Coffeeneuring 2025

 For the first time in many years, I completed the Coffeeneuring challenge. First, some explanation is necessary. There is a thing called randonneuring, the idea of jumping on a bicycle and riding an enormous distance, often 100 or more miles. I don't do that. I think the longest I've ever ridden in a day is 65 miles, and I've ridden on the high side of 50 miles fewer times than I have fingers. 

Coffeeneuring is jumping on a bicycle and riding at least two miles in some direction with the specific purpose of getting a cup of coffee, or suitable alternative, but doing this in late October and November when many people stow the bike away for six months. Yeah it's getting cold and unpleasant out, so, like Freddy Mercury sang, get on your bike and ride!

My method, here in metro Pittsