It might sound counterintuitive, but Port Authority is limiting the number of passengers who can get on its busiest route, P1 East Busway, at its busiest stop Downtown to improve efficiency.
For a pilot program that started Monday, the authority has assigned route supervisors and customer service representatives to allow passengers about three minutes to get on the P1 at the system’s busiest stop at Smithfield Street and Sixth Avenue, Downtown. Then, even if more passengers want to get on, they are instructing drivers to close the doors and having riders wait for the next bus, which usually is only 3 to 5 minutes later.
Spokesman Adam Brandolph said Wednesday the agency started this pilot after receiving numerous reports from passengers upset that the the bus has no room when it gets to its next stop at U.S. Steel Tower on Grant Street or that buses are way off schedule. It expects to run the test for about two weeks to see if limiting riders has the intended benefit of keeping buses closer to schedule and having room for more passengers at subsequent stops.
“This is a better way to spread out the loads,” Mr. Brandolph said. “We didn’t tell anybody we were doing this because we wanted it to play out naturally.”
Before supervisors got involved, Mr. Brandolph said, drivers would allow as many passengers as possible to get on the bus, regardless of how long it took. Sometimes, they would pull away from the stop to the traffic light and more passengers would knock on the door and be allowed on, even if it meant the bus had to sit through another red light.
Although it has only been two days, Mr. Brandolph said the agency has gotten positive feedback from riders to what he calls “a pro-active solution.”
“Riders notice,” he said. “If you’re a regular rider, you understand the situation. We’ve heard really good feedback that we’re trying to do something to help.”
The P1 route is the system’s busiest with about 10,000 passengers a day, Mr. Brandolph said, and the agency has more buses assigned to that route than any other. But the stop at Smithfield and Sixth is so busy that buses were stopped there too long, backing up traffic and delaying the next bus only a few minutes behind.
The goal is to allow a limited number of passengers on at one time, send that bus along and put riders on the next buses to keep the system moving, adjusting what Mr. Brandolph calls the “ballet” drivers try to perform every day to “create a little more breathing room.” Otherwise, operators may have to pass passengers at other stops if they make the judgment call that their vehicle is too full.
Long stops and crowded conditions became a greater problem when the agency switched to having all passengers pay as they enter the bus in January 2017. That meant passengers took longer to enter, which allowed more riders to come to the stop and try to get on, too, backing up the system even more.
“We don’t want our operators to close the doors when there are people waiting. That’s just rude,” Mr. Brandolph said. “We’re hoping in this pilot we can show them the value of waiting.
“It makes the entire system more efficient. We are asking a lot of our customers to wait and show a little patience and the whole system will be better.”
If the pilot is successful, the authority will instruct operators to limit the amount of time they spend and passengers they pick up at each stop, where there are boarding issues.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina.
First Published: April 3, 2019, 5:06 p.m.
Updated: April 3, 2019, 5:41 p.m.
