Transit budget portends park-ride closures
Share with others:
As part of a 35 percent service reduction planned for September, the Port Authority expects to close 18 park-n-ride lots with more than 2,900 spaces.
The lots slated for closing are served by routes that will be eliminated Sept. 2 if the state does not provide additional funding to the transit agency, which faces a projected $64 million deficit in its 2012-13 budget.
The closures would eliminate more than one-fifth of the agency's 13,000 park-n-ride spaces. In addition to displacing the riders who use those lots, the closures likely will affect users of other park-n-ride lots, many of which already fill to capacity by 7 a.m.
"Obviously this is going to put more stress on the [remaining] lots," authority spokeswoman Heather Pharo said.
"There are a million and one reasons we want to prevent these cuts," she said. "This is another of those reasons."
The biggest to close would be the 600-space lot on University Boulevard in Moon. It is served by the G3 Moon Flyer, one of 46 routes to be abolished. The lot typically fills to about two-thirds of its capacity, Ms. Pharo said.
The 245-space Alpine Village lot in Monroeville and the 100-space lot at Holiday Park Volunteer Fire Department in Plum, both of which reach their full capacity daily, will be closed as the P12 Holiday Park Flyer is axed.
Other lots scheduled for closure are Glenfield (served by 14 Ohio Valley, slated for elimination); North Park Pool (O5 Thompson Run Flyer); Springdale Volunteer Fire Department (P10 Allegheny Valley Flyer); Spring Garden (7 Spring Garden); East Allegheny High School (P76 Lincoln Highway Flyer); Forest Hills (69 Trafford, P69 Trafford Flyer and P76); Monroeville Mall (P67 Monroeville Flyer); North Versailles and Olympia Shopping Center (P76); Ambridge (14); Covenant Community Church in Scott (38 Green Tree); Neville (21 Coraopolis); North Fayette Volunteer Fire Department (29 Robinson); and Thorn Run in Coraopolis (21).
Also to close is the Elizabeth park-n-ride, whose route, Y46 Elizabeth, is not being eliminated but will no longer make the loop to the lot.
Express service to and from four other lots is being eliminated, meaning those riders will move to local routes, often with increased travel times. For users of the Tarentum park-n-ride, elimination of the P10 Allegheny Valley Flyer will push them to the 1 Freeport Road, increasing their commute time by 34 minutes, according to the authority.
Other lots losing express runs are Beulah Church in Churchill (P16 Penn Hills Flyer); Muldowney in Lincoln Place (53L Homestead Park Limited); and Woodville in Bridgeville (G31 Bridgeville Flyer).
"Even if you are willing to take a longer ride, you'll have fewer buses," Ms. Pharo said. "Fewer options is never a good thing."
She said the authority is willing to explore opening new park-n-ride facilities along its remaining routes if they are financially feasible. "We're always open to that conversation. Anyone who may know of a lot ... let us know and we'll at least look into it," Ms. Pharo said.
Comments will be accepted by the authority from Sunday through March 9, and the all-day public hearing will be Feb. 29 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
The service reduction would be the largest in the authority's 48-year history, reducing the total number of routes from the current 102 to 56 and causing as many as 600 Port Authority layoffs.
First Published January 30, 2012 12:00 am
