Will our "T" ever grow up?

Wednesday, 30 November 2011 16:58

Written by Diana Nelson Jones

When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I remember thinking, ‘Why does the T just go to the South Hills?’

The reason, as far as I can determine, is because those old trolley lines were still useable. With the Casino Extension set to open next year, the northern frontier will have been crossed. subwaypittsburgh

Will it ever extend farther north, say, to where people live? East to Oakland and the East End? West to the airport?

If it does, it will have to ramp up the pace a little, not to mention signage and station calls.

Not having ridden from Downtown to Beechview, I sat today as the two little cars chugged right past my stop. The conductor didn’t call it out. What's with that?

How was I to know where Traymore was? There was no map in the car.

This seems like a vestige of the days when everyone knew where they were going in Pittsburgh, before tourism brought a lot of confused people in to get lost.

Before Sophie Masloff was mayor, the street signs were woeful and sometimes missing. Directional signage? Forget about it.

Signs are worlds better now, although the sign near the Point that reads “ZOO” with an arrow pointing north toward Commonwealth Place cracks me up.

Say you’re from out of tahn and you see that sign. You turn off the Boulevard of the Allies onto Commonwealth and go... where, exactly?

Other than the fact that the wait between trains is long, the T is pleasant, though very slow. It’s clean and, unfortunately, not so crowded during the day.

Next time my friends from New York visit, I’m going to take them on it.

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written by mojavedc10, November 30, 2011 - 08:59 PM

I think that a city like Pittsburgh would be well served by expanding the "T" due to the topography we have but the challenge would be to build a system that people want to ride.

I've lived outside the area for the past 20+ years and have rode systems in San Fransisco, Sacramento, Charlotte and Denver. All of which are better designed in my oppinion.

The good part the "T" is that it at least services places that people want to go and from. Have seen some failed proposals elsewhere(ie: Cincinatti)that seem to lead to nowhere with no chance of being profitable.

The bad part about the "T" is that is't horribly slow. You can beat the train from Library to Pgh on an obsolete two lane roadway. Furthermore there are too many stops, why not spread them out a little and force people to use part and ride lots. After all its light rail, stop running it like a bus line with a stop at almost every block. Im sure there would be a significant reduce in wear and tear on the rolling stock by doing so.

In reality there isn't much appetite in SW Pa for a large capital public transportation endevour like this, so I really don't see any great expansion anytime soon.

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written by 123, December 01, 2011 - 06:42 AM

I understand in late March they'll be "Crossing The T" to the North Shore in time for the start of the baseball season. Perfect sense what with the stadiums, casino, Stage AE, the Science Center and the restaurants over there. The logical thing to do from there is extend out the Ohio River to the airport. (Isn't it funny how close the river is to the airort...you notice when come in on a flight with that landing pattern.

Then they need to finish what they started with the spur from Steel Plaza toward the convention center and head out to Oakland, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside.

I read a survey where the number one lifestyle issue of folks in their 20s here is good transportation. Right now the T is a Tease. We need to make it a RealiTy.

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written by hotsauce, December 04, 2011 - 03:13 PM

The problem with public transportation in the US is that no one likes it, and the "problem" with public transportation in Pittsburgh is that parking is cheap. Cities where parking is expensive have better public transportation systems because people are forced to use them. The economics of public transportation and desires of Americans to use their cars above all else means that money spent on making the T like the Paris metro or the NYC subway would be a total waste, and the trains would continue to run empty.

A better goal might be to encourage Pittsburghers to live inside the city. An increased density of people and a decreased number of vacant lots would lead to better walkability, better lifestyles and more need for public transportation. But public transportation is a solution to a problem Pittsburgh currently simply does not have.

Of course, getting Americans to live in a city for the sake of city-living would be as impossible as getting them to walk the block to the grocery store instead of using their cars. Cities frequently grow the way they do because people want them that way, and most Americans want to live in the far out suburbs/countryside and are willing to put up with the commute. In the end, only a rapidly growing economy that hires freshers who are used to living in smaller spaces and don't have cars yet will turn Pittsburgh into a European- or Asian-style metro (it always boils down to the economy in Pittsburgh, doesn't it?).

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