Hilltop Fellowship Interviews

Check out these great interviews with our Hilltop Organizing Fellows. We’ve anonymized the interviews just to keep everyone’s privacy:

Interview with fellow #1 about the start of the Hilltop Fellowship

PPT: What are one or two things you feel like you’ve learned from the fellowship so far?

Fellow: I’ve learned more just about some of the struggles and the fights just to maintain and provide the service. Learning about the campaigns and the actions that have been taken, I didn’t really realize how many people have been involved. It’s like what we saw in the video today – neighbors just really coming together and fighting for their service. 

I grew up riding buses. Even now, relying on the car a bit more, I think I have lost some of the perspective of transit issues. But I will say for myself, I would use transit more if it was more available. I honestly don’t like feeling like I have to drive a car everywhere.

It can be convenient, but it’s also a hassle, having a car. Maintaining it, getting the gas. I mean, I’d rather sit on a bus and read a book.

If I could drive a car less – and I understand a lot of people don’t have that option – but If we could get back to where we had more service I would be able to use [transit] every day. 

PPT: Earlier you said, you used to ride the bus a lot more. How has your ability to get to the places that you need to get to changed in the past few years completely? 

Fellow: Like I was saying earlier, one of the buses that I used all the time ran every 10 minutes and I’m not sure what it is now but now it’s maybe every 17-18. I was still riding it and it was definitely more like 20 minutes, which isn’t huge but that is double the time. When you’re trying to get to work or any little thing that happens if it’s late, then you’re late.

The service used to be so constant and it ran early and late. The routes were more plentiful and the service was just more frequent. It’s a lot harder now because it’s not going everywhere it used to go. It’s just taking more time, and stops have been eliminated. You used to walk a certain distance that’s even greater now. I’m fairly healthy, but I just had a medical incident recently. Another two blocks and  I’m not making it. That was one that I wasn’t even thinking about earlier, but all the stops that have been eliminated just makes it harder for people, especially if you’re limited in your ability or in any way.

PPT: What do you think PRT is missing or underestimating when they are planning reliable and safe service in the South Hilltop?

Fellow: I honestly wonder if they’re really thinking of the actual human beings that are using the service, how they’re using it. Are they thinking of actual people or just this broad idea of bus service or transit service?

I’m not sure they’re thinking about this mom with her young child that she has to get to daycare and then she has to get to work and then when she comes home, she’s stopping at the store and how that looks and where she needs. I don’t think they’re looking at the human aspect with the time frames.

I’m newer to this area but I do get the sense, the Hilltop is kind of a forgotten area a little bit. I live in Bon Air, which I know it’s very car centric. We have a bus that comes through the neighborhood and a T-stop. The bus that comes through the neighborhood is limited service – it doesn’t go downtown. The T-stop is down the hill down steps. So it’s one thing if you can get down there, but coming back up… oh my gosh.

I don’t know exactly how much ridership is within the neighborhood, but I do see people using the service. I think that was talked about being eliminated, the 54D. So I feel like we maybe are not a high priority compared to some other areas. 

PPT: If you and your neighbors wanted to come together to advocate for better transit, what do you think is an important first step and what would people need to get started to feel like they can speak up too an agency like PRT?

Fellow: I don’t know, I think it would probably be good to get out and talk to neighbors, just to gauge and see if people are happy with how it is. What are things that people would like to see happen? And then maybe, you know, if we could get a group of people together and then go figure out the next step.

Once we have a group of people and some thoughts of what the needs are then figure out who we go to from there.

PPT: You’re doing this already. You’re here!

Fellow: I’d like to actually go and meet people and talk, like to people waiting for the bus.

PPT: Foreshadowing what we have planned already! We’re gonna be doing some canvassing later. In thinking about getting folks involved, what do you feel is actually the biggest barrier to that? 

Fellow: I think for me prior to coming to this it was just not knowing where to go, who to talk to about it. I think other people may just not know what to do. A lot of us feel powerless – this is a big bureaucracy and we’re just little people and is anybody going to listen? Does anybody really care what we have to say? So we need to find that empowerment and some direction on knowing where you can be heard. 

PPT: Great. We’ll end there, but do you have anything else you want to say?

