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Grata's Guide: Who's not riding the bus?
Sunday, August 01, 1999 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
You've been writing this column for three months, Grata, but you've hardly said a thing about the Port Authority." -- Anonymous caller
Anonymous Caller is correct. So let's talk transit.
Celebrity Watch. Ruth Dreifuss earlier this year became the first woman to hold Switzerland's highest office -- president.
But what also distinguishes Madame Dreifuss is that she still rides public transit to her office every day, a commuting commitment that dates to years when she held private and smaller public positions.
When was the last time you spotted Mayor Murphy, Tom Foerster, Larry Dunn, Cyril Wecht, Alan Jennings, Sen. Jack Wagner, Elsie Hillman, John Connelly, Mark Nordenberg, Tim Stevens, Dan Cohen, Dan Rooney, Jerome "the Bus" Bettis or even Port Authority board Chairman Neal Holmes on a bus or light-rail vehicle?
Former civic leader and authority board chairman John P. Robin of Oakland often rode buses and trolleys. He didn't like to drive, and he didn't own a car.
If you know of celebrities and public personalities who regularly ride with the Port Authority and set a strong example like Dreifuss does in Bern and Robin did in Pittsburgh, let me know.
On average, authority buses and trolleys rack up 260,000 rides a day, people who choose public transit for reasons that include convenience, commitment, necessity and thrift.
It would be nice to know that those who preach what's good for Pittsburgh also practice what is good for Pittsburgh. They could commiserate with all the other people whose bus was a no-show or whose light-snail transit vehicle broke down ... again.
Bad experience. As a newcomer, one of Christine Brawdy's first encounters with a Pittsburgher was not a very good one. It happened on the light-snail transit system in May.
Mistake No. 1: She deposited $1.25 into the fare box when she boarded a trolley at Station Square for a ride to Castle Shannon. She should have paid when she reached her destination.
Mistake No. 2: Brawdy boarded the wrong trolley -- a "Local" -- and discovered she had to get off at the first stop and cross over to the outbound platform to turn around. She should have boarded a 42S South Hills Village or a 42L Library trolley in the first place.
The LRV driver wasn't helpful when she sought advice, she said. He yelled, treated her like a dunce and otherwise embarrassed Brawdy. Nonetheless, she managed to get his name and employee ID number "in as polite a manner as I could muster," she said, in order to register a complaint with superiors.
Brawdy said she felt "100 percent better after speaking to an extremely affable, apologetic man" at the authority's information center. She would have forgotten about the ugly incident, "had I not been told the operator's supervisor would be in touch with me within 10 days to let me know what actions were taken."
Brawdy is still waiting for that phone call. And she's deeply disappointed over matters that go beyond simple civility.
"Rudeness is part and parcel of living in a city. But is the behavior I have described acceptable for a person who is representing Pittsburgh and comes into contact with many first-time visitors?" she asked. "The city is judged not by its great restaurants, wonderful cultural scene and beautiful skyline but by the people who bring life to those places."
Amen.
Out-of-towner. Jim Seamon of St. Charles, Mo., writes that when they rebuild the T in the South Hills, residents and public officials should think twice about opposing the removal of the least-patronized stops, whose presence gives us the slowest light-rail system in North America.
He commutes on the St. Louis Metrolink, whose original 17-mile line has 19 stations but whose new 17-mile extension will have eight stations. Our 42S South Hills Village light-rail route lists 35 stations and stops in its 10 miles.
To ease the transition to fewer stops on the T, Seamon suggests paved paths and sidewalks to connect small stops with bigger stops.
Another Mr. Anonymous. A bus driver e-mails us that management was to blame, not the union, when Port Authority operated on holiday schedules on July 5. He said riders who had to work were screaming because the amount of holiday service was about one-fourth the level of regular weekday service.
Authority spokeswoman Judi McNeil said because July 4 was on Sunday, "It's in the contract" that the next day is an official holiday. Anyway, she said, most Downtown offices, stores, restaurants and other places were closed Monday, with the exception of a few.
Maybe Mr. Bus Driver was angry because he didn't work at 2 1/2 times the rate of regular pay, or almost $50 an hour.
Heavy sleeper. Riders recently sat next to a passenger seemingly asleep on a New York City subway train for up to five hours before someone realized he was dead. The man had been sitting upright, silent, with eyes closed and head bowed.
"Do you know how many people sleep on the train during the morning rush?" subway rider Mario Licari told The Associated Press. "Unless the guy slumps into me, I just leave him alone." The dead man carried no identification, but 20 cents, a watch and a comb.
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