Transit Cuts

Dear Port Authority of Allegheny County:

In response to your most recent announcement of transit cuts (also known as your pathetic plea to Uncle Tom Corbett for money), I must say that I am disappointed. I am not disappointed because I will not be able to use the bus or trolley. I am disappointed that your complete and utter failure to run a "public" transit system disproportionately affects the poor.

As found on your website, you are planning to cut service completely to some suburbs. While this is terribly inconvenient for white suburbanites who have at least 2 cars to fall back on and only took the bus to avoid the parkway in the first place, this is not what I am talking about. What I am talking about is effectively ending service at 10pm on weekdays. Seriously, have you never heard of second shift? If not, here's a little lesson:

You've heard of Kenny Chesney's "Shift Work", right? Of course you have.



Well, when he spouts off these random numbers: 7-3 3-11 11-7, they're not just random numbers. First shift starts at 7am and ends at 3pm (if you're still following along, that means that all of these people can take the bus! yay!). Second shift starts at 3pm and goes to 11pm (uh oh, no bus) and third shift starts at 11pm and goes to 7am (but nobody actually works that shift -- No? how do you think all those french fries got to McDonalds?)

Studies confirm common sense that the poor disproportionately work second and third shift, and now have no way to get to those jobs.

Also, Port Authority, eliminating service on weekends for many routes certainly does not affect the white, suburbanite, paper-pusher who works Mon-Fri. However, it may come as a surprise to you that people actually do work on weekends and holidays (who do you think mans the toll-booths when you are going through the hills to grandmother's house?) Who do you think serves you coffee when you take your Sunday jaunt (or monitors your vital signs in the hospital if your jaunt turned into an ER visit?) I think you get the point.



Now, you might be saying, yes, but we can't pay our drivers less (the common "cure"). True. If you pay drivers less, you get people who hate going to work and who make poor decisions at the wheel of a bus. I understand paying them as professionals to do professional work. So then, what's the answer?

The answer lies somewhere in the middle of privatization and government takeover. The answer is not privatization, because this treating-public-transit-as-a-private-corporation-driven-solely-by-profit thing is exactly what created this. The uncomfortable reality is: in order for public transit to remain "public", it has to remain in place for the people that you don't necessarily make money on. If it does not, it ceases to be "public". It's that simple.

A balance must be struck where public money goes to public transportation. However, it then must be overseen in order to reduce waste and harmful spending habits of private companies entrusted with public transportation.

Examples can be seen in other states where money is taken from the state-wide tax pool in order to partially fund public transportation in cities that need and use it. "WHAT??? you mean that I will have to pay for something I don't use except when I take the incline to Mt. Washington when I go to light up night???" To that I say, I've never driven on any roads in Cranberry Township and my taxes go to that...

While it would never work for various reasons, I would love to see a one-day Port Authority shutdown. "Ew gross, this trash is left here from yesterday!" "O, I guess the janitor couldn't make it to work" "Hey, all my cubicle-mates are here, let's go get coffee!" "O wait, it's closed because the cashier isn't here." "O well, off to my doctor's appointment!" "O, that's closed too because the dental assistant and receptionist both couldn't make it"

Cuts in public transportation affect the public because they disproportionately affect the poor.