BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

What a great article. Thanks for the link, rosielo - I'd never seen this website before.

that's a really interesting article, I like the balance too, not to hard on any one transportation mode. Thank you!

Call me crazy, but I like riding the bus. I like that I can read, or knit, or listen to music -- and all the while the traffic is someone else's problem.

I know I have smugly looked at people sitting in traffic, even if I'm waiting for the bus in the cold. I love having a professional chauffeur! You couldn't pay me to drive a car.

(edit: but maybe I'm just a jerk)

That reads a lot like Forester's usual rant about the roots of the motorist-superiority complex. It certainly didn't used to be true in Pittsburgh, though. Maybe it's becoming true. When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I was impressed by all the suits on the busses in the mornings and the strong middle and upper-middle class use of transit. There do seem to be fewer now, but I don't have formal data.

I used to ride the East Busway daily. That was awesome.

When I go into town now, which is random, I ride the 1 (used to e the 1A I think?). It is a crawl down Main Street/Freeport Road through Sharpsburg, then a crawl down Butler Street. It's still better than sitting in that traffic crawl in my car, parking that car, etc - which is why I do it. But, it tends to erase any bonus sense of enjoyment.

(Aside: what I DO like about it, however, is that "waiting-room" sensation: life is so busy, and there are so many demands on our time, etc., I enjoy "being off the grid" in a sort of suspended state for the duration of the trip.)

The "23 Creeps & Weirdos" bus pictured in the article has a bike rack.

Maybe it's just me, but the story rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe because I never rode a bus at all until just after I turned 30. Maybe because I've spent 20 years trying to turn this tide of public opinion, first just transit, now also bikes and transit.

I try to be nice about it, but my entire being is always wanting to confront this line of thinking with "Not only no, not only Hell No, but in your face Hell No."

the only thing I hated about riding the bus was I tend to forget things on buses. A fundraising box of candy, a luggage roller, countless single gloves or hats that matched something else, occasionally a sweater or gym bag. I never got anything back. I'm much better now, but as a kid, it was stressful.

Everything else about mass transit rocks. Except for the funding issues, that does not rock.

That reads a lot like Forester's usual rant about the roots of the motorist-superiority complex. It certainly didn't used to be true in Pittsburgh, though. Maybe it's becoming true. When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I was impressed by all the suits on the busses in the mornings and the strong middle and upper-middle class use of transit. There do seem to be fewer now, but I don't have formal data.

i still see a lot of suits on the bus during rush hour. my special lady friend rides the bus to work every day from shadyside, and waits at the bus stop with a sizable number of people who live in her building, a fairly upscale collection of condos.

Good article, though I do agree with the folks here that I've not seen much stigma about mass transit here in Pgh. Maybe we're lucky/friendly.

That "23 creeps and weirdos" ad made me sick, is that real?

Yep, it was.

http://greenideafactory.blogspot.com/2008/04/bus-vs-car-or-bus-not-vs-bike.html

The innner-city kids in the school that I work for cannot, even for a second, seem to grasp the concept of why I ride a bike when I have 2 cars at home, especially in the winter.

And as for the bus, it does seem that during the morning rush hour times (when I usually ride) it is a more professional looking crowd which seems to decline as the evening goes on as I see when I bus down to the city for an evening event.

however, like others have stated, that bit of transition and no worries (as long as you aren't sitting next to a guy talking to a match box car) hat a bus affords are enjoyed very much by me.

I don't think there's a stigma to commute to work by bus, but- in my experience- it's rare to see people use the bus to get elsewhere. With the exception of students and others who can't afford a car, of course. Most of my friends don't see it as an option, which baffles me.

And totally agreed, that car ad makes me sick.

@HiddenVariable

She probably takes the 500? That bus is nothing but UPMCgrad5th ave people. Pretty nice bus. I used to take it from 5th and Negley to the North Shore.

I think it's in the minority though. Not much diversity on that line

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Another reason I imagine most people don't see the bus as an option is because unless you have astrological signs lining up, you'll end up needing a transfer and the bus will end up taking more time.

I spend 8+ hours a week commuting via bicycle partially because if I took the bus I would spend close to twice that amount of time between waiting for buses and riding them.

