Like many living in the Eva P. Mitchell low-income senior facility in Lincoln-Lemington, Gwendolyn Patterson sometimes has a difficult time getting around, but it has become harder since the Port Authority modified its bus routes two years ago. Now, instead of getting service at the door, the closest bus stop is more than 300 feet away down a substantial grade.
“A lot of the residents here are using walkers or wheelchairs and it’s just too much for them,” she said. “They end up spending a lot of money taking jitneys to get where they need to go.”
Patterson took her complaints to the Port Authority’s Committee for Accessible Transportation meeting Oct. 9. to see if anything could be done. She said the response she got was encouraging.
“It went well. There were a lot of people with disabilities there and we all got to speak,” she said. “There was a man from city planning there too, and he said he would be out to look at the situation.”
Eva P. Mitchell Property Manager Donna Rivers said the transportation issue is the major complaint residents have.
“It’s one thing going down, it’s a whole other issue coming back up. Some just can’t do it,” she said. “I’ve been speaking to the Port Authority about getting a bus up here for a year, but so far nothing.”
The 80-unit Mitchell building serves low-income seniors age 62 or older, Rivers said. Only those over 65 or who have disabilities, however, qualify for the Port Authority’s ACCESS Paratransit service. It is not free either, whereas regular bus service is free for seniors.
“It wouldn’t be a big deal for the bus to just make a loop up to the sidewalk here and go back down,” said Rivers.
Jim Ritchie, spokesman for the Port Authority said he realizes it’s a sensitive issue, but there are communities—like Baldwin Manor—that lost service entirely in the last round of transit cuts.
“There’s a long line of communities asking for the same thing or more. The funding we have now will last us a decade with no more route cuts or service cuts. If we start adding routes, at about $1 million per, could cut that in half,” he said.
Plus, he said, to do so, the authority would have to use capital budget funds for what is an operating expense. “PennDOT would have to grant a waiver to allow that,” he said.
(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)
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