I'm a fan of public transit

Regarding the Station Square derailment on Sunday 8/5/18 in Pittsburgh

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/08/05/Freight-Train-derails-Pittsburgh-Station-Square-South-Side/stories/201808050144

There was a recent photo essay in the Guardian, posted on FB by others, about the "melancholy" jobs of Pittsburgh parking lot attendants (Search 'melancholy isolation'). It started with these words: "Given Pittsburgh’s poor public transport, many commuters choose to drive. Tom M Johnson photographs the city’s parking attendants in the confines of their booths." A commenter to that article described the Light Rail system as "going nowhere."

Now we have the reality of an awful lot of nowhere and nobodies being affected for a long time. I did not respond to that comment, but as someone who has used the Pittsurgh transit system consistently since the 1980s, and who recognizes its drawbacks, I really dislike the Guardian article's description of the public transit system as "poor" and of the commenter's description of Light Rail as "going nowhere."

I'm not up on the funding, though I have read that a lawsuit over fees that the PA Turnpike must pay to Port Authority and SEPTA is delaying some revenue, but I can't help but think that anything that gets more cars off the road is worthwhile.

I agree that travel by bus with various transfers is time consuming and draining. (Would I do it to get from South Hills to Oakland? No, not now. On the 44U express, though, I most definitely would have. That route is history, unfortunately, as is the PATrain). But I'd appreciate a discussion of how that is less time-consuming and draining than sitting in endless traffic jams of one car, one person. 


One advantage of the transit system here (and elsewhere) is the East Busway and the Light Rail operate outside of car traffic. There are problems (disoriented driver on the EBA), and near disasters, (like Sunday's on the LRT), but in general, they serve well to keep a few more cars off the road. And I always appreciated the time to read, study or just watch the passing scenery without having to focus on the traffic around me.

 There is a giant rabbit hole of laws passed by Congress adressing transportation funding, starting with Ice Tea, (at least in my memory) but it's hard to figure out what they have to do with double stack trains (fewer trucks on the highway. Sounds good, but what about safety?)

(Written but someone who hates to drive.)

Cut the chatter

One thing I like about public transportation is the simultaneous sense of community and solitude.

We board, stow bags, adjust devices or open reading materials. We chat with or nod to fellow passengers, watch from the windows or drowse after a long work day.

On buses, planes, trains or ships, we are connected by vehicle, by departure and destination.

In sports stadiums, once upon a time, there was only the sound of the crowd murmuring or the crack of a bat. The whoosh of a football perfectly thrown or a puck perfectly passed. A punch perfectly aimed.

On the bus, plane or train, there is still the settling in murmur and buzz. In the sports stadiums, all sense of community has been abandoned in favor of obedience to the scoreboard messages and sideline performances of manic cheer kids, racing mascots and flying T-shirts and hot dogs.

I like the quiet murmurs of going home because it means the constant chatter of the brain -- the hum and buzz of the mind guiding us through the day -- goes briefly quiet.

Getting outside is another way to quiet the chatter inside.

I snapped this picture of the Mellon Square fountain steps today (Omni William Penn in the background) on the way to buying bus tickets at Port Authority's Smithfield Street center. If proposed cuts go through, I'll have one less vehicle on which to savor community and solitude.

But the daily walk will still be there, and I am looking forward to seeing this space restored. A truly great mid-century design in Pittsburgh, Mellon Square, is getting a face-lift. At the one-minute mark of this video, you can see the steps as they appeared in the 1950s, when the park opened. The narration notes that little remains of original plantings. That's true of other Pittsburgh Renaissance projects, including some of the Gateway Center spaces. (That's fodder for another day.)

My mom & I stayed at this hotel way back in 1980 or so, when I had been hired for my first job in Pittsburgh. Mom came with me to help me look for an apartment.

We both remember there was a lot of chatter in the room next door.

Monday bookends

The middle of my Monday can be summed up thusly:

F
Three letters follow.
Do the spelling.

Now that that's out of the way, let me just say the beginning and end, for a Monday, were pretty darned good.

Not in order of importance: First, I broke my rule and ran for public transit and made it morning and evening. Thank you to the driver of the morning train, who waited. Thanks to luck for letting me make the evening train.

Second, a very light blanket of fog greeted the dog and I this morning on our walk, offering a lovely backdrop to the black bones of bare trees in my neighborhood and its park. It was so beautifully quiet, just the clicking of Twist's nails on the pavement. I love the starkness and stillness of mornings like these; the whole is made even more beautiful by the last golden leaves still hanging and the warm greens of pines and hemlocks.

Seedpods, dried goldenrod, moss on logs and water dripping from eaves and over stones. I'm such a crank that none of those are nearly enough to carry me through the winter. For one day, though, they will more than do and thanks to whoever is in charge of creating the scenery that makes me happy.

The picture is of a creation that's totally artificial: The Christmas tree in the street level lobby of the really lovely Fairmont Pittsburgh hotel, taken on the way to a good Monday bookend. The hotel has really pretty public spaces, including a museum-quality display of medicine bottles, porcelain doll heads and other early 20th century detritus unearthed during construction.