Fellow: The one thing here where you talked about safety. It ties into all the other things. When the service is more sporadic or when the stops are further apart, I think that’s a safety issue. The hours that the bus starts and stops –  if you miss that last 10 o’clock bus, where there used to be one at, you know, midnight, then you’re stranded somewhere at night. I think just reliable service, frequent service, and easy to get to stop that are lit at night are important for safety.

Interview with fellow #2 during the middle sessions of the fellowship about bus shelters and sidewalks

Takeaways:

  • Safety and dignity for all riders is a must!
  • Public agencies need to coordinate with each other
  • “Nothing about us without us” – Disability advocacy
  • Easier to organize with others who share the same passions than by yourself

PPT: What are one or two things you feel like you’ve learned from your experience in the fellowship? 

Fellow: I’ve learned so much. I think the most interesting thing I learned is how many different entities are responsible for bus stops plus sidewalks.This has helped me learn that there’s way more buses available to me in this neighborhood than I actually realized. When we did last week’s field trip, I didn’t know that the 48 went that way! I only use the 51 and the 54 and I had no idea that I had a whole bus available to me. That’s just from the last session. I also had no idea how many groups there were available in Pittsburgh, that fight for the same things that I’m passionate about and I never knew they existed until I was here. 

PPT: What would you say some of those things are that you’re passionate about?

Fellow: Safe bus stops and dignity. For every single rider. That includes people with strollers and wheelchairs and people like me, who, although I have access to a car and I can walk, I still want the bus. I just think that every single rider should have dignity.

PPT: That’s a great segue into our next question: What are the accessibility and infrastructure needs that you see as an issue thinking about sidewalks and shelters that we looked at yesterday and during your time living in the hilltop? 

Fellow: Something we didn’t touch on was crossing streets. I think there’s a lack of lit up streets. Clearly indicating someone is crossing either about to or they are right now. People ignore the signs that say pedestrian crosswalk, like, let’s be real. So I think safely crossing is definitely an issue. As well as sidewalks – you know especially someone that’s in a wheelchair that may not be able to wheel themselves onto the crosswalk and may have to wheel themselves around. If it’s already not really lit up and telling the drivers, “hey someone’s crossing!” That, to me, is a huge concern. I really liked what the other fellow said about how bus stops are a great communication tool, especially for community resources. I thought that was such a good point and I thought that was something that was so important and something that’s missing.

PPT: What do you think the city is missing when it comes to this kind of infrastructure planning for sidewalks for safe accessible reliable sidewalks? 

Fellow: It seems that they’re missing continuity and consistency. There isn’t  one department, there’s too many departments. What’s missing is a good workflow for the city. Like why is there not a commission on sidewalk and public transport safety. 

PPT: Can you say more about commission? Is that like a workflow thing? 

Fellow: I think having a commission that handles all of that would streamline how quickly things get done, and how well things are communicated amongst all these different agencies because I think what we learned today was that these agencies do not communicate. They have no way to track how they communicate or hold each other accountable for how they communicate, so they can just endlessly be like, “Well, that’s not my problem. It’s their problem.” So I think because there is no organized workflow for this type of issue, there’s no single commission with a workflow that can address these issues. It’s too many small entities handling too many problems. This has especially been coming up in terms of disability stuff. Like the fact that a lot of departments are aware not just of their responsibilities under the ADA, but also [aren’t aware of] resources that are available and things that are needed. I feel like the people that should have the final say of, “does this work for someone with a disability?” should be people that actually personally experience those things.

PPT: If you wanted to kind of, you know, advocate on any of these issues that we’ve talked about, what do you think would be like a first step for you or for your neighbors?

Fellow: I think a first step would probably be to meet in a community setting. And discuss our goals, discuss our frustrations. I think that giving people the space to just be heard is the best first step because people are frustrated. And I think that supportive listening from your community is the best first step to understand, like what is the frustration, you know? Just getting to know your neighbors and just giving people the place to express frustrations because I don’t feel like a lot of people are heard.

PPT: What do you feel like are some of the reasons why that doesn’t happen or why it’s hard? 

Fellow: I think it’s easier to be frustrated than it is to take proactive steps, right? It’s easy to be mad. It’s easy to be frustrated, right? But it’s not easy to organize, it’s not easy to make things happen, it’s not easy to put the work in, right? So I mean, I think realistically it’s just easier to be upset than it is to actively do something to change something. And why would we want to make our lives harder? Everyone’s lives are hard. 

