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EspañolPORT AUTHORITY OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
'Port Authority of Allegheny County' (also known as the 'Port Authority' or sometimes by its former nickname 'PAT') is the second-largest public transit agency in Pennsylvania and the 11th-largest in the United States.[2] When considering that it's service area is the 29th largest in the U.S. in population, per person the Pittsburgh area enjoys more transit service than 18 larger metro areas. The county owned, state funded agency is based in Pittsburgh and is overseen by a CEO and a ten member board of directors, who report to the county executive.
The Port Authority's bus and light rail system covers Allegheny County, and its service extends into neighboring Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Those counties also have their own transit systems, including several routes that run into downtown Pittsburgh, where riders can make connections with Port Authority service.
History
The agency was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1956 to allow the planning and development of port facilities in the Pittsburgh area. In 1959 the legislation was amended to allow the Port Authority to acquire privately owned transit companies that served the area. On April 19 1963 the Board of County Commissioners authorized the acquisition of 36 transit companies, including the Pittsburgh Railways Company, which had provided bus and streetcar service to the city of Pittsburgh since January 1902, and an incline plane company. On March 1 1964 Port Authority Transit was unveiled.
The Port Authority brand
Although Port Authority is part of the local fans' folklore, its off-beat imaging is more notorious. Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s the bus fleet was very recognizable with its fleet of air-conditioned GM "Fishbowls" (from their 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1971 orders) sporting a white top with small red strip. other noticeable features included side destination signs placed near the exit door and a unusual seating arrangement with one side facing forward and the other lining up to match the seating placed on the wheel well. PAT would continue ordering buses in that specification until 1995 when they ordered buses with both seating sides facing front except when on wheel wells. The side destination signs were moved immediately to the left of the front door starting with the 1998 Neoplan AN-460 (articulated bus) order. This continued with the Neoplan Metroliner order but skipped the Neoplan AN-440LF order in 1999. The 2003 order of Gillig Advantage low-floors and all subsequent orders have conformed with the side sign next to front door configuration. It is worth noting that the 1980 GM's RTS buses acquired were specified with the current side sign configuration.
By 1972 it entered what was dubbed by fans the "Mod" era, as buses were given new paint schemes. Buses were painted with color at the front and rear, slanted to line up with the windows), and a large white portion in between.
In the 1980s that scheme gave way to one that featured an updated version of its white with red strip look from the 1960s. The red strip was larger, a black strip was painted around the window area, and the white background covered most of the bus exterior. That look can still be seen around the area [via the Flxible and NovaBus 'classics' series], although these buses are expected to be repainted and refurbished into the current "Ride Gold" look.
In 1998 Port Authority rebranded itself as "Ride Gold" to coincide with its 35th anniversary. Today most of Port Authority's bus fleet is in various colors with a splatter of gold "G"s adorning the exterior.
More recently, Port Authority's buses have included various transportation-related words and phrases repeated across the exterior, such as the words "move", "go" "ride" or "connect", combinations of "rockin'" and "rollin'", "ziggin'" and "zaggin'", or "here" and "there". Newer articulated buses feature extended sayings such as "Parking got you down / Don't make Faces / Hop on the bus / There's plenty of spaces", "This big shiny bus / Is really no riddle / But it sure is odd / How it bends in the middle", "Getting to work / Is no trouble / When you ride / The daily double", "There's the church / There's the steeple / And here's the bus / With all the people", and "If you're tired of all the traffic / And could use an assist / Hop aboard a bus / With a bit of a twist".
On September 21 2006, the Port Authority announced that it was retiring the "Ride Gold" campaign and that the current and future bus and light rail fleet will follow the standard design and uniform colors of its Gillig bus fleet. The reason was the system's decision to return to a back-to-basics approach and to save costs on wholesale repainting and refurbishing. Even its updated website has dropped the gold "G" and is now going with the simple "'PORT AUTHORITY'" fonts, which will now be used on the entire fleets. These include burma shave-style poetry on their more recent articulated buses.
Routing by Number/Branch letter
Since its inception in 1964, the system has adopted a bus route system by using a number/alphabet approach with a number indicating the main route and branch letter representing the destination (e.g. 46G Elizabeth). The system is documented in an article in Bus World magazine.
The combined number provides two pieces of information. First, it roughly indicates the region served. Routes are numbered starting from the north shore of the Allegheny River (1A New Kensington), then proceeding counterclockwise around downtown Pittsburgh. Routes going west from downtown have numbers in the 20s and 30s, those going south in the 40s and 50s, and so on through the 90s, which serve the south shore of the Allegheny River. This aspect of the system was inherited from the Pittsburgh Railways Company.
Numbers ending in 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 or 8, and "Flyer" routes with letters only, serve downtown Pittsburgh. All express routes end in 3 or 8. The distinction between 1, 6 and 2, 7 numbered routes has been lost to time, but the 2, 7 numbered routes were originally considered "limited service" routes. Flyers use a stand-alone letter (e.g., B Bellevue Flyer) or a combination of letters (e.g., OV Ohio Valley Flyer). Most Flyer routes operate only during peak hours on weekdays, but there are exceptions, such as the 28X Airport Flyer and LP Lincoln Park Flyer, both of which operate seven days a week.
Not all routes with the same name are always identical - there are some routes with varying extensions. For example, the 21C route has three different variations: the longest route goes all the way to The Mall at Robinson; a variation is a subset of the longest, and goes only to Steubenville Pike; the shortest variation goes only as far as Kennedy Center. Passengers should take care to board the right route by checking the signs and schedules, asking the driver, or calling the Port Authority customer service number.
