America’s Sorriest Bus Stop: Omaha vs. Munhall

5:27 PM EDT on September 12, 2017

The last slot in the Final Four of Streetsblog's annual Sorriest Bus Stop in America tournament is up for grabs today as Omaha takes on the Pittsburgh suburb of Munhall.

Seattle and Chapel Hill have secured spots in the third round. Voting remains open today in the match between Pittsburgh and Englewood.

Read on and vote for the sorriest.

Omaha

This stop, at 96th and W. Dodge Road, was nominated by Chris Goodman and beat a St. Louis bus stop in the first round. Goodman explains:

As you can see from the photo, the stop has no infrastructure at all aside from a sign. There's no sidewalk on 96th Street at all and this particular intersection marks where W. Dodge turns into a 4 lane, divided highway.

As we noted in the first round, to get to or from the bus, someone making a roundtrip has to dash across all those lanes of fast-moving traffic at some point.

Agencies responsible: Omaha Metro, Nebraska DOT.

Munhall, Pennsylvania

This stop outside Pittsburgh, nominated by author and historian of urban automotive history Peter Norton, beat a stop in Indianapolis handily in the first round. In the comments, one woman said she and her husband catch the bus here to get to medical appointments, and that she's been struck by a driver at this stop.

Competing in the Sorriest Bus Stop tourney also got the attention of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Report Julian Routh, described the stop this way:

One foot forward, and there’s the high-speed traffic of Route 837. One step back, and there’s a 20-foot sloped hill leading to railroad tracks. There’s no bench, it’s littered with trash and the only place to stand is on a 2-foot-by-2-foot gravel patch.

Routh's story sheds some light on why bad bus stops persist: No one wants to take responsibility. The Munhall authorities pointed fingers at the transit agency, and the transit agency pointed fingers at the Munhall authorities. Without mutual agreement between government agencies on a framework to improve bus stops in Munhall, waiting conditions for bus riders aren't going to get better.

Agencies responsible: Borough of Munhall, Port Authority of Allegheny County.

Angie Schmitt

Angie is a Cleveland-based writer with a background in planning and newspaper reporting. She has been writing about cities for Streetsblog for six years.