PPT: You are making your life a little bit harder right by being the person speaking up speaking up and what do you think it’s gonna take for other people. To also, not choose the easiest path, but choose organizing? 

Fellow: I think it takes. I actually don’t remember a group of really good leaders. I don’t think one person can ever make that happen. I think it takes a group of well-rounded but leaders from different parts of life because you can’t make change happen without different perspectives. You can’t do it all by yourself because it was like you might think your opinions and ideas are great. But again that goes back to like it’s like people who don’t use a wheelchair approving things for Right. Like with just one perspective it’s not going to work. You have to have different perspectives and different people. I think you have to do exactly what we’re doing now.
I think my reflections overall is just that I think it’s really great that this [PPT Transit Fellowship] exists. I think that this gives people a space to relight passions because again it’s hard. It’s easy to complain, it’s hard to organize. But when you have a place and a space and people to rile up together about the same passions, then it’s easier, right? That hard thing becomes easier because you have support; you have people to help you, you have people to inspire you, people with different perspectives, different experiences, different ideas. So I think doing things like this is exactly what this world needs.

Interview with fellow #3 during the middle sessions of the fellowship about Land Use and Development

Takeaways:

  • Processes for routine maintenance of public infrastructure 
  • Role of residents and local organizations in making a neighborhood more livable
  • Engaging the youth is important
  • We get used to the conditions around us and don’t question how it could be better
  • Zoning changes a neighborhood experience
  • There should be more avenues for community residents to talk to agencies either directly or through community based organizations
  • Fellowship has made the connection between issues clearer and provided necessary information and confidence to be an advocate at local community meetings

PPT: So based on this session and the last session, what are one or two things that you feel like you’ve learned so far?

In our last session I was able to walk through the neighborhood with a different perspective due to the attendance of Ms. Penny (who is in a wheelchair). And I thought that that was a very interesting perspective because some of the conditions for her – that will be ideal or similar to what we would want for our children and for seniors – a smooth walkway, right? Just imagine a mom with her baby and like they’re just learning to walk. So while neither of those residents are technically in a wheelchair, you would want similar conditions because they don’t have the capacity, like the mom or myself, to just be aware of a ditch or just be aware of the uneven paved ways. Even as far as the lighting –  just kind of having enough lighting so that you can identify that. And so I learned to kind of look at things in a different perspective, even though I am more mobile. Although I can navigate through them, that doesn’t mean that I should. So it got me to consider what hasn’t been done. And to not just pacify it with my ability to get around it. 

PPT: Yeah. So you’re able but not everyone is. 

Fellow: And then there’s also just the component of like because I am able but I know that there are requirements for set things to be in place. If it were already existing, we wouldn’t have to go and do these additional steps for a shelter house, right? If the curb and the sidewalk were already level, if they were already taken care of, we wouldn’t have to wait for the city to do that part for Port Authority to do their part.

PPT: And what about today? 

Fellow: The maps (about Zoning) were really interesting and I was able to hear group perspectives because I just happen to be a little more exposed to zoning due to my personal projects. And so while my project, I believe, serves the community it was just interesting to see how when you are in a collective or community setting, what you are visually looking at and considering for, you know, needs and access for the community. So the zoning of our neighborhood and why there are certain structures and businesses – why they are that way and having an idea or more understanding as to why I was experiencing what I was experiencing. So with our vacant lot being in a residential area, and wanting to do this project having to zone as commercial, there aren’t any other commercial projects. So it was harder for me because there comparatively isn’t anything. So maybe in the future maybe it’s a little easier for someone. Now, to be able to have a project that might serve the community but has this kind of commercial aspect to it where they can compare Soil Sisters is doing this and they are zoned as … and they’ve, you know, maybe be some data to say like what’s happened since then. So what I learned today was that we are in our neighborhood and we are aware of what’s around us, but because it is like our backyard, we don’t really question the why, or think about what we could be limiting for the future.

PPT: In the future, we’ll have good transit in some places and not-so-good Transit in other places. When you were looking at the maps, did you notice some places that maybe had good Transit, but didn’t have the necessary businesses, or residential areas.

