Fighting for ease of access

Mon Valley residents urge county council to help preserve transportation to Downtown

Pearl Hughey and her grandchildren recently watched a movieabout Rosa Parks.

She told Allegheny County Council members Tuesday night that the youngsters asked her many questions about what happened on that bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955.

“The one thing I found myself explaining to them is that the way things that they saw in that movie were how things were then,” Ms. Hughey said. “You can now get onto the bus, ride where you want, sit where you want. I ask you: Was Iwrong or was I right?”

Ms. Hughey of Rankin was among 17 people at the council meeting who criticized proposed service changes to bus routes in the Monongahela Valley when the Port Authority implements its

Bus Rapid Transit plan. The plan calls for a nearly 45 percent cut in frequency to 61ABC bus routes and terminates those routes in Oakland, forcing riders to pay transfer fees to get to Downtown, according to Pittsburghersfor Public Transit. The transit group pointed out that the Mon Valley contains 13 of Allegheny County’s 15 poorest communities, and residents there relyheavily on buses.

Linda Warman of Duquesne said the 61C runs every 20 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes during non-peak hours and weekends. With the proposed changes, she said, the 61C would run every45 minutes.

“A lot of people from McKeesport on up the line will be plugged into those buses like sardines,” Ms. Warman told council. “It is a safety issue.

“If a bus is packed like that [and it] gets into and accident, there’s going to be a whole lot of problems,” she said.“This BRT, what it does for the Mon Valley, is nothing. It cuts, it hurts, it kills.”

Cindy Paulding of Swissvale, who is legally blind, said she depends on the 61ABC routes to get to work, to shop and for social engagements. “The bottom line as I see it, decreasing service and requiring additional transfers ... make using buses harder and less convenient,”she said.

Helen Gerhardt of Just Harvest, a social and economic advocacy group, asked council to hold a public hearing about the proposed route changes. At the conclusion of the meeting, several council members wouldnot commit to holding apublic hearing.

But Councilman Charles Martoni, who represents some of the municipalities thatlikely would be most impacted by the changes, said “there’s definitely interest.”