[PRCo] PAT's fare boxes

[Schneider Fred]

You guys will love this.   The paragraph in quotation marks came from  
my sister who lives in beautiful uptown Wilkinsburg.
Note the comment about not collecting fares because the fare box  
isn't working....    And if we don't collect fares, and our passenger  
counts are based upon fares collected, then we don't have riders.

Of course we can't fix the fare box because that is an operating  
expense.   We must wait until the whole vehicle craps out and then we  
ask the Feds for money for a capital overhaul.   That way Allegheny  
County doesn't have to pay for it.   Did they ever think of a scrub  
bucket to collect fares?   I remember the New York Central Railroad  
doing that in New York during a transit authority strike when they  
were suddenly called on to haul people in droves from The Bronx to  
Grand Central Terminal.

"But, there's also the problem of public transportation here in this  
area.  It's undependable. It's poorly managed.  You have to stand out  
in the elements waiting for the ride to come. They keep cutting  
lines.  They buy huge busses for lines and then run them 1/3-1/2 full  
much of the time.  My friend, Bea, does not drive and takes the  
busses everywhere.  She lives in Oakland.  She tells me that she  
can't believe how often she gets on a bus and the driver tells her  
that he's not collecting fares that route because the fare box isn't  
working!
I see the impact on the traffic on the Parkway East and on Penn Ave/ 
Fifth Ave.  If the weather is mild and/or sunny, traffic is light  
because people who have a choice, will ride the bus.  However, if  
there is a forecast for severe cold, or rain or snow, anyone who has  
a choice, will drive their car because they don't want to stand out  
in the weather to wait for the bus. You can see it immediately in the  
higher volumne of traffic on the streets and the Parkways."