Fellow: Yeah. We have for instance –  St. Clair, Knoxville, Mount Oliver area, it’s high density residential, but there isn’t really any public transportation. I feel like it would be easy for residents to say, “oh well, the streets are so small and everybody parks on both sides of the street and so on.” But when we look at some of the mapping, there aren’t any business districts. There’s no “Local neighborhood commercial” like there isn’t any of that – even a small strip of it. Arlington Avenue has a very small strip that I know that there are corner stores there, but I don’t think that they’re zoned as anything because they’re so small. But could, if they were zoned properly or re-zoned differently, that might change what the transportation looks like. 

PPT: I feel like you’re speaking to this mismatch. What do you think PRT is missing as far as when they’re making those planning decisions when it comes to the hilltop?

Fellow: When Charnell and I were just kind of talking about our upbringing, when our parents were telling us how we are to prepare to be adults and it’s like, go to school and move somewhere. And I think when they were saying somewhere, they were saying suburban areas. What I think happened is that some of that did take place but then we have a kind of Circle back. And now realizing that some of the zoning for our neighborhood has contributed to the lack. And so when we see Community centers, or spaces that have community spaces and residential components, it’s like, we wouldn’t be able to do that here because we’re not zoned that way.

I don’t know if it’s even City and state agencies, or if it’s just Local organizations that are able to organize and be able to share information in a way that helps residents to be prepared for those conversations when they happen. Port Authority was having a campaign about South Hills Junctions and about TOD (Transit Oriented Development) and by the time I got abreast to it, it closed. And I’m just like, well, wait a minute! When did this happen? I saw these QR codes going up on poles and by the time I scanned it, it was over. When did they post this?

I know that we have a community registered organization and so it’s their job or a part of what these Community meetings to have these topics on the agenda. As a neighborhood as far as sharing out dates, times , agendas and things of that nature. It’s twofold. I found it interesting that DOMI (Dept. of Mobility and Infrastructure) doesn’t have an annual inspection that overlaps with public service – whether that be the transportation or trash. How often do you put a public trash can there and aside from trash being picked up, when do we consider if this needs to be replaced or if it just should be smaller. So it’s hard to say who should be doing that, but I think that there is definitely room for more conversations with more organizations and community residents. 

PPT: I think that’s a really good point in terms of talking about the ecosystem of things.Because it’s all connected in terms of who gets word of local developments, and that impacts what the outcomes are. 

Fellow: Because if we were able to dumb down some of the transportation information to our youth, who are looking for jobs, who are looking for places to go on weekends and we said, “oh well what do you take outside of school? The 46 is about to stop running. What do you think about that?” I think you would easily get more kids coming to the conversation if they knew that, that’s what’s at stake. But I don’t think we have verbiage or flyers or anything that speaks to that demographic, to make it important. But we have made it so that our seniors who can’t access some of the high rises or can’t get to free food distributions – There’s a lot of push around that because obviously we cherish them, they’re making this information available and who we’re making it available to.

PPT: That brings us to advocacy – What do you think is missing or how would you get more people in this conversation? What would people need to know to be able to Advocate for Transit related issues? 

Fellow: People would need to know that organizations like PPT exist because like I I just found out probably in the last 12 months.

And I think understanding that there are no biases for the group – it’s really about the access to information. And so having this Fellowship is a start to bridging that gap. It’s using my storefront as a billboard for information. I’m right across the street from a bus stop, school bus stop, all sorts of intersections. So,I know that I’m able to highlight information and things of that nature just from that standpoint. And then taking it a step further by being in those community meetings, that I know are happening and just kind of being that advocate. I’ve been in this Fellowship and now I know these sorts of things that are happening. I’ve even been really excited about the completion of this fellowship so that there is something to be able to present and be able to say “okay well this is who you can talk to and this is where you can look at these maps. And this is where all of this connects” and continue the conversation in a more hyper focused way.

PPT: We love that you’re excited about that because it is such a big part of the fellowship is getting all of you in front of staff and representatives of government. 

Fellow: For me, it’s like one of those things we’re speaking to the things happening in South Hills Junction, right. I felt like that conversation happened before I could add input to it. Even if I were brought to the table at that time, I was ill-prepared for what was going to be presented. Now I’m better prepared to offer input because of the broader exposure to things ahead. While I can come and advocate for more buses to come up Warrington Avenue because my business is up there, it doesn’t do much of a service if I’m not also mentioning how there’s kids at the bottom of the hill who are also getting off of a school bus and need to commute from there, because Brashear doesn’t have Public transport. Now I’m recognizing that those are part of the same issue and that they both need advocacy at the table.

