BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

yeesh. i saw the aftermath of that incident downtown on monday nite. it was being treated like a crime scene

Nearly had my feet crushed the other day when a port authority bus roared through a right turn on red in Oakland. Sucker hopped the curb with a big crowd of people on the sidewalk waiting to cross. What is the mentality behind this? Do they get fined if they're late or something. I simply don't understand the rush. The perceived immunity most of the drivers seem to have with regard to traffic violations should be addressed.

i feel like the immunity is more than perceived. there is hardly any accountability. i was sort of glad to hear that they started putting black box cameras inside the buses.

I ride the bus now and then, and it seems the driver is very often on the phone while driving. Surely PAT has a rule against that?

(Oh, please, let the answer to that be yes.)

i'm pretty sure that is very illegal

I am not certain, but I think PAT has a "no fault" privledge/immunity granted to them, such as the city does? i could be wrong.

their insurance will cover their "mishaps" but the actual drivers and/or organization cannot be sued for culpability.

The article was updated. Turns out the bus lost power to the brakes and rolled backwards into the house.

sovereign immunity for private corporations? Wow, I want me one of those.

Drivers and cell phones: Most assuredly a no-no. That's official. Including on-road/off-road trips (i.e. to and from the garage, empty).

If anyone ever sees a driver on a cell phone they should be reported to the port authority with the 4 digit bus ID number. That's a serious concern.

Just saw a driver wearing earphones. Sweet. I've seen the cell phone a bunch.

when i get back to pittsburgh i'm just going to go around takin pictures of bus drivers on cell phones

so much port authority talk on here these days

I had a PAT driver wave me through as I left turned off ross and onto 3rd avenue this morning. That was nice.

how about some sort of limiters on those busses? like the city busses shouldn't travel faster than 35 mph. like the go karts i rode as a kid. they put a wooden block under the gas pedal so lil kids couldn't go full speed.

how about some sort of limiters on those busses? like the city busses shouldn't travel faster than 35 mph.

Obviously, not a violent femmes fan

at any rate, I believe a recent post from another thread could clarify this question as well. In that, one bus for a full day can run multiple service routes. a 500 route screaming down freeport in the morning could be the 54c puttering through oakland and southside around noon, then screaming up the west busway as a 100 in the afternoon. - cause these folks got somewhere to go...

Is this the Port Authority hate-fest thread? This should be stickied.

I was crossing Washington Pl at 5th one afternoon - in the crosswalk with the right of way - when I heard a loud horn behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see a bus bearing down on me, so I quickly stepped to the left to let the bus buzz past. Apparently there was a car stopped in the bus's lane, and slowing to safely change lanes before the intersection was asking just a little too much on that day. Better to whip around the car utilizing that nifty buffer zone between the intersection and stopped cars (some people refer to this area as a "crosswalk", where pedestrians supposedly cross the street, but whatever). It was actually very nice of that driver to warn me of their impending negligence. They could have simply run me down with (apparent) impunity. Maybe this should actually go in the Port Authority love-fest thread.

My other favorite was the time a bus drove so far up my ass on Penn in the Strip that I caught a tail wind off its front. It's pretty fun to draft the *front* of a bus, if you haven't tried it.

Plus the countless times they've deliberately pulled their buses over in the lane to prevent filtering, occasionally followed by corrective driving instructions (which I obviously need, as since I'm on a bike I must not know how to drive).

To all Port Authority drivers: I'm sorry you're paid so much more than me, and have retirement and health benefits of which I am apparently undeserving. It must nonetheless be a terrible burden upon you, given all that time and money you put into secondary education to excel in your career as a transit navigation technician. I hope to someday be compensated as generously as you, so I can be a bitter, dangerous user of the public transportation infrastructure. In the meantime, my poor ass will indifferently pedal and walk the streets with my own well-being as collateral for my (and your) mistakes.