Public Transportation and Smart Growth

Last edited Thu Oct 8, 2015, 12:06 PM - Edit history (2)

I was in third grade and had to go from the the South Park area of Allegheny County (which is on the Washington County-Allegheny Line) by public bus to Downtown Pittsburgh, catch another bus to go to the Oakland Area of Pittsburgh so I can go to the Pitt Dental School for dental work. I made that trip by myself in Third grade and then again in Fifth (ages 9 and then again between the ages of 11 and 12).

I had to walk down a busy two lane road, cross a four lane highway, wait for the bus (after reading the bus schedule for it did not run that often). I then had to stay on the bus till I arrived at the Allegheny County Jail, get off the bus. walk a block and catch another bus to Oakland. When I turned 12 I had to pay 35 cents for the trip, 25 cents to go to Downtown Pittsburgh and a 10 cents transfer for the Oakland bus. Prior to turning 12, I had to pay 13 cents (1/2 fare) but the full 10 cents for the transfer.

I lived in the Suburbs at the time, when I moved to the City itself, I and by then 10 and 11 year old sisters went all over the place on the last Streetcar line in Pittsburgh. The Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT, the mass transit provided for Allegheny County Pennsylvania) had what they called the "Weekend Pass", two Adults, over age 12 and two children under age 12 could travel anywhere on the the transit system from 10:00 am Saturday till Midnight 12:00 Sunday night. I was in high school then and to get to school I was given a bus pass, thus I used my bus pass, my sisters purchased a "weekend pass" and went everywhere in Allegheny County. We even took it on the sole train service PAT was running in the 1970s. We took the streetcar to the local mall (Which was on the Streetcar line), Oakland, to go to the Carnegie Library and Museum, to the Pittsburgh Zoo, and other locations we wanted to go to. I was 16, but my sisters were 10 and 11.

My comment is American kids can do what these Japanese kids can do, we just do NOT leave them. They do NOT need to do chores in school, but they need to be given the opportunity to use mass transit and a free transit fee on weekends would be a good way to do so.

One last comment, I went to Oakland via the Hill District of Pittsburgh, in the late 1960s, this was the high crime area of Pittsburgh at that time period AND the area that went into riot after Martin Luther King Assassination. Thus crime was not a problem using mass transit, fear can be but not crime when kids go as a group, but kids can safety travel those same areas for the drivers do watch such kids and make sure they get off the right stops.

As to go to the store, I did that when I was seven, I went to the local hardware store to buy things my parents wanted. Cigarettes and newspapers. I remember having to count the stars on the Sunday paper, to make sure it had five stars, thus it was the morning edition of the Sunday paper NOT the bulldog, which published Saturday afternoon for Sunday, remember this is the 1960s, when papers had more then one edition per day. I went to the local grocery stores to buy bread, milk and eggs at the same age. I went with my older sisters, but I also went alone. I was known in both places and they knew what I was to do. I remember asking for Pall Mall Cigarettes and being told they had none and panic set in, I did not know what other brands my Father smoked, but the cashiers gave me something and I them to my father (Yes, even in the 1960s it was illegal to sell cigarettes to children, but the cashier knew the cigarettes were NOT for me, so I could buy them). My School was 3/4 of a mile away from my home, and I had to walk it every day. I had to walk on the "old" two lane road not the 1938 built four lane highway that ran downhill from the old road. I did this with my brothers and sisters. I lived about two miles from the county park of South Park and walked to it whenever I could. From the time I was Seven I walked to the county fairgrounds, first with my older siblings but by the time I was nine with my younger siblings, the three mile to the County Fair Grounds. It was also about three miles to the County Swimming pool, another thing I walked to in the Summer, again three to four miles away. We occasionally drove to it, but mostly we went to it by walking (To get to the fairgrounds we had to walk along the four lane highway to the local park, and then the same highway with heavy traffic but reduced to two lanes in the park). The County fair was 8 days long, just before the start of school and since it was free admittance we went every day.

Just a comment that what these children are doing in Japan, can be done by American Children if we let them, and many inner city children do it today, for that is how they get around, and that is also true in Rural American more then we like to think. It is in the suburbs that you see parents and children seeing the automobile as their only means of transportation.