[PRCo] Pittsburgh Transit Topics (April 8, 2014)

[Herb Brannon]

Following are Pgh Post Gazette stories from today concerning PATransit and
other transportation topics.

*1. PATransit Service Cuts Problems*

A couple years ago, when Gloria Jefferson of McKeesport wanted to go
somewhere, she walked to a bus stop near her house.

Then, in 2011, her commute became much less convenient. During a round of
cuts to fix a budget deficit, the Port Authority canceled her route, which
ran through the middle of McKeesport. Now, Ms. Jefferson, who is 80, has to
walk a mile downhill to another stop.

The walk is tough for her, especially when she's carrying grocery bags.
Sometimes, she pays for a ride there or avoids going places. She wonders
whether she'll still be able to make the walk when she gets older.

"Right now, I feel good. How long it's going to last, I don't know," she
said. "I keep on praying that one day they'll turn it around and bring the
bus back up the hill."

Ms. Jefferson is among thousands of commuters whose lives were changed when
the Port Authority nixed 29 routes and scaled back dozens of others in
March 2011. The authority cut the routes to make up for a $47 million
budget deficit caused by rising cost of benefits for its employees and a
$27 million shortfall in state funding.

Last year, the state government passed Act 89, a transportation bill that
restores funding to the Port Authority. But the authority isn't considering
expanding its routes right now, communications director Jim Ritchie said.

Instead, the authority plans to repair its infrastructure and improve the
experience of riders. After years of declining ridership due to cutbacks,
it hopes to draw riders back. Also, Act 89 requires that much of the new
funding to be used for maintenance, Mr. Ritchie said.

"The goal of the state was not to give money to expand, but to stabilize,"
he said. "Of course, we will be looking at the bigger picture down the
road."

In the three years since the cuts, commuters have dealt with the lost
routes by paying for rides, walking long distances, or by simply going
fewer places. The transit cuts made it harder for many to get to work,
apply for jobs, run errands, visit the doctor and attend classes at
community colleges, commuters and community advocates say.

The poor economy and rising cost of gas have made the problem worse, said
John Lydon, CEO of Auberle, a McKeesport nonprofit that provides shelter
and other services for families in the area. Fewer people can afford to buy
a car and pay for gas and insurance, he said.

"These people are sort of caught between a rock and a hard place, where the
cost of a vehicle is increasing and the availability of public
transportation is decreasing," he said.

In addition to limiting commuters' movement, the cuts have led to big
wastes of time. Since 2011, Wayne Gray of Glassport has spent a larger
portion of his days waiting for and sitting on buses. Often, he spends five
or six hours a day traveling to construction sites where he finishes
hardwood. He sometimes waits 45 minutes for buses, causing him to be late
for work.

"It's boring, frustrating," said Mr. Gray, who passes the time by checking
Facebook on his phone, listening to music, staring out the window and
chatting with other passengers. "Hard-working people, we can't get back and
forth to work if there aren't any buses."

The effect of the cuts on him goes beyond work, though. His girlfriend is
pregnant, and the lack of buses makes it hard for them to make it to her
appointments with her doctor.

Inconvenient and expensive

The cancellation of bus routes has also put strains on the finances of many
commuters. Mr. Gray, like others, sometimes pays friends to give him rides
to places he used to reach by bus. For him, the rides cost $10 or $20. Ms.
Jefferson pays friends $5 to drive her to the bus stop on Lysle Boulevard
when it's cold or she's too tired to make the walk.

The bus schedule is usually convenient for Monica Henderson, with the 11
Fineview route stopping outside her house in Perry South. On weekends,
though, the bus doesn't come early enough to take her to her job as a
referral coordinator at UPMC Presbyterian because its hours were shortened
in the 2011 cuts. She usually pays someone $7 for a ride to the nearest
operating bus stop, the 16B Brighton.

Those extra payments strain the passengers' budgets. To make up for the
cost, Ms. Jefferson has delayed buying medicine and groceries, and Ms.
Henderson works overtime.

"You're paying $90 for a monthly bus pass, but when you're working weekends
that's another $14," Ms. Henderson said. "That's a bit too much."

Mr. Lydon said he's met people through his work who have lost their jobs
because of a lack of public transit. Sometimes, the long bus rides make it
impossible for them to have several jobs, which they need to pay the bills,
he said.

The lack of bus routes also limits shopping options for low-income people
in McKeesport, he said. It limits them to the few stores within walking
distance, preventing them from looking around for good deals.

"The people who need to have savings the most are the most unable to do
that," Mr. Lydon said. "It's like the company stores of years past."

Apart from the 2011 cuts, the Port Authority has fought off budget deficits
several times in the past decade by cutting service, raising fares and
laying off employees. But Act 89 will give the authority enough money to
ward off deficits for the next several years, Mr. Ritchie said.

Now that its budget is secure, the authority will concentrate on repairing
its infrastructure, he said. Busways need to be paved, and bridges need to
be fixed. It also plans to buy new buses to replace aging ones that will go
out of service.

The Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit that advises cities on land use,
development and other urban issues, will hold a weeklong panel discussion
in May in Pittsburgh at which local organizations will discuss how they
want the Port Authority to change. Taking the discussion into account, the
institute will evaluate the authority's finances and recommend changes.