Interview with fellow #4 during the middle sessions of the fellowship about Service quality and Allegheny Go

Takeaways:

  • Inefficient and infrequent bus scheduling, particularly around school start times, creates major daily hurdles for students and commuters alike.
  • While programs like AlleghenyGo are a valuable and cost-saving asset for riders, poor communication and a lack of real-time updates from transit authorities remain critical blind spots.
  • Advocacy for improved service should start with community meetings to gather consensus on key issues, such as adding shuttle routes or adjusting schedules to reduce overcrowding
  • There is a stark disconnect between local development efforts and transit planning, as improved housing isn’t supported by reliable public transportation for new residents.

PPT: What are maybe one or two things that you feel have been new to you that you’re learning or thinking about? 

Fellow: All the infrastructure and DOMI (Dept of Mobility and Infrastructure) stuff we learned about with the measurements for the bus shelters. You ride buses for years, just going from point A to point B, you’re not thinking about all the stuff that goes into providing bus service. I’m sure I’m one of many complaints, “Oh my God. Why are they doing this? And why are they doing that?” Yes, there’s defects and there’s also reasons why certain things are in place. My eyes are more open to things out there and also just looking at the daily struggles that everyone has.

PPT: We were talking about fair fares and cash fares and connect cards and the Allegheny Go program. How has your experience with these things changed over the last few years? 

Fellow: It’s changed a lot. If I had to go like, pre-COVID, the bus situation with it being so extra crowded with that pilot thing they did with the Baldwin connector – that was a big deal because I was still fully in the office, commuting to work and that was a big inconvenience in the morning, because we got just so many people bunched together, and they had already taken the one bus and we only had two buses in one hour. We had probably like 30% more people, if not more. That was a big struggle over the last five years or so. Compared to now I don’t take the bus a lot because I am fully remote. So my bus trips are few and far between. So it’s not a big deal to me, as far as infrequent service goes. But my kids go to high school downtown. So I hate that for them because it’s a daily thing where even though we live right near a bus line, the fact that you have to walk down to South Hills Junction, that’s another 10 minutes out of your way because they know you’ll get downtown a half hour earlier. I hate that because we live so close to town, that’s a big thing. They’re trying to sell all these houses that they’re rehabbing for the last five years and those are all great selling points, but is PRT involved in this? Because we still have all these crappy bus schedules for the 44 that they keep threatening to take away. How are they getting into the city unless they’re driving? They’re paying all these extra parking fares downtown. So that just doesn’t add up for me. 

But as far as the positive things, the addition of AlleghenyGo is amazing. Because whenever she was mentioning about coming out to the holiday party and it being in Wilkinsburg, normally I’d be like, “Oh my gosh, that’s a hike. That’s a very expensive Uber ride.” But with AlleghenyGo, that’s two buses for me, which is like a third of the cost of an Uber. I used to take Ubers all the time, but now with AlleghenyGo in place, I can actually get two or three things and get a half-fare ride, and that’s much cheaper than two Ubers. I’ve been doing more of that so it’s been a huge, huge convenience, I think it’s great. I’m glad they added it. I’m not even disappointed that it’s not fully free. Half fare is still amazing. 

PPT: You also talked about the time cost of your sons going to high school. You said they’d rather walk 10 minutes because then they would get downtown half an hour earlier, right? Can you say a little bit more about that? 

Fellow: Yeah so they go to city high downtown. They start school at 8 A.M and he likes to be on time but early so he leaves the house around 6:45am. I thought he was catching the bus. But I learned that he walks to the Junction to get down there by about 7:15. There used to be three buses in an hour, but now there’s just two: the 7:20 and the 7:48. He could catch the 7:20 and still get down there on time, but he’d rather walk to the T Station than wait for the 7:48. Once you miss that 7:20, you’re stuck. Those times are just so awkward. It feels like the bus schedule isn’t designed for people with normal things to do.

PPT: Yeah, this is a great point. Yeah. And brings us to our third question of what is PRT missing like they have these blind spots, right?

