Quote:
Originally Posted by Private Dick
I actually do see it as a big deal -- particularly in the "big picture". An efficient public transit system is a very important key to producing a vibrant and successful urban core at the center of a metropolitan region anywhere -- and in the fractured mess that is the Pittsburgh region, especially.
Some people may view these cuts as not connected to what Pittsburgh is striving to become, and that is an incredibly faulty view to have -- considering transit, as its base function, is about connection. If anyone is in doubt about the wide-ranging effects of large-scale route elimination serving both near and far suburbs bringing thousands of people into the city on a daily basis and the scaling back of city routes, all I have to say is wait and see.
|
I, too, see this as a big deal, and I always have. If they're going to keep cutting back and cutting back, all I can say is they better be ready to build multi-level parking garages to handle the extra traffic from the stranded transit riders...
Not to mention, public transit should be seen and used as an engine to drive economic development and land development. Apparently, it looks like this engine is running out of gas due to Harrisburg siphoning the fuel supply. I think a solution here would be to have a private company handle the transit operations. Is Lenzner still planning to take over some of the routes to the more out-lying suburbs? Suppose the T and other transportation services are privatized...