While restoring routes is not on the horizon, Mr. Ritchie said, a priority
for the authority is improving the experience of commuters to increase
ridership, which has been in decline since the cuts. For example, the
authority might ease overcrowding on buses by adjusting the frequency of
routes, making buses stop more often during peak rush hour times.

"If we start to improve the service that's on the street today, and people
start to realize, 'I won't always be sandwiched on the bus,' then we'll
start to grab those people back," Mr. Ritchie said.

Of the 29 routes cut in 2011, one has been restored: the 55 Glassport,
which runs through North Versailles, McKeesport, Glassport, Clairton and
Jefferson Hills. The authority decided to bring it back after Heritage
Community Services, a nonprofit based in Braddock, cut back its Worklink
bus line in response to a reduction in federal funding. The authority
revived the route to avoid a devastating impact on the area, Mr. Ritchie
said.

That was good news to Patricia Richardson of Clairton. When the bus was
gone, she had trouble getting around, especially with her arthritis and
back problems, which sometimes make it hard for her to walk. She had to pay
for jitneys, which took a toll on her finances.

"You have to rob Peter to pay Paul," she said. "Buy less groceries, you
know."

Now that the bus is back, she's relieved. "It's a big difference," she said.

Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/04/06/Cuts-in-suburban-bus-routes-changed-lives/stories/201404060065#ixzz2yKVy6lpC

*2. Trolley Delays Today*

Light rail riders should expect possible delays of up to 40 minutes this
afternoon because of a power issue, the Port Authority of Allegheny County
said.

T riders could see "significant delays" on all light rail service,
according to the alert posted on the Authority's website at 3:15 p.m.

Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/04/08/Port-Authority-T-riders-can-expect-delays-of-up-to-40-minutes-this-afternoon/stories/201404080185#ixzz2yKX3e5cx

*3. Morning Landslide Stops Duquense Heights Incline & NS Railroad*

A swath the size of a football field tore loose from the face of Mount
Washington this morning, sending a torrent of mud and trees across railroad
tracks along West Carson Street and briefly closing the Duquesne Incline.

City officials also ordered a precautionary closure of LeMont restaurant
above the slide zone, but an engineer said a visual inspection found no
signs of instability around that structure.

No one was injured and the main impact of the slide was disruption of
freight train traffic along the Norfolk Southern Railway line. Railroad
crews were working to clear the tracks, a section of which shifted as the
hillside tumbled across it.

At a briefing this afternoon, city Public Safety Director Michael Huss said
the ground was still moving in the area. Railroad engineers were to
determine when it is safe to resume service on what Mr. Huss described as
"a very busy rail line with significant commerce."

As for LeMont, it will remain closed until engineers from the city and
those hired by the restaurant determine it is safe. "We're erring on the
side of caution," Mr. Huss.

The city Bureau of Building Inspection will meet Wednesday morning with CEC
Inc. -- civil engineers for the LeMont -- to determine whether the
restaurant can reopen Thursday, Public Safety Department spokeswoman Sonya
Toler said.

The slide was reported shortly after 4 a.m. by the engineer of a passing
train. The slide area was about 100 yards long and it left a debris field
about 10 feet deep and 30 feet back toward the hillside, city Operations
Director Guy Costa said.

Norfolk Southern spokesman Dave Pidgeon said this morning that the
company's freight trains were being rerouted but wouldn't elaborate, saying
the company doesn't provide details about train routing because of safety
and security concerns. By early afternoon, westbound trains were seen
moving slowly through the slide area.

The Duquesne Incline was closed for a time but reopened when officials
determined it was not threatened by the slide. The structure is equipped
with sensors that are designed to detect earth movement, Mr. Huss said.

Conductor Lucille Gabler said one of her co-workers on night shift heard a
"funny noise" before closing, but the incline was running normally today
until shortly before 7 a.m., when someone from the mayor's office told her
they'd have to close. The incline reopened around 9:15 a.m.

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority checked water and sewer lines
along Grandview Avenue above the slide and found no damage, Mr. Costa said.

The slide was typical in that it involved a failure of weak claystone
called "red beds" that were saturated with moisture from recent rainfall,
said Bruce Roth, a geotechnical engineer with GAI Consultants, the company
brought in by the city to inspect the scene. "That is a common occurrence
in Western Pennsylvania," he said.

In addition to visual inspection, the company will examine the history of
the scene and drill to collect soil samples that will be analyzed in a lab,
a process that could take about a month. It will then offer the city a
variety of options for correcting the problem.

"If they run across something that needs to be immediately addressed, we'll
have to address it," Mr. Costa said. "It could be fine, all the loose stone
and shale came down and we don't have to do anything."

Debris from the slide was on railroad property. County property records
show that the city owns the hillside between the restaurant's property line
and the railroad right-of-way.

Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2014/04/08/Landslide-blocks-railroad-tracks-closes-Duquesne-Incline/stories/201404080148#ixzz2yKXlFCmo



-- 
Herb Brannon


*In Pittsburgh.............................A City And.........A State of
Mind *
Let's Go Pens
Let's Go Bucs



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