View Single Post
  #210  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2012, 1:05 AM
Gilamonster Gilamonster is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 463
Since I don't agree with your opinions, apparently I "have a lack of understanding on the issue". Great point. I remember reading a few clueless and pointless messages from you on this forum before, but I see you are trying to outdo yourself. Yes people are being alarmist. My point is pretty much already proven everyday. Pittsburgh, the city proper and MSA, continues to do fine(actually much more than fine on many national indicators,especially economic ones) despite continued transit cuts. Reread above posts, although it probably won't help. I'll help you out some more. In your exact words, "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" I guess by your logic(or lack thereof) pretty much any city west of the Mississippi that has or has had a "successful urban core" has managed to somehow pull it off without the critical factor of a "efficient public transit system". I'll give you Portland and maybe Seattle, but again like Pittsburgh, those cities have a lot of other things going for them. I guess there is a lot of dumb luck going around....or wait......could it be.......maybe that factor is not quite that important.
I of course realize that this will be the biggest round of cuts but the most recent ones were pretty deep as well. Also if you look at all of the previous cuts combined since the heyday of bus and trolley service(my best guess is somewhere around the early to mid 70's) the summation of those individual scale backs are much larger than what is to come. Again, show me where the overall problem lies. Facts please, not opinion. I think your problem is you really like public transportation and really, really want it to have a significant presence here and because of that, like many others want to prove how "This is a problem with far-reaching consequences". Of course there will be some hardships on a personal level, especially for some elderly and poor people and I am not immune to that but from a macro level, I still say not a big deal.
Let's not forget there still will be public transportation and it will be the money routes that PAT keeps ; the busiest ones. I think this debate may be moot anyways. There has already been a huge outcry from the public and I think it will only get louder and I suspect something will get pulled off to give PAT some money if not all that they need/want. If not, and if the demand is truly there, then a private company could get into the mix.
Anyways, I can't wait to see the response to this post from the fact haters and chicken littles.........
__________________
An optimist and a pessimist have one common viewpoint; their dislike of a realist.
Reply With Quote