Christmas Shopping with PAT

As a Christmas present to myself, after a few hectic weeks of work, I took a personal day and went shopping- on the bus.

When I have the time, I relish holiday shopping. I hear "Silver Bells" ringing in my head, "as the shoppers rush home with their treasures." It feels like a privilege to buy gifts for the people(and animals) in my life. And I love visiting shops that I rarely get to other times of the year.

So I walked the few blocks from my house to Bloomfield to catch the 54C to the South Side. It let me off a couple of blocks from the Culture Shop, the Bead Mine(now closed!) and Eljay's Used Books. With a few of those treasures, and a coffee for me, I walked through the snow in the other direction several blocks to the South Side Works for more shopping at Sur la Table, Joseph Beth Booksellers, and Urban Outfitters. This time I skipped REI- the only person on my gift list for REI is me. And I had just a few minutes to catch the 59U from the South Side to Squirrel Hill.

My girlfriend helped me plan the route and schedule for the day- she is a wiz at transportation of all kinds, and has a memory for bus routes and schedules. She is somewhat dismayed(as am I) by the fact that her accumulated knowledge will soon be obsolete when PAT changes the bus names and routes in March.

As I waited for the bus at the stop(it turned out to be a little late), I chatted with a guy in town from Singapore, visiting family for the holidays. He was surprised that so few people were riding the buses. He was doing his shopping via PAT, too. We continued to talk as we got on the bus, and the driver joined in. He told us that the 59U would be discontinued in the new plan, and that it was a federal plan to make Pittsburgh conform to a more grid-like arrangement common in other cities. Right now PAT runs on a "spinal" plan, weaving in and out of neighborhoods on main routes. He also said that it costs PAT $9 a ride for each passenger, though they charge only $2.

I got off at Forbes and Murray in Squirrel Hill very hungry. Nostalgia pulled me into Eat N' Park for a grilled cheese sandwich. Then I continued on to Ten Thousand Villages, Barnes and Noble(also closing!), and the Pussycat. My plan was to get a bus to the North Side to finish up, but the cold and the grilled cheese finished me off first. And I had everything that I really needed. Just as I arrived at the bus stop, the 64A pulled up. Squirrel Hill to East Liberty, then one transfer to home by the 86B.

Four hours, four buses, two transfers, five presents and lots of cheer. A luxurious holiday shopping trip courtesy of PAT. Next stop Lawrenceville- on foot.

** In the interest of full disclosure, my mother was on vacation from work for the weeks of Christmas and New Year's, and loaned us her car from Christmas Eve until a few days after the holiday. Her generosity and a tank of gas made it much easier for us to navigate the usual multiple family obligations of the season in car-free-unfriendly Washington County.