus stop, 7.5 miles of riding, then a mile walk to work
>>> from the
>>> closest bus stop, with a 45 minute wait for a transfer almost  
>>> halfway
>>> through the ride.)
>>>
>>>
>>> K.
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>>> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>>> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 9:03 AM
>>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: pat__service__cuts__2007.01.23-changed to 2/1/07
>>>
>>>
>>>> John and all:
>>>>
>>>> I love my car.   And I think Ken Josephson loves his car too ...
>>>> maybe as much as his wife and daughter.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>