Pittsburgh Regional Transit CEO Katharine Kelleman put the message out there for commuters regarding the Parkway East closure: \u201cDon\u2019t drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
I decided to take her up on it.<\/p>\n
I soon learned I was hardly the only one.<\/p>\n
Public transit sometimes gets a bad rap around here. I wanted to see and feel the experience for myself.<\/p>\n
At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, I hopped in my vehicle and set out from my Forest Hills home, headed for the East Busway\u2019s Swissvale Station<\/a>. My eventual destination: the Trib\u2019s Pittsburgh office at the D.L. Clark Building <\/a>on the North Shore.<\/p>\n The Swissvale Station\u2019s park-and-ride lot on Vernon Avenue has 163 spaces. I needed just one.<\/p>\n I pulled into the free lot. First section: full. Second section: full. I rounded the corner and found the last of two open spots. It was 8:46 a.m.<\/p>\n Score! I felt like I had cleared the first level of the Parkway East closure survival game. The commute was turning into a real-life Mario adventure \u2014 car to bus, bus to train, then on foot \u2014 all while trying to avoid the fire-breathing dragon known as the dreaded Parkway East.<\/p>\n I parked and headed to the benches to wait for a P-1 bus that would take me Downtown via the busway. I took a seat at 8:50 a.m. and finished listening in to our morning budget meeting on my phone.<\/p>\n Around me, commuters stared at their phones, sipped coffee and waited for the ride Downtown \u2014 a small glimpse of what could become a much bigger routine for drivers looking to avoid Parkway East headaches.<\/p>\n At 9:06 a.m., a bus pulled up. I paid the $2.75 fare using the PRT Ready 2 Ride app \u2014 extremely convenient \u2014 boarded and found a seat. Because the route starts at the Swissvale station, the bus was only about a quarter full when I boarded.<\/p>\n By the East Liberty Station, five stops later, the bus was standing-room only.<\/p>\n Inside, the bus felt clean, with blue-patterned seats, stainless steel poles and wide windows creating a comfortable commuter space. Passengers settled into rows of seats or held onto overhead straps.<\/p>\n I chatted with a woman who said the buses seemed a little more crowded than usual since the parkway closure began, but not uncomfortably so. So far, she said, the increase in riders hadn\u2019t been too bad.<\/p>\n