Port Authority To Close 436 Bus Stops
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Changes are coming for Port Authority riders next month. It involves the consolidation of hundreds of stops on more than 30 routes. However, it may not be as bad as it sounds.
In two-and-a-half weeks, the Port Authority is making some minor modifications to its schedule.
KDKA-TV's Rick Dayton: They are eliminating 436 stops.
Karen Franc: Really?
Dayton: Which sounds like a huge number doesn't it?
Franc: It is a huge number.
While it sounds like a massive reduction, it is less than six percent of the total number of stops in the Port Authority system.
"You know, I'd have to walk all the way down to 18th to get downtown or to catch a bus somewhere so like I'm thankful you know that they haven't cut that route yet," Franc said.
The overwhelming majority of the stops in question are rarely -- if ever -- used.
"We measured their use in the fall of 2012 and the majority of these stops, I believe it is over 250, were used by zero people," Heather Pharo of the Port Authority said.
The tweaks to the schedule also are designed to lessen detours associated with summer construction and weight restrictions on bridges.
"We are re-working those detours and kind of redoing some of the stops in the area and we think that will help some of the riders out in terms of having a quicker ride through that area," Pharo said.
Other riders said they were glad to have some advanced warning about the changes that are coming down the pike.
"It's usually you show up and there's a sign and that's what it is. You have to get used to it. Find a different way at that point in time," Anton Kidd said.
Details of the quarterly schedule adjustments are available on the Port Authority website here.
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