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

[Joshua Dunfield]

Derrick Brashear wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Sep 2007, Joshua Dunfield wrote:
> 
> >> 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.
> >
> > Oh, sure, there's a need for *new* routes, but the original criticism,
> > as I understood it, was that the old routes are still there.
> 
> Well, if you put the routes that should be there in, do you still need the 
> old ones?

I'd think you'd still need most of them.  Suppose you created new routes
to Pittsburgh Technology Center from Oakland, and/or from Squirrel Hill via
Oakland. (Pretend that a miracle occurs and the buses don't die of congestion
on Bates.)  You now have downtown-PTC on the 56s, Squill/Oakland-PTC on the...
"59T", and PTC-Hazelwood/{Greenfield,Glenwood,Homestead} on the 56s.

You'd expect new riders from Oakland and Squirrel Hill on the new route.
Demand on the old routes isn't likely to change: if you'd been taking the
56E, say, from Greenfield you'll stay with it.  If you'd been taking
61C/59U/64A south to transfer to 56E you'll switch to the new route, but
not many people would have bothered with that.  And of course everyone on
the 56s who wasn't going to or from PTC is going to want their existing
service.  Turning PTC into a transfer point and making them transfer to
get from Hazelwood to Downtown only works if you saturate it with frequent
service, and if you have *that* much money why not let them keep their
one-seat trip?

> > Barring complete economic collapse and the End of Pittsburgh As We Know It,
> > the 71A will continue to be a high-demand route partly because it still
> > makes sense abstractly and partly because people expect it to be.
> 
> Sure.
> 
> Do you think we need a 56 and a 61 going to McKeesport?
> 
> Just because two carlines did doesn't mean we need it now. How much local 
> ridership do you think there is between Interboro Ave and McKeesport? 

I'd guess not much, but I wouldn't know.  I walked from McKeesport to
Dravosburg once.  If that makes me an expert, well.

What do you propose?  You need something from Homestead to at least Duquesne,
and from Glenwood to at least Muldowney Loop.  Then you could

 - run both to McKeesport (close to the status quo)
 - run the 56C up around to Duquesne
 - run many of the 61Cs up around to Muldowney Loop
 - end the 56C at Muldowney and the 61C at Duquesne, and rely on a third
   Duquesne-McKeesport-Muldowney route

Best option?  Beats me.

Now let's imagine you restart the PATrain and need to reorient service
around McKeesport again.  Nah, let's not.

-j.