On a cold, snowy night at the student community center at Penn State Greater Allegheny, only Courtney Thompkins and Joyce Keith showed up to participate in the Pittsburgh Regional Transit public meeting for the redesign of the bus routes.
Some PRT staff, who were there to lead the discussion, were late as they depended on the 56 bus to get them there from Downtown Pittsburgh on a wintery night.
Thompkins and Keith, both of McKeesport, no longer ride the bus, but they were both there to represent their community, and they knew which areas weren’t covered by the current routes.
“Just because we don’t catch the bus anymore, it doesn’t mean that we don’t look out for our neighbors who might need the transportation,” said Thompkins. “We have to be their voice.”
Keith said she feels some of the community wasn’t represented by the old routes.
“Harrison Village wasn’t covered, Jenny Lind Street isn’t covered, Versailles and Grandview Avenues and White Oak Borough isn’t covered. Whoever did this forgot the Black community.”
Keith, who walks with a cane, stopped riding the bus because she had to walk 10 minutes down a hill. She now relies on Uber or Lyft, which is more expensive.
Thompkins recalled changes to bus lines in the past that she said led to financial hardship.
“And people have left the McKeesport area because there is nothing reliable here to get to work,” she added.
PRT staff closely listened to the women's questions and requests in hopes of addressing McKeesport’s transportation needs.
Thompkins left the meeting with concerns. She believes PRT should hold a meeting in Crawford Village (the McKeesport Housing Authority’s largest community) to ensure more residents can participate because many elderly community members lack access to social media and may not have been aware of the meeting or have the means to get there.
Thompkins noted that no representatives from the city attended the discussion.
“There was no leadership there,” she said. “Not one.”
Some of the other proposed reroutes in the area:
- 60 becoming the N56 traveling from Versailles (Olympia) to North Versailles (Walmart)
- Discontinuing the 56C, which currently runs from Downtown Pittsburgh to Penn State Greater Allegheny (White Oak)
- Discontinuing P76 from Olympia Shopping Center to downtown Pittsburgh
- A new bus will be introduced to the area N63, commuting from McKeesport Transit Center to Monroeville (Forbes Hospital).
Jennifer McCalla, of West Mifflin, is a writer and photographer who’s been with the Tube City Writers for six years.