Numbers ending in 4 or 9 are crosstown routes that serve the city of Pittsburgh while numbers ending in 5 or 0 are suburban crosstown or feeder routes that do not enter the city. Buses that carry a U next to the number serve a university (typically the University of Pittsburgh) and are known as "U buses".
Three digits are used for routes that cross downtown, such as 100 West Busway - All Stops via Downtown & Oakland, and 500 Highland Park - Bellevue.
A few route designations violate the convention in some way. For example, the 56U does not go downtown.
Fare structure
Port Authority uses a fare structure based on four zones (1, 1A, 2, and 3). When passing from one zone to another, the fare increases. The ''1A'' Zone is an exception. It is a "transition zone" from Zone 1 to Zone 2, and if traveling from Zone 1 to 1A or from 2 to 1A there is no increase in fare. See http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/FaresPasses/Fares/Zones/tabid/107/Default.aspx for zone boundaries.
The system uses an "outbound" pay system for daytime transit. Fare is paid when boarding on the "outbound" part of the route; i.e., if your bus is headed to downtown, you pay when boarding, but if your bus is headed from of downtown, you pay when exiting. During the evening, this method changes on many routes to "pay when boarding" (also known as "pay enter"), due to the possibility of riders trying to skip paying the fare.
The Port Authority also sells non-discounted one-use tickets, and discounted weekly, monthly and annual passes. Each carries a small discount over earlier time-based passes and is valid for an unlimited number of trips/transfers in the set zone{s} for that time period. For example, for a zone 1 pass, the cost of a weekly is the equivalent of 9.5 one-way trips, a monthly is equivalent to 34 trips, and an annual is equivalent to 377 trips. An annual pass is a 12-month subscription to monthly passes, which can be either mailed or picked up at the Downtown Service Center on Smithfield Street.
Light Rail (the "T")
:''Main article'': Pittsburgh Light Rail
The Port Authority operates a 25-mile light rail system called the "T," which provides service from downtown Pittsburgh to a number of neighborhoods south of the city.
Busways
In December 1977 Port Authority unveiled its first dedicated busway, the 4.3-mile South Busway, which combined bus and LRV routes into an efficient and quicker connection between downtown Pittsburgh and the South Hills area. The Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway, which used express routes to connect downtown with nearby east side communities like Swissvale, Wilkinsburg and Homewood followed in February 1983. On Sunday, September 10 2000 Port Authority opened its West Busway, which provides service from downtown Pittsburgh to Carnegie. In 2003, the East Busway was expanded by a few miles to its current terminus in Swissvale and Rankin.
Bus fleet
See List of Port Authority of Allegheny County bus fleet
Bus Routes
See List of Port Authority of Allegheny County bus routes
Inclines
In addition to buses and LRVs, the Port Authority oversees the operations of two incline cablecars. The Monongahela Incline (the oldest incline in the U.S.) is operated by the Port Authority while the Duquesne Incline is operated by a non-profit group. Both inclines have undergone major renovations over the years.
Other services
Port Authority operates more than 60 park & ride lots in Allegheny County.
Under the Port Authority-sponsored ACCESS program, a private contractor provides door-to-door service to elderly and disabled passengers throughout the county, seven days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight. Reservations are placed one day in advance.
Between 2001 and 2004 the Port Authority worked with the local community group Ground Zero to create and operate the "Ultra Violet Loop"; known to some as the "party bus", the UV Loop bus was special service operated on Friday and Saturday nights through the early morning, serving city nightlife and university centers. [3]. The UV Loop bus was part of special evaluative service supported in part by local foundations & businesses. While it was well regarded in the abstract, it never achieved the ridership and consistent service needed to continue without external support. The "Ultra Violet Loop" name is a play on Allegheny County's belt system.
Fare and Service Restructuring
There is currently a proposal by the Port Authority to restructure its rider services beginning in June of 2007. This comes as a result of increasingly large budget deficits in the face of inconsistent state, local, and private funding to accommodate the rising impact of employee pensions, health care plans, fuel, and other inflationary costs. [4] The proposals call for cuts of approximately 25% of the current bus and light rail services and 1 of 2 fare increase proposals. While some core urban service goes untouched, a great deal of routes (including many express buses and suburban commuter routes) are being cut, and service to some outlying communities of eastern Allegheny County, such as Pitcairn and Wilmerding, is being eliminated almost entirely. One fare increase proposal would preserve the current zone system (including the "free" and "downtowner" zones) and raise the base zone 1 fare to $2.50; the second proposal would eliminate zone distinctions and free downtown service in favor of a flat $2.00 rate. Either proposal will include annual increases of 5 or 10 cents. For a list of routes affected by the restructuring proposal, see the proposal outline. The route cuts were made using a new Service Scorecard process for evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, and equality of service. The scorecard ratings of existing routes that were used as the basis for the proposed cuts can be found here.
This restructuring proposal comes in the face of a budget situation that has deteriorated into crisis over the past 10 years. This situation has been recognized by the state government but substantial funding reform will not come until the county government and PAAC demonstrate some reforms: elimination of inefficient service, more consistent fare increases to keep up with inflation, and greater local contribution to subsidize service.
Trivia
★ The Port Authority owns 66 Transit bridges, 11 Highway bridges and four tunnels [5]. It also owns and maintains three limited access interstate-like expressways that stretch for dozens of miles, on the western, southern and eastern approaches into the center city.
Images
References
1. [1]
2. [2]
See also
★ List of rapid transit systems
External links
★ Port Authority's official website
★ Another collection of Port Authority bus photos
★ April 2005 story on the new hybrid buses Pittsburgh has started to use
★ Pittsburgh's transit history
★ Buskarma a.k.a. bus.maya.com, a bus system trip planner, run by volunteers
★ Google Transit page for Port Authority
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