[PRCo] Re: Fwd: News from Pittsburgh//Jacksonville

[Herb Brannon]

You need to take a close look at the "new" Northside. It's not your
"fathers' Northside" any longer. There a lots of new venues, other than
Heinz Field and PNC Park, to cause people to take the new extension.
On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 7:09 AM, Jerry "Matt" Matsick <
jerry.matsick at comcast.net> wrote:

> Fred - Our Jacksonville "Skyway Express" Monorail system, 3.5 miles is now
> "Free"  Ridership increased 75 percent, people are parking in garages at
> either ends of the system, city now actually starting to see a small
> profit.        The Pittsburgh Northside extension, will boom for Steeler
> games, I know if I lived out in the South Hills area that is how I would
> travel to Heinz Field!    I haven't seen the new Pgh extention, other than
> a ball game what would lead people to
> ride?    Americans do not fathom what the rest of the world is like?  do
> they?
> Jerry M
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> To: Pittsburgh Railways <pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org>
> Sent: Wed, 09 May 2012 23:51:48 -0000 (UTC)
> Subject: [PRCo] Fwd: News from Pittsburgh
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> > From: Fred Schneider
> > Date: May 9, 2012 5:15:49 PM EDT
> > Bcc: John Swindler , Yonah Freemark , Ed Lybarger , "Bruce C. Bente" ,
> Pittsburgh Railways , Dave Hamley
> > Subject: Fwd: News from Pittsburgh
> >
> > Wonderful!   We just opened the new PAT North Side extension on March
> 23rd and now they admit having  no money to run it.  We cannot raise fares
> or tax our own people to run the system ... we have to demand that the
> state give us more money if we are to haul people.
> >
> > Trippers to the ball game at Forbes Field are a memory from the past.
> >
> > On the other side of the ocean the base fare in London is $8.60 for the
> first two zones ... less than half that if you buy an oyster card.  And if
> you wish to drive instead, then you will pay just about the same amount as
> a congestion tax each day for the privilege of driving your car into London
> and then add the exorbitant parking fees on top of it.   Exorbitant you
> ask?   Parking in central London can run 30 pounds or 52 dollars for a 9
> hour workday, so it still pays to take the tube even if it does cost $6 to
> $8 a day with an oyster card.   By the way, their gasoline is about 5
> pounds 43 a gallon, or $9.33 this week.   Is there something we don't
> understand?
> >
> > Fred Schneider
> >
> >
> >
> > Port Authority's Failures Frustrate Fans, Runners
> > Jon Schmitz  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
> >
> >
> > May 09--For many transit riders, Saturday's fireworks show at PNC Park
> was followed by a dud.
> >
> > Port Authority says it can no longer afford to provide extra Light Rail
> Transit service after crowded stadium events. But last weekend, a staffing
> shortage prevented it from meeting even its stripped-down regular schedule.
> >
> > Thousands of fans poured out of the Pirates game and a Marilyn Manson
> concert next door at Stage AE to find packed station platforms and trains
> nowhere in sight. Service is scheduled about every 15 minutes at that hour
> on Saturdays, but some riders said they waited 45 minutes or more.
> >
> > "There's no excuse for it," authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said of the
> dropped trips, which occurred Friday night and all day on Saturday. "We're
> trying to correct it."
> >
> > But he also said the past practice of running extra trains after major
> events is no longer possible. With the authority facing a $64 million
> budget deficit and record-breaking service cuts scheduled for September,
> "it's not within our financial means," he said.
> >
> > Jan Grice of Shadyside and her husband, Don Marinelli, parked at First
> Avenue Garage with the intention of taking the free T ride to and from the
> North Side for the baseball game. They waited 20 to 25 minutes before a
> one-car train arrived and it was packed, she said.
> >
> > After the game, after waiting 20 minutes at North Side Station, they
> gave up and walked back to First Avenue. "More and more people were flowing
> into the station. We realized when this train gets here, it's going to be a
> madhouse," she said.
> >
> > "The thing that just kills you is you had all these people in from out
> of town [for the Pittsburgh Marathon the following day]. We look like a
> second-class city that can't quite get it together," Ms. Grice said. Her
> husband, in a comment on the Post-Gazette's website, called it "a major
> black eye for Port Authority."
> >
> > Mr. Ritchie said the agency's rail division is going through a series of
> staffing changes. That, coupled with higher-than-normal absenteeism because
> of illnesses, injuries and other authorized leaves, left the authority
> without enough operators to meet the schedule. "It became impossible to
> overcome that quickly," he said.
> >
> > Throughout Saturday, 10 vehicles that should have been in service were
> not, including five Red Line units that were out of service after 4 p.m.,
> Mr. Ritchie said.
> >
> > Even meeting the full schedule, which has shrunk in recent years because
> of service cuts brought on by chronic underfunding, the agency is
> hard-pressed to keep up with demand after Saturday night baseball games,
> which typically draw more than 30,000 fans.
> >
> > The current schedule has only three outbound trips serving North Side
> Station between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturdays. About 400 people can
> squeeze into a two-car train, meaning the system can move only about 1,200
> people in the hour after which most games end.
> >
> > If a game runs late or is delayed, the situation gets worse -- only two
> trips are scheduled from 11 p.m. to midnight.
> >
> > The September service cuts would eliminate all weekend service on the
> Blue Line, leaving just two trips from North Side Station between 10 p.m.
> and 11 p.m. and one between 11 and midnight.
> >
> > "It makes the whole expenditure for the T extension seem ridiculous if
> it doesn't function," Ms. Grice said.
> >
> > "Our resources are very limited," Mr. Ritchie said. "What we're seeing
> right now essentially is the gap between the level of service we offer and
> can afford and the demand."
> >
> > As the June 30 expiration of its current union contract approaches, the
> authority is anticipating a wave of retirements by workers who are worried
> they will lose benefits under the new contract. That could create
> additional scheduling problems.
> >
> > The agency also drew complaints over the weekend from marathon
> participants and spectators because it didn't add bus or rail service for
> the event, which attracted 19,000 runners and thousands of onlookers.
> > Alexis Rzewski of Point Breeze said he boarded a P1 East Busway-All
> Stops bus in East Liberty at about 6:20 a.m. By Negley Station it was full,
> leaving an estimated 40 people, many of them runners, to wait for the next
> bus 30 minutes later.
> >
> > He said a collective groan went up when the bus approached the crowded
> station. "We all knew they were not all going to fit in."
> >
> > Bus crowding has been a problem on many routes since service was reduced
> by 15 percent in March 2011. Another 35 percent of service on Sept. 2 will
> eliminate 48 of the remaining 102 routes. Authority officials say the cuts
> can be avoided only if the state moves to provide a more reliable and
> growing funding stream.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park