| rev:text
| - As a car-less denizen of PGH, I rely on PAT buses to get from Point A to Point B. Living in Oakland, PAT offers buses to many places I need to go (downtown, the grocery store, the airport, etc.). As a PITT employee, the price (free) is right.
Having said this, I have several gripes:
1.) Buses almost never run on time, and there's no way to know when the next one is coming other than asking the other people at the bus stop how long they've been waiting. Come on, it's 2014--a GPS-enabled device should be in every bus so you can check to see where it is, or there should be a SMS alert system. Singapore had this for their buses in 2010!
2.) Some drivers can be surly or just downright ignorant. More than once, a bus has passed me when waiting at a stop for no apparent reason, or has failed to hold on for 5-10 s. as I huffed and puffed to catch it. For whatever reason, the outbound 28X seems to be especially problematic. True story: Last time I rode it, the driver didn't know where she was going, and we ended up crossing the Liberty Bridge, despite pax telling her this wasn't the route. To make matters worse, this was the last 28X of the night, so due to this detour, I didn't get home until after 1am.
3.) Regardless of which route you ride, the clientele can be a bit sketch. Some drivers will also let homeless people ride without paying/a voucher out of pity. On one occasion, a pax regaled the bus with nonsensical poetry (not sure if he was under the influence or just mentally incapacitated...), and the driver did nada about it (though it was amusing).
4.) The system of when to pay is nonsensical. Despite having a terminal degree and having lived in PGH for 3 years, I still haven't figured it out, and have to rely on cues from the bus driver. While I understand the reason behind it (the free zone downtown), there must be a less confusing solution. Get on it!
5.) For those who don't have a PITT or CMU pass, fares--including monthly passes--are expensive ($2.50 per trip). Pro Tip: For a round trip, when you pay for the first leg, ask for a transfer and use it on the second leg--this shaves $1.50 off your fare.
6.) Even in Oakland, where route options are better than in most areas of the city, there are no direct buses to some areas I'd like to visit (e.g., the Strip). Also, other than the P1 from downtown, buses serving the East Busway only run during rush hour on weekdays, and even the P1 only runs hourly off rush hour.
I've ridden public transit in other cities, and for its size, PGH should have a better system and lower fares. For starters, the T (light rail) should be expanded to run east-west along the busways, given that it's currently a line to nowhere.
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