When I decided to go to college in a city, one thing inevitably occurred to me \u2014 how will I get around? Many current students at the time told me it was easy. However, when I got here, I found transportation in Pittsburgh to be hard and confusing to navigate. I thought it would be better in my second year since I would be better acquainted with the transportation system, but the system remains difficult to navigate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t necessarily hard to find forms of transportation throughout the city, as there are many options. The problem lies in their inefficiency and unreliability.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The PRT buses are the main mode of transportation for students, but they also have the biggest problems. Despite there being two different apps that track the buses, both seem to be inaccurate. TransLoc<\/a> is good for finding the routes for each bus, but it doesn\u2019t track the buses and is often wrong about when the bus will actually arrive at your stop. On the other hand, Transit<\/a> is good at tracking the buses and is decently accurate about timing, though this is not always the case. It only ever shows a few options of which buses you can take, and there are times when many more buses are available. Oftentimes, I find myself switching between both every time I use the bus, which is both confusing and overwhelming.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another problem with the buses is that the time it takes to get to any given location in a car is doubled \u2014 sometimes even tripled \u2014 to get to by bus. If you\u2019re in a time crunch, the buses might not be your best bet because of their unreliability, the inaccuracy of the apps and the inefficiency.\u00a0<\/p>\n The buses are also hard to use if you are getting a week\u2019s worth of groceries, like I often am. I live in an on-campus apartment with only one meal swap per day, so the other meals are up to me to obtain. I often run out of groceries quickly because when I go grocery shopping for the week, I can only get as much as I can carry, so I have to be conscious of what and how much I get. I often have to go out a second time every week just to get more food.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another option for transportation in the City is to use Uber or Lyft. If you\u2019re in a time crunch, ordering one of these is a more time-efficient and feasible option. However, these costs can add up. How many college kids can afford to Uber every single week? It\u2019s also impractical, seeing as Pitt students get busing for free \u2014 why should these students have to pay for these options just to get to their destination on time?\u00a0<\/p>\n Biking is another way of getting around. POGOH bike use is free for Pitt students<\/a> and you get your exercise in, but you can only run limited errands with a bike in 30 minutes, the length of the free ride. You certainly can\u2019t go grocery shopping \u2014 some places are too far for a bike ride, and there\u2019s no way of transporting the groceries back unless you only purchase a few items. There also isn\u2019t enough rental time for the bikes to do it all in one go. These free bikes are not a long-term solution. Additionally, there aren\u2019t too many POGOH stations, and from personal experience, it\u2019s stressful. The City streets are so busy that it can be overwhelming and scary to maneuver around on a bike, and riders have to worry about cars and pedestrians all around them.<\/p>\n The most basic form of transportation \u2014 walking \u2014 is obviously a big component of living in the City, but struggles come with that, too. Besides the Forbes Street Market<\/a>, there aren\u2019t any grocery stores that are a walkable distance from campus. Even if there were, the amount you\u2019d be able to carry would once again be limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n As much as people want to bring their cars to campus, there are a lot of factors that can deter them from doing so. I have heard of many people\u2019s parents not wanting them to bring their cars here, and campus parking passes are both limited and extremely expensive. Not only is it a gamble to see if you\u2019re even going to get one, but then you have to worry about paying for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n When people say there are lots of ways to get around in the City, they\u2019re right, but what\u2019s never said is how hard it is to actually do it. Every day you have to carefully consider your options, assess your situation and pick the lesser of two \u2014 or in this case, at least four \u2014 evils.\u00a0<\/p>\n Abby Breidenbach is a sophomore on the pre-law track with a law, criminal justice and society major and a minor in creative writing. She loves writing, reading, watching movies and passionately speaking about her loves and interests. If you\u2019d like to chat, email Abby at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. <\/p>\n