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Transit cuts hurt car drivers too

amandaw

The Post-Gazette has a story today detailing the costs of transit cuts in the city of Pittsburgh.

The city’s Port Authority needs $47 million to avoid cuts of 35 percent. According to the P-G, the Port Authority would have to reduce services hours by 35 percent, lay off 555 employees, and eliminate more than 40 routes, resulting in service ending entirely to over 50 communities. Pittsburgh public transit would lose 15 to 22 percent of its ridership under these cuts.

This could be devastating to many communities, and leave a lot of people stranded. Either you walk or you drive to wherever you have to go. Don’t have a car? Can’t walk that far? Sorry, you won’t be going to work today. Or bringing groceries home.

But people who ride public transportation are not the only people who would be affected by these cuts…

Chris Sandvig, project manager of the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group’s GoBurgh Initiative, which has studied the benefits of transit in stimulating development, said Wednesday the actual costs would be far greater than those absorbed by displaced riders.

He estimated that $100 million to $200 million in infrastructure spending would be required to accommodate the additional traffic generated.

With Downtown parking already scarce and the city proposing to lease its parking garages to a private operator, increased demand could cause prices to skyrocket — an impact that would be felt by all commuters, not just former transit riders, he said.

“We really don’t have anywhere to put those cars,” Mr. Sandvig said.

Much of the additional money spent by former transit riders “doesn’t stay in southwestern Pennsylvania,” he added. “It leaves,” going to oil companies and automobile manufacturers.

Parking in the city of Pittsburgh is already a contentious affair. And driving? Do you really want to ask?

I grew up in California and I am used to navigating snarled, jammed, poorly-designed and/or simply overloaded roads and highways. It’s highly frustrating! But I know how to handle it. But I can tell you that driving in western Pennsylvania, especially the city proper, is nothing like I’ve ever experienced on the west coast. It’s not just that the roads are jammed; that’s true in any city. It’s the way Pennsylvania doesn’t know the value of a good sign — they’ll tell you when a lane is going to shift three feet, but they won’t tell you where the hell you are. That makes it rather difficult to figure out where you’re going, too.

Ahem. Anyway.

Imagine how bad it is trying to drive in a city already packed to the brim with wheeled vehicles (and the occasional duck boat) and occupied parking. Now imagine adding another 16,000 to 24,000 drivers.

Just because you don’t personally ride public transit doesn’t mean transit policy doesn’t affect you.

Cross-posted at three rivers fog.

11 thoughts on Transit cuts hurt car drivers too

  1. The eternal quandary: getting people think more communally than individually, followed closely with getting people to see the value in the long-term solution versus the short-term fix.

  2. Can we also discuss the city of pittsburghs apparent aversion to left arrows and left hand turn lanes culminating in the altogether terrifying Pittsburhg Left, Where you gun it to the left just as the light turns green? O

    Also, one time I made three left turns and ended up going back the way I came. That’s just not right.

  3. I’ve driven in many American cities, and Pittsburgh is one of the most frustrating to navigate. One thing you learn is that they didn’t call the ballpark Three Rivers Stadium for nothing. Those rivers really box you in.

    Sninobi–I always thought of that as the Asshole Left, as in, this asshole isn’t willing to wait 30 seconds or however long it will take for the light to cycle through and shut off oncoming traffic.

    Unless he’s doing that as a public service to the cars waiting to turn behind him. Which I somehow doubt.

    1. The thing about Pittsburgh is that there is NO WAY TO TELL what street, road, or highway you are on. And half the time, there is no way to tell what the one you’re about to turn onto is, either.

      The infamous bridge interchange leading to the tunnels out of the city is at least signed correctly. Problem is the signs are hidden in the rafters of the bridge and the bridge is so short there’s no time to look “oh what lane corresponds to what exit” you have to just gun it across five lanes and stick your nose in where it needs to go, without stopping or thinking. So the signs end up meaning nothing ANYWAY.

      And having traversed the landspace of SWPA, WV, and southernmost Ohio, I can tell you it’s not just the city. The entire western quarter of the state appears to follow the same ethos. Five “Lane Shift Ahead” signs at 2500 feet, 2000 feet, 1500 feet, 1000 feet, and 500 feet when they re-paint the lines 8 inches to the side, signs reminding you to buckle up and check your mirrors, but a simple sign with two digits imposed on a state-route or interstate-highway logo? Even regular ol’ street signs at corners? Apparently too much to ask.

      WV tells me when there’s a 20-foot puddle lake 5 miles away. They have their shit together.

  4. Thanks for this post. I’ve not been to Pittsburgh, but the public transportation in my city is pretty screwed, too. We had a huge service cut early this year, plus a fare increase for the express routes. And don’t get me started on how hard it is to get to so many places in town–especially the business parks, where, you know, a whole lot of good jobs are. ARGH.

    I’ve never had a license, or the money to buy, fuel, or maintain a car. I really hope this becomes an issue more people pay attention to. It’s about the people riding the bus, the business owners who need employees and customers, and everyone and the environment we have to share a space with.

  5. I actually have an interview in Pittsburgh in a few weeks, so this is good to know.

    I do remember several trips through, into and across Pennsylvania, and this whole business of not telling you where you are seems to be a state thing. My friend and I, already punchy from a long drive into night, were cracking up on the Interstate because there was never a sign telling you which county you were entering, but there was always one telling you which one you were leaving.

  7. lol at the term “Pittsburgh Left” coming up in the second comment on the thread. I’ve been there one time visiting friends and it was one of the first things they told me about the city. (Of course it’s not unique to Pittsburgh; I remember one driver in my own city doing that to me and while I was fine, the cycler coming up on my right plowed right into them.)

  8. According to AutoVantage, Pittsburgh has the most curteous drivers in the country (http://kdka.com/local/road.rage.survey.2.723990.html). So they have that going for them.

    The Pittsburgh Left has never bothered me, although I do wish there were a more organized way of teaching it to people. It’s an artifact of the lack of room for turning lanes in most of the horse-buggy-sized roads in the city; it’s not so much an issue of not being willing to wait as a capitulation to the fact that rush hour gets very badly snarled when people can’t vacate the turn-and-straight left-hand lane. I recommend just going with it.

    As to the bus issue: I’m hoping this is another instance of hardball politics on the part of the city to try and carve some support money out of the state. We can’t make a solid case to Harrisburg if we aren’t clear that we’re considering all alternatives. But, this is a good time to write your state legislator.

    On the flip side, what could we do to make the bus system in the city sustainable on the backs of its ridership?

  9. My coworker friend and I were talking about this the other day. Routes will be cut, people will lose jobs, financial matters for the averag person will worsen, and it still won’t solve the funding issue in the end.

    And an oh hell yes to the recognition of horrible Pittsburgh area signage. I moved to the area at the beginning of this year, after living in New Mexico and Texas my whole life. I’ve never gotten so goddamned lost so many times, simply because there are no goddamn street signs.

  10. On the flip side, what could we do to make the bus system in the city sustainable on the backs of its ridership?

    Nothing. That’s not how public transit works, nor should it, for the reasons given above: everyone in the community benefits from a good, solid reliable system of public transportation, even those who drive their cars everywhere. Operating a public transportation system funded purely by fares is not sustainable.

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