[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh - think tank blasts possible new transit taxes

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007, Joshua Dunfield wrote:

> Not quite *just* as they did; many have been adjusted for shopping
> developments.  But I'm not sure why you think that's such a bad thing.
> I like to be able to choose an apartment or a house according to
> proximity to transit and be confident that the local transit planners
> aren't going to "revamp" my buses out of existence whenever they get
> bored.

If you picked one on the Greensburg Pike bus line, and you aren't 
commuting during exactly rush hour, you did lose. The line is still there, 
though.

> How about some specifics?  We all know Pittsburgh pretty well.  Tell
> us which routes are obsolete.  You don't have to tell their riders,
> of course...

The problem is not necessarily one of "no riders there" but "the route 
serves people, who really wanted a different route to serve them"

There's no good way to get from Highland Park to the Cardello Building, 
for instance. In fact, there's largely no good way to get to the Cardello 
Building. Yet it's an office building. A lot of people work there.

> I've long wondered about restructuring East End service around the East
> Busway.  For almost as long, though, I've noticed that it's not a simple
> question (one of several problems is that there aren't enough ramps).

Not all buses need to get on, as opposed to dumping a load at a station, 
either.

> I don't begrudge paying for that.  And I bet those two or three people
> (who are several dozen people each day, unless you have people who ride
> all day? if so, maybe they should join this list) are glad it wasn't
> removed.

If that's all the demand there is, at least run minibuses and save fuel.

But I bet there's unmet demand because the route hasn't been adjusted in 
years, and Lancaster sure as h*** has new developments around.