Students, faculty react to Port Authority route changes

A little more than two weeks after the Port Authority implemented new route changes, the bus… A little more than two weeks after the Port Authority implemented new route changes, the bus schedule stand in the Union is sparse.

Erin Rodriguez, a Pitt student who works at the William Pitt Union information desk, said people ask for copies of the handheld schedule at least 3 or 4 times a shift — and a shift is about four hours.

She doesn’t use the buses herself, but knew the Port Authority introduced changes on April 4.

“People have been asking about the [bus schedule] stand since the beginning of April,” Rodriguez said.

Although the Union’s stand is empty, some students and faculty say the Port Authority didn’t notify Oakland residents well enough, and some say the changes are just an inconvenience. However, Port Authority says they promoted it for months, and when the changes are done, it will mean more options — not fewer.

Port Authority issued new schedules in February, Port Authority spokeswoman Heather Pharo said. The new schedules, which include changes to popular routes for students such as the 28X Airport Flyer, 61D and the 59U, are part of a seven-phase plan to revamp the Port Authority transportation system.

Jim Ritchie, another spokesman for Port Authority, said that after the seven phases of the project are complete, there will be a 6 percent increase in transportation coverage. The organization is preparing to announce a new set of changes in June and September.

Pharo said Port Authority’s plans won’t be complete for a couple of years and that the timing depends on the amount of funding the Port Authority receives over the next year or so.

“The overview of the plan is about more than just changing bus routes and changing the name of routes,” Pharo said. “It’s about creating a much more modern system that is part of the transit development plan.”

She said she couldn’t release any of the upcoming changes because not all the plans for the future are complete, but Pharo did say a new route between Lawrenceville and Oakland would be introduced during the June or September changes.

Even though the Port Authority hopes the new changes will benefit riders, some students and faculty are uncertain about the adjustments.

Prior to April 4, English professor Shalini Puri took the 61D bus route once a week from her home in Squirrel Hill to her office in Oakland. Her ride took around a half hour including a five-minute walk to and from the bus stop.

“It’s free [to ride the bus] and it eliminates looking for parking. It reduces traffic on Oakland, and it reduces my carbon-footprint,” she said.

Puri’s original stop in Squirrel Hill moved to Murray Avenue, a stop now a 20-minute walk away.

She’s worried she will be be forced to drive everyday and that if the Port Authority continues to thin out the service, fewer people will use it.

Ritchie, however, said the changes would only mean a greater number of buses throughout the area.

“Squirrel Hill will end up having the some of the best service in the city,” he said, “In the end there will be a rapid bus line that will run through that [the Squirrel Hill to Oakland] corridor. A bus would run every two or three minutes. Service would run 20 hours a day.”

Ritchie is not sure if the rapid bus line will be implemented in the end or beginning of next year.

Pitt student Bethany Ground wondered how the shortened 28X route would affect people in Robinson. The G2, which services the West Busway, now services the Robinson area and they should have a similar ride time.

Ground said she thought the routes between Downtown, Oakland and the East End worked well before the route changes and the Port Authority should add more access into the city from the outskirts of Pittsburgh.

“They should be focusing on routes outside the city,” she said, “instead of doing whatever they’re doing now.”

Pharo said besides creating a more efficient route inside Pittsburgh, many of the new changes included new routes that create better access to places like Valley Quarter, McKeesport, the Ohio River Valley area and other places just outside the city.

Kira Ripper, a Pitt student and West Mifflin commuter, uses her car to get to and from school.

“I don’t usually use the buses, so it doesn’t really matter,” she said.

Ripper said she heard about the route changes, but because she drives everywhere, she didn’t feel the need to look further into it.

She said, “It doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.”

Students Kerry Hancuch and Jason Billington also said they were unaffected by the changes.

Hancuch takes the bus twice a week to go to the grocery store in Squirrel Hill or run errands.

“I never asked for the bus schedule pamphlets because the buses I take frequently haven’t changed,” she said, “but I heard the bus to the waterfront is suppose to run more on time.”

Billington takes the 56C to work at Guardian Angel Ambulance Services in West Mifflin a couple times a week.

“I was at a bus stop going to work when I found out about the changes,” he said, ‘but I haven’t seen any yet.”

Pitt student Dave Tringali didn’t find out about the route changes from an online account, but instead noticed a message on a passing bus a few weeks ago, but felt the Port Authority could have done more.

“Hey, just send me an e-mail and say go check out the new changes at our website,” Tringali said. “Get the University involved.”

Pharo said Deborah Skillings, the Port Authority’s community outreach coordinator, reached out to specific groups, including the Pitt Campus.

“We went to Pitt’s brown bag lunch forum [on March 25 at Alumni Hall] and worked with Oakland’s transportation management association to spread the information,” she said.

Pharo said the company had to print brochures more than 10 times to meet the demand.

“Allegheny County has changed a lot over the decade and our system hasn’t kept up with the changes,” Pharo said. “This is just the first round of changes.”