Fellow: The biggest issue is the bus scheduling. I know not every bus schedule should be perfectly cohesive with everything else, but for this particular area, we’re so close to town. There are three high schools right here. Why aren’t the buses more conducive to their schedules when they all start at 8 A.M.? There have been complaints to Port Authority for years. I don’t know if they ever had an arrangement. When I was in high school, we had the advantage of free bus passes. I don’t know what happened with that. You’d think they would at least make the schedule more accommodating for the kids. They can’t accommodate every single person’s work schedule, but the kids—that should be a priority.

A lot of work also starts at 8 or 9 A.M., right on the hour. For twenty years, when I worked in town, I always wanted to start earlier. I couldn’t, because the bus schedule said no. I had to get the kids on their bus. If I wanted to start at eight, I couldn’t take the 7:20; I had to get on the 7:48. And if I was late for that, forget it. You’re just late. That’s your only option. I could walk to the station too, but I’m not walking as fast as my son. It’s a 15-minute walk from my house, and if the weather is bad, forget it. That’s why Uber has been such a great addition for convenience, especially in this weather. I’m not going to fuss with the bus in the cold.

Another blind spot is notification. I remember when I was younger, in high school, if a bus broke down, they sent another one out. There used to be a real Port Authority backup. You could trust that a replacement would come. Now, you get no notification. You just stand there blindly and freeze. I still remember when they first changed the downtown route for the 44 bus—it used to be the 46K. It used to come down Smithfield a different way; it never did that Pennsylvania Avenue layover before. When they changed it, they didn’t mark or promote it. My cousin and I both worked downtown, and there was a big country concert in town. I left from working at the Marriott across from the arena, went down to Wood Street, and we froze waiting for over two hours. There was no notification. We could see buses going another way, but we had no idea why until we found out the route had changed. It was terrible. We didn’t want to bother our moms to come get us, so we just waited. Why don’t they do proper notifications?

Now we have all these apps. Why isn’t there a way to flag, “Hey, this bus broke down”? You don’t need the exact location or reason, just the notification that it happened.

The notification blind spot is real. Two years ago, her dad and I were on a bus. I was pregnant with my daughter. A man on the bus had a seizure. It was horrible. Her dad recognized what was happening and helped him. That bus was out of service for a half hour to the point where I got off and my mom came to get me so I wouldn’t have to walk up the hill. No one on that bus was notified of the delay. They had no idea why the bus wasn’t coming. There has to be something they could put in place. Why isn’t that a thought?

PPT: So if you and your neighbors (like the other fellows), wanted to come together to make changes to improve transit, how would you go about doing it? What do you think is the most important first step and what would people need to get on board?

Fellow: I would say getting together at a community meeting and gathering data is important. Find out what changes everyone wants to see.

Like that meeting I mentioned—the Neighborhood Reinvestment group—it ended up being very good. They talked about the houses being rehabbed in the neighborhood and different updates that homeowners can look forward to, or resources we could be utilizing that I wasn’t even aware of. It was very interesting.

That’s exactly the type of meeting that could build awareness for something like this.

PPT: What do you feel you need to see in terms of data collection? When you talk about capturing what people are interested in, is it more about gathering opinions, getting a consensus… or what are you thinking?

Fellow: They need better routes. People think we need more routes. Maybe even a second bus. I don’t necessarily think we need two full-sized buses, but Mount Washington has two buses, and one comes closer to us than the other—though still not very close. It’s a different route. So maybe a second bus, or a shuttle.

A shuttle makes sense because we also have a lot of high school kids on the buses, which sometimes interferes with other people getting back and forth, especially now that more people are back in the office full-time. I feel like a second bus or a dedicated shuttle would help, along with better connection times for all the buses. They should definitely consider the high school schedules.

Do I think high school kids would be interested in advocacy? Yes, because they work too, and it would be a big advantage for them. With things like AlleghenyGo, I’m sure a lot of them aren’t even aware of the program. My son, for example—I have AlleghenyGo, but they never sent a link for his account, so he can’t use it properly. I still have to look into that. He doesn’t get a school bus pass anymore since he graduated, so he pays on his own. Luckily, he works on the North Shore and takes the trolley back and forth.

But he’s probably one of many. He works with about three other kids in high school, and they would all benefit. Having more flexibility with discount rates, or just being able to get back and forth quickly, would really help them.