Posted on 12/17/2018 10:34:48 AM PST by grundle
I live in Pittsburgh, PA.
I’m a regular rider of our mass transit system, which is called Port Authority Transit (PAT).
A few years ago, PAT adopted a new program where riders could pay their fare by swiping a card which is called the ConnectCard. The card is available at more than 100 locations, including every Giant Eagle (our city’s biggest supermarket chain), every Goodwill store, the downtown PAT office, and many other areas all over the city. Pretty much every bus route goes by a place that sells the ConnectCard.
The card costs one dollar. Riders can electronically put as much of their own funds as they want on the card. Then when they ride bus bus, they pay the fare by swiping their card, instead of paying cash.
In order to encourage riders to use the ConnectCard, PAT offers a discount on fares. A cash fare costs $2.75. People who pay with their ConnectCard get a 25 cent discount.
A transfer (a person’s second ride within a three hour period) costs $2.75 if they pay in cash, but only $1.00 if they use their ConnectCard.
Thus, a round trip within three hours costs $5.50 for someone who pays in cash, vs only $3.50 for someone who uses their ConnectCard. That’s a discount of two dollars for using the ConnectCard. And the card only costs a dollar.
Thus, the very first time that a person uses their ConnectCard to make a round trip in under three hours, the card has more than paid for itself.
Even if someone has eight hours between trips, that’s still a savings of 25 cents per trip, meaning that the card will pay for itself after only two such round trips.
Despite this, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently published this article, which says that there are protestors who are complaining that it’s “unfair” to poor people that PAT gives these discounts to people who use the ConnectCard.
Now please keep in mind, as I already said, the card only costs a dollar, and it more than pays for itself the very first time you use it for a round trip that’s under three hours.
And as I said, the card is available at a huge number of places along bus routes.
Despite this, the protestors whined that it was “unfair” to poor people that people who paid in cash had to pay higher fares.
The article said the protestors were worried about the “upfront costs” of buying the card.
And the protestors said it was too hard to get to locations that sell the card.
What a bunch of idiots.
The only thing that’s preventing these protestors from getting a ConnectCard is their irrational insistence on viewing themselves as victims of a problem that does not exist.
If the protesters had spent their time buying a ConnectCard instead of protesting, their “problem” would be solved.
Anyone who rides the bus has access to more than 100 locations where they can purchase a ConnectCard.
Every Giant Eagle and every Goodwill sells them.
Since the protest took place downtown, the protestors could have gone a very short distance (by walking or riding the bus) to Port Authority’s Downtown Service Center to buy one.
Protestors’ concerns about “upfront costs” are unfounded, as the card only costs a dollar, and it pays for itself almost immediately.
The article also said that this issue was especially hard on “single mothers.” Well, whose fault is it that they are “single mothers” in the first place? Just like with people who refuse to get a ConnectCard, “single motherhood” is a case of victimhood taking the place of personal responsibility.
Let’s consider two groups of people in the U.S. The first group has a poverty rate of 2%. The second group has a poverty rate of 76%.
The first group consists of people who followed all three of these steps:
1) Finish high school.
2) Get a full-time job.
3) Wait until age 21 and get married before having children.
The second group consists of people who followed zero of those three steps.
Among people who follow all three of these steps, the poverty rate is 2%.
Among people who follow zero of these steps, the poverty rate is 76%.
(My source for that information is this article, which refers to this PDF, and the relevant data is on page 15 of the PDF. The study uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau.)
Despite this, social justice warriors want us to think that “single mothers” living in poverty are somehow innocent victims, instead of people who have free will.
The solution to almost all poverty is to follow the three rules listed above.
And the solution to not having a ConnectCard is to buy one.
It’s interesting how “spontaneous” protesters have these professionally made signs.
I bet they have no problem buying beer, liquor, cigarettes and Lottery tickets.................with their EBT cards...............
Don’t forget tattoos.
My bud who takes public transit here says the very same thing, even at the subway: black people MOSTLY CHEAT/DONT PAY for them.
Even on the bus. Most people here have a bad impression of mexicans but they do pay for their fares. It’s mostly the idiot bus drivers who dont want any problems with the homeys and black HOMELESS who jump on the bus who let them in.
I have always felt bad for the worker who makes just a little to much money to qualify for assistance.
Not that he/she would take it.
While the guy who makes just a little less, Or doesn’t work at all, gets all kinds of freebies.
Fear of the dreaded R word is a contributing factor.
Yes me too!....current system certainly provides the wrong motivation.!
It’s hard to make the case that certain minorities are too incompetent to register to vote and get a voter ID card if they are able to buy beer, get bank accounts, fly, and do so many other things daily. If liberals can convince the public that these minorities are also too incompetent to get a ConnectCard, that’s additional ammunition for the disenfranchisement argument on voter ID.
“The public” will laugh if liberals try to make the case for incompetence on the inability to buy alcohol. But lack of competence to buy a ConnectCard may be the ticket to subliminally convincing “the public” that certain minorities are not able to get an ID to vote (but for some reason should still be encourage to vote “because democracy” - or maybe because “the Democratic party”)
Dan also fails to mention that there is a zone within the downtown area where the T is totally free. So even if it is hard to find a convenient spot in the ‘hood, say We’llkillyinzburg, the next time they are downtown to protest, they can spend a buck on a connect card within steps of almost any T stop in the downtown area.
Don’t forget them having their nail done and hair done weekly.
Does the T go out to Wilkinsburg now?
I’ve been away for a while but last I knew there were just two routes: 42 and 47. 42S and 47S went to South Hills Village.
The other terminus for 47 was what - Library?
There was talk of extending the T to the airport. I’ve been away since the early 2000’s.
50 +++ years of paying for the life styles of the whiners who kept producing more whiners.
50 ++ years of letting them ‘pass’ in school when they didn’t even attend classes.
50 ++ years & over $16 TRILLION in benefits of all kinds.
We have raised a FERAL ARMY that hates us & is still whining.
What a reward for ‘caring’.....IF Johnson were still alive, I would bitch slap him.
"I'll have those Nigg---s voting Democrat for 100 years"
Don’t they always, huh.
Grabbed it! Thanks. I’m going to make some cards for those ‘special’ people at work.
I don't ride the Westmoreland County bus often, but the only people I see getting on or off at this stop look like they are commuters . . . perhaps because the Westmoreland County bus only operates during the common commuting times, 6 to 9 am and 3 to 6 pm or thereabouts.
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