Overheard in Pittsburgh

Southwest Airlines Flight from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas:

Flight Attendant: Disabling a smoke detector will result in a two-thousand-dollar fine, and if you had two thousand dollars, you’d be flying on American.

— Overheard by AlwaysReporting

Market Square, Downtown:

Man #1: When we went to Alcatraz we sat on Al Capone’s toilet.
Man #2: Did it still work?

— Overheard by Keystone

If you haven’t heard or read about it yet, you need to know this: The Port Authority has announced plans to cut more than half of their routes. And they want to raise the rates and lay off a ton of employees.

So, you know that bus with the long route that you have to wait for every morning to get to work or school? Soon, you very probably will have to walk farther and wait and ride longer so that you can work longer to pay the higher transit fees. And your driver will probably be in a pissy mood and not say clever things.

Progress Pittsburgh has more information on this here. The pamphlet describing the service changes is here. The pamphlet lists the times and locations for the public hearings, which begin on Monday, January 22 and continue through Wednesday, February 7.

The Port Authority has been disorganized and ineffectual for years. A rider shouldn’t have to check several unofficial Web sites just to try to make sense of the public transportation system. When I moved back to Pittsburgh from New York, I went through more culture shock than when I moved there, and largely due to the confusing and unreliable bus system.

I love public transportation; it’s nice to be able to sit and read on the way to work in the morning, to see all the different people who live in the city. It’s nice to be able to live in the city with the highest parking taxes in the country and not have to own a car.

The people and government of Allegheny County say regularly that they want to hold on to the young people of the city, that they want us to build our lives and homes here. But not all of us are in the “cupcake class”; many of us have to work the service jobs that support the more affluent’s living and spending habits. Many of us rely on the buses to get to work or school, to improve our lives to the point that we might be able to afford a fancy cupcake now and then.

If these changes go through, I think it’s time for us to take a look at how important living in Allegheny County is to us and at how much it costs us in time, money, effort, and stress. The changes may not even affect me directly, but I’m not sure I want to live in a city that treats its citizens this way. I am seriously considering moving to another, more livable city, should this organization continue to waste taxpayer’s money without taking care of the people it is supposedly committed to serving.

It’s time to get serious about our public transportation. Pittsburgh is a great place, and it’s easy to feel proud to live here; however, the transit situation as it is difficult, and we can’t let it get worse.

I encourage readers to attend these public hearings, as well as any rallies that might be planned. Go and speak. Tell the men in suits how this will affect your life. And tell them that you can take away the thing this city says it needs: you.

Chris Griswold,
Overheard In Pittsburgh

28X Inbound, 6:30 a.m.
Most of the passengers have just arrived on the San Francisco Red-eye:

Passenger #1: Yeah, PAT is totally threatening to cut the 28X.
Passenger #2: What the fuck? That’s the only bus I ever use. That’s the most important line they have!
Passenger #1: It’s totally not going to happen, though. The transit authority keeps spending all its money, then threatening to shut down half its routes, then it gets another emergency band-aid bond passed, and finally it lays low for about six months until it runs out of money again.

PAT is kind of like Pennsylvania’s Iraq War.

Passenger #2: …Does that make us insurgents?

— Overheard by Connor

In front of Mineos, Squirrel Hill
A crowd of people, mostly children, check out a guy’s awesome Harley. His dog sits in the matching sidecar:

Older Woman: Does your dog like riding in the sidecar?
Biker: Yeah….he loves it…it’s his favorite activity [nods toward the dog, who is licking pizza sauce off of a child's face] besides eating, of course.