November Service Changes Screw Century III Mall Shoppers Again

One year ago, the first post to this blog was about Port Authority moving the bus stop for Century III Mall in West Mifflin away from an actual entrance. It is now on the edge of a parking lot, see a map here.

It's not a major move, just 375ft. The passengers do have to walk through a parking lot that gets slushy and dangerous in winter. Not to mention the elderly who ride the buses to the mall. The move was done supposedly due to concrete problems and discipline issues.

Now, a year later the mall is demanding Port Authority either pay to maintain the road or cut service to the mall. Well, money isn't growing on trees at PAT, so they are eliminating weekday mall service on the 59A and 35A routes and trimming weekday mall service on 46G, 51C, and 55M routes. Port Authority's official release here, and another Post-Gazette story citing the monetary reasons here.

Interestingly, the two different stories from the P-G have different reasons. The first story says:

At one time, the authority hailed mall management for being so accommodating to public transit. Over the years, the mall has complained that while the buses bring workers and patrons to its stores, they also bring a number of people who basically loaf and spend little money.

while the second one does not mention this. I loafed at Century III Mall all through middle school but I was dropped off by my parents, so I guess that's OK for mall management. Where's the scientific survey of where bus riders go? I'm sure stereotyping had nothing to do with it. PGH is a City elaborates on this point also in a post from earlier this month, as does the blog Pieces of a Whole.

The idea that Century III Mall would want less transit service and less customers during an economic downturn is shocking to me. The fact that the mall is getting emptier doesn't help their situation either.

New schedules for the November 23, 2008 service changes, along with other slight modifications to other routes can be found on Port Authority's website.

P.S. Notice something on the back of every schedule? Yep, a coupon/ad for two downtown eateries. You read it here first.

Revised 11/20: Port Authority now has a summary of Sunday's changes posted. Also of interest is a new article about Century III Mall in the P-G that includes discussion of why buses were cut. The mall is saying they did not want large cuts, while the Port Authority says they cannot pay for road repairs since every shopping center would have a case to ask for money.

March Service Changes

The Port Authority March 2008 service changes are up, and are mostly harmless. Notice the error in calling the Trafford Express the 68E, when it's really the 68F. Ha!

Port Authority also posted a quick and easy guide that actually links to the new schedules! Right now that previous page is the only place to get them, hopefully they'll replace the old schedules on the website Sunday morning. All changes take effect at the beginning of service on Sunday, March 16th, 2008.

The biggest deal on the new schedules? The error. Yep, the new schedules for 12 bus routes (51E, 58C, 58P, 58V, 67A, 67C, 67E, 67F, 67H, 67J, 68F, and 68J) show a new Downtown routing that has now been postponed. This is all related to the rerouting of buses away from Market Square, which has been delayed due to construction. Yes, if you want to revitalize Market Square, make sure bus riders are not waiting and getting off there. Luckily it seems they were able to add a disclaimer to the schedule before printing, but the maps inside are still incorrect.

The other interesting trend are the adjustments made to increase West Busway pickups heading to downtown. Three inbound and outbound rush hour trips have been added to the all-stops 33X, and restrictions at Sheraden Station on the 28X have been lifted. No new schedule for the 28X is listed on the website as of yet. The lot in Sheraden is currently at 95%, so adding all those new trips must be needed. The 28K Moon Express also picks up at Sheraden before heading downtown.

The 28X definitely should be examined. Right now, it picks up only going to the Airport, and discharges only going to Downtown and Oakland. I understand expediting the trip to the airport: your flight will leave with or without you. But I can see eliminating some stop restrictions during off-peak times, especially heading to Oakland, due to eliminations in midday 100 service to Oakland. The bus is often half-empty during the day, and passengers on the busway are passed up.

Wow that was nerdy. Ok, here's a real problem with the Port Authority website. Say you find an old schedule in your house. Is it still good? Some buses like my old 61C haven't been touched since March of 2007. Oh look, Port Authority has a list of routes and when their schedules were last updated! Oh, but it hasn't been updated since the March 2007 service changes. Yep, it hasn't been changed to reflect the June 2007 15% service cuts. Shameful.

November service changes and 59U notes

Nothing too big in the November service adjustments, with the exception of the mall reroutings mentioned a few posts down.

One note is the discontinuation of Century III Mall service on the 59U route. Yes, Century III Mall is an almost dead mall that probably attracted few to take the 1 hour venture from Oakland. (One man's 2001 venture on that route is chronicled here.)

But of note is the fact that the 59U was created to link Oakland with Century III Mall before the Waterfront development existed. The 59U was created during an apparent time of experimentation between the Port Authority and the University of Pittsburgh in the mid 90s. Searches on the internet and sightings on Bus Stop signs also show the existence of a 12U, which went from Oakland to Ross Park Mall. I could have sworn somewhere I read an old article that the 12U only ran every 2 weeks on Saturdays, which is one of the dumbest service plans I have ever heard of. According to Save Our Transit many U-Buses bit the dust in 2002 but the 59U persevered.

I have actually taken a few 59U buses all the way to Century III Mall. They were a bit more convenient than transferring but near the end of their life they only left the mall every 2 hours only on weekends. They also forced Century III Mall riders to slowly move through the Waterfront development on their way to the mall. I only noticed a few taking it from Oakland, most passengers were getting on at the Waterfront, and other routes offer Waterfront-Century III mall service. What I had heard of were people getting lost by taking a Century III bound bus at the Waterfront rather than an Oakland bound one. Now that would be scary for a non-native college student.

The good news is the deletion of the Century III Mall leg actually added some much-needed trips to the weekend schedule. There are now 5 more to the Waterfront and 3 more to Oakland on Saturdays, with the last bus leaving the Waterfront at a more realistic 12:04am compared to 11:12pm. So I applaud the Port Authority. The next step is to make Friday-only schedules for the "college student" buses (59U and 54C to the South Side and Strip District), since ridership has to be higher on Fridays compared to Tuesdays, even though all weekday schedules are the same. Are you listening Port Authority?