Students feel Sunday’s transit cuts

Junior Caitlin Cocilova didn’t realize that the bus routes had been cut or changed until she… Junior Caitlin Cocilova didn’t realize that the bus routes had been cut or changed until she was waiting at the bus stop longer than usual. She was waiting for a 61A or a 61D.

“Wait, that starts today? That’s why we can’t get a bus!” Cocilova said, grasping at her baseball cap in frustration.

Cocilova stood at the bus stop at Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard with her friend, junior Lisa Favazza, trying to get to Murray Avenue, where she volunteers at a nonprofit.

The Port Authority implemented its 15 percent service reductions yesterday, cutting 29 routes and reducing weekday service on an additional 37 routes.

The cuts are in response to a cut in state funding this year, according to a statement from Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie.

Only two buses had passed by in the 20 minutes Cocilova and Favazza stood bundled up in the chilly weather. As Cocilova rattled off almost a dozen buses that she traveled on often, she realized that now she would have to rethink those routes, if they still existed.

She didn’t know that the 61A was affected, but the 61D would be running the same as usual.

“This is all really frustrating,” Favazza said.

Cocilova said that all of the cuts are going to make transportation much less convenient for students who use it on a regular basis.

Junior Heather Bastion used to take the 500 to Bellevue, but she had to rearrange her route after today’s bus route cuts.

Standing at the bus stop outside Litchfield Towers at Fifth and Thackeray avenues, Bastion has to hop on and off different buses in order to get to Bellevue.

Now, she has to get on the 71B or the 71A, then get off at Wood Street Downtown. From there, she has to get on the 16B Brighton or 13 Bellevue. The entire trip takes about an hour.

Bastion’s friend senior Katie Linkhauer is also experiencing frustrations because of the bus route cuts.

She said that the bus schedule has completely dictated her daily life, so she tries to rely on it as little as possible.

She works at the Giant Eagle in Shadyside, and usually walks there when the weather is nice. She said that she can usually walk there faster than a bus can take her there, and she doesn’t have to wait around for it.

Freshmen Braden Downey and Ryan Eckley were standing at the bus stop on Forbes Avenue outside the Barco Law School. They were on the way to see “Sucker Punch” at the AMC Loews Waterfront Theater.

Sophomore Alex Bennett, perched on top of a wall next to Downey and Eckley, said that students might not completely comprehend how deep the cuts are yet because they don’t feel a lot of the immediate impacts.

He was on his way to the Waterfront, so his route wasn’t affected.

“And a lot of the students think we can’t do much about it,” Bennett said.

He was on his way to buy black paint at the Waterfront for a coffin. Bennett, an intern for PennPIRG — an organization that advocates for public transit — is helping to organize a memorial tomorrow night for the 500 route outside the William Pitt Union.

“You might miss your movie, but this affects more than that, like jobs, too,” Bennett said.

According to the Port Authority website, 180 employees had to be laid off.