For most of my life, driving was synonymous with freedom. Being able to travel wherever, whenever felt like the definition of independence. But not all that glitters is gold, and between the rising gas prices, rush hour traffic and having to spend a good half hour circling downtown Pittsburgh looking for parking that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, that sense of freedom started to feel more like a cage.
Street parking in Pittsburgh is rare, and when you do find it, you’ll likely be paying up to four dollars an hour for the privilege of parallel parking. Parking garages aren’t much better. Market Square Garage, one of the cheaper options, charges ten dollars for the first hour, while private lots hike prices upwards of fifty dollars or more if there’s an event going on. It was through these frustrations that I realized there had to be a better way.
That’s when, maybe through divine intervention, I discovered the New Castle Area Transit Authority (NCATA). Pennsylvania spends over $1.5 billion annually on public transportation, ranking fourth in the nation for direct support. That investment allows smaller cities like Butler and New Castle to have surprisingly elaborate bus networks that they wouldn’t have if they were in, say, Ohio. Slippery Rock, though technically in Butler County, is served by Route 81 of the NCATA. The line runs west to east along State Route 108 from the NCATA garage in New Castle to Iron Mountain in Boyers. Once you arrive in New Castle, connecting routes can take you to Ellwood City, Sharon and even Pittsburgh.
To be fair, Route 81’s tight schedule makes it tricky to reach Pittsburgh entirely by bus from Slippery Rock. That’s where the tiny borough of Portersville comes in handy. Fourteen miles from campus sits the Portersville Park-N-Ride, where you can leave your car in a well-lit parking lot for free and catch the connecting Route 71 bus to Pittsburgh. Unlike Route 81, Route 71 runs frequently, which explains, much to my chagrin, why the lot is always busy. After one quick stop in Evans City, you’re Pittsburgh-bound, dropped off at either Rivers Casino or the PRT East Busway downtown.
From there, the world, or more practically speaking, Western Pennsylvania, is your oyster. Connecting buses can take you from Greensburg, Uniontown, Washington and beyond. A round trip to Pittsburgh on the bus costs just eight dollars, less than a single hour in most garages.
The bus gets an unfair reputation as slow, inconvenient or the option for people with no other choice. But isn’t travel about experience and the connections you make? On the bus, you meet people, see your community with new eyes and help the planet in the process. One bus carrying twenty people is much better than twenty individual cars jamming up traffic and polluting the air.
As it is often said, it’s not about the destination, but rather the journey that matters.