Another reason I imagine most people don't see the bus as an option is because unless you have astrological signs lining up, you'll end up needing a transfer and the bus will end up taking more time.

The bus is an excellent option if you're going to or from Oakland or Downtown. If your destination or origin is anywhere else, it can be a real pain. It definitely makes sense to commute by bus if you're headed to those areas, but if you own a car, other destinations (or the same destinations if you're going off-hours, or with someone who doesn't have a bus pass) might seem more accessible by car. I recall reading an article on Greater Greater Washington wondering what could be done to get bus commuters to use transit for non-commute purposes, but can't seem to find it right now. They're obviously struggling with this same issue.

I sometimes feel a certain arrogance towards people waiting for the bus since I'm on the go and a clear sense of schadenfreude when I dodge a traffic jam. I happened to be in a car a lot this past weekend and while it is "easier" in some ways, I am definitely reminded why I love riding my bike so much.

After the exuberance of Monday night, I was walking on air most of Tuesday. So late Tuesday, with these freshened eyes, I was struck by a scene that contrasted unbelieveably starkly with the previous night, I stopped at the Sheetz in Robinson. I almost never go to those kind of places, for whatever reason, but I just needed a gallon of milk. It was 8:30 at night, and the place was packed. There are probably 12 pumps, pickup trucks and roached out Japanese sedans at every one. These were not happy Holiday shoppers headed home with packages from Macy's, these were tired working people, just heading home from work, guys in Carharts, a guy still spattered in paint and plaster dust, minimum wage workers buying smokes and lottery tickets to try and buy some hope for the next day. Grabbing a cheap meal of processed sugar and starches and meat by-products to keep going (the automated food ordering system is mind boggling, actual human interaction slows things down unacceptably). People pouring thousands of dollars into the gas pumps and vehicles, dumping their money back into the system that holds them, so they have no choice but to get up and do it again tomorrow, shuffling zombies. Most peoples lives suck pretty badly, whether it occurs to them or not, or whether they are in the least interested in changing it, or not.

If a driver gets pissed off at you in traffic, you elitist tree huggers, there is no reason to lamely reassure yourself that, "hey, at least I'm having more fun than they are". If you can ride a bike, have a place to sleep tonight, and something to eat, be happy, I mean be fking laugh out loud happy, you're having a better life than most people out there.

There's my Christmas story.

There's my Christmas story.

hallelujah! holy shit! where's the tylenol?

She probably takes the 500? That bus is nothing but UPMCgrad5th ave people. Pretty nice bus. I used to take it from 5th and Negley to the North Shore.

I think it's in the minority though. Not much diversity on that line

actually, she takes the busway. she'll either walk to the g2 or the negley stop, or take the w when it's convenient. those are mostly pretty diverse lines, though it can vary widely by time of day.

i wonder if the success of megabus will increase the respectability of bus riding. its cheap and its not greyhound, which makes it classy in my book.

i also wonder if the lesson in this story is that if we seek to increase transit use, we need to convert bus lines into commuter rail and light rail where ever practical.

I actually blogged on this recently... I like bussing...I just hate when I wait til the last second and miss my bus...then I'm REALLY late. That's why I try to plan for the earlier bus then I get to work early. If I miss that one, no probs, I can still catch the "slightly earlier than on time" one.

megabus is so much better than greyhound. i'll stand in the rain on a street corner before i deal with the urchins who ride greyhound and the miserable bastards who work there. i've never had worse customer service than at a greyhound counter.

and yes, i ride both very often.

Hey, I ride greyhound

But I also hate it.

An American bus would have to suck pretty bad to be worse than the many buses I rode in Honduras. I took an un-crowded Greyhound from Cleveland to Columbus shortly after returning to the U.S. in 2008; it seemed positively delightful.

I've never taken Megabus bus but I've been underwhelmed by the Chinatown buses I've ridden. I look foward to surfing the Internet on a Megabus sometime soon.

don't plan to surf teh internets on a megabus. the connection only works half the time, and when it does, it's dreadfully slow. still, better than the rolling outhouse known as a greyhound bus