There's a big stink in Pittsburgh currently surrounding a plan for Port Authority to cut 124 of 213 bus routes around the city, This, combined with a fare hike, is supposed to address an $80 million budget deficit for the 2007-08 fiscal year. Of course there's the usual stink and hubbub surrounding this. Yesterday a large group of folks with torches and pitchforks gathered downtown to express their outrage. One person's quote, when I heard it on the news, riled me up so much I wanted to reach through the car radio and throttle her.
The woman was quoted as saying that the reduction in buses to the north hills was going to create tremendous traffic, and the only solution was that we should open up the northbound HOV lane to ALL traffic during rush hour.
This person is a moron.
Okay, first of all, the north hills has the easiest rush hour traffic pattern of any direction headed out of the city. I've got no complaints. There's no tunnels, there are few ridiculous lane crossovers and merges, and it just works. Second, as someone who tries to regularly commute with friends to work in order to get on the HOV and perhaps save a tree or two, may I suggest to this person that perhaps she try that herself? Hello, have you been listening to the news about this crazy global warming thing? Would it really be too much to ask to find someone willing to ride-share, in order to take advantage of the HOV as it stands now? This plan to reduce the bus coverage pisses me off as much as anyone, even though I don't take the bus, because it's a very poorly thought-out plan. However the city should be thinking more creatively. I've always felt that the north hills corridor would be a perfect place for a metro rail line. Well, there's a long term solution. How come other cities can figure that out, but all Pittsburgh can do is come up with solutions that will drive yet even more people out of the city?
yYs, I'm annoyed.
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