Port Authority tries classical music to calm tensions at Wood Street Station
SOOTHING SOLUTION?
When 17th- century British poet William Congreve penned the verse, “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak,” he didn’t have Port Authority’s Wood Street Station in mind.
But the agency hopes to prove Congreve’s premise by playing classical music outside the troublesome site, which serves as a T station as well as a popular bus stop on the Liberty Avenue side of the facility in Downtown Pittsburgh. The music system had some starts and stops during testing last week, but it began operating full time over the weekend.
The hope is the Q the Music soundtrack, already used at Pittsburgh International Airport and inside the T stations, will calm the atmosphere for those using the facility and drive away those who just want a place to hang out, spokesman Adam Brandolph said.
The station, a popular transfer point from light rail service to buses — especially for public school students — has had more than a handful of fights and other violent incidents in recent years. Port Authority police have increased their presence during busy hours at the station, which sits in a triangle that also borders Sixth Avenue and Wood Street, and the music is being added as another public safety measure.
“We have a police presence here now,” Mr. Brandolph said during a site visit. “[ The music] is not replacing that but is supplementing it. This is one more thing we can throw at [ disruptive behavior].
“We think it is potentially going to reduce the number of people loitering.”
The concept of using classical music to calm the masses at transit stations isn’t new. It has been tried in other cities across the world with “mixed results,” Mr. Brandolph said.
The system struck a nerve with some people last week, when the outdoor broadcast initially
contained not only the music but also light rail announcements. Some residents of nearby apartment buildings complained the music was too loud.
Technicians adjusted the volume so it’s 55 decibels during the day — 10 below the maximum allowed under city ordinance — and 25 decibels after 9 p. m. They also eliminated from the outdoor system the light rail announcements with the jarring “beep” that signals the beginning of a new message.
Although it has only been operating a few days, Mr. Brandolph said Port Authority police believe the system is having the desired effect.
Visits to the site on Monday found several people sleeping on the Wood Street benches just after the morning rush hour, but closer to lunchtime most of those sitting at the stop seemed to be riders waiting for a bus.
Roberta Zolkoski of Crafton Heights, a retired nurse practitioner for Pittsburgh Public Schools, said she tried to convince the school district to play classical music in the school cafeteria to calm the atmosphere. She said she likes the idea at the bus stop.
“It might make us think better thoughts,” she said. “It can’t hurt.”
Ray Tustin of Carnegie said he appreciates the idea but not the presentation.
“I just don’t like that kind of music,” he said, preferring country to classical.
Sitting with four children while waiting for a bus, Latasha Williams of the Hill District said she likes the music as a practical matter.
“It will give people something to do while they’re waiting,” she said.
Another woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said she thought the small speakers were “screechy” and she wondered where the sound was coming from when she was across the street from the station.
“I don’t think it sounds too good,” she said.
Q the Music is a playlist assembled by WQED Multimedia that features Pittsburgh- based ensembles, ranging from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and River City Brass to the Mendelssohn Choir, the Pittsburgh Chamber Orchestra and more. It has been in light rail stations Downtown since they opened in 1986, and the airport before that, as a way to promote local musicians and improve the atmosphere in transportation facilities, said George Hazimanolis, senior director of corporate communications at WQED.
Although the usage outside the Wood Street Station isn’t the original intention of the program, Mr. Hazimanolis said he has no problem with it.
“Any music in public is good, especially classical music,” he said. “It adds to the atmosphere.”
Mr. Brandolph said Port Authority will monitor whether the music is working as expected.
“It’s a proactive step that doesn’t cost us much,” he said. “We’re trying to keep it peaceful here. We want people to feel safe, be safe.
“If we deem [ the music] isn’t having a positive effect, we can turn it off.”