Residents ask Port Authority to restore service to apartments

Deb Watson of Duquesne and her neighbors in the Hilltop Parkview Manor Apartments don’t think it’s too much to ask that Port Authority route a bus to the complex.

The alternative for the 600 residents is a hilly, mile-long walk on busy streets with no sidewalks and limited streetlights.

Ms. Watson, who uses a cane, and several other residents with a variety of mobility issues lobbied the Port Authority board

Friday to return direct service to their complex on Duquesne Place Drive. Right now, the nearest bus stop is either on Hoffman Boulevard or Route 837.

“It’s terrible,” Ms. Watson said. “We have to walk in the middle of the street in the winter. We really need a bus.”

Mark Eubanks told the board he has been making the 25-minute walk to the bus stop for five years. The authority eliminated service into the community when it revamped routes to get through a funding crisis in 2011.

“It’s getting harder and harder to walk up and down that hill to the bus stop,” he said.

Following its usual policy, the board didn’t respond to the request. Authority staff will review how many potential riders would use the service if it is re-established and whether the cost would classify it as a minor or major service change.

If it is minor, a change could be made when the agency makes quarterly route adjustments in March or June. A major change would have to be considered as part of the agency’s annual review of service requests that takes place in May as part of the annual budget process.

Major changes that are approved usually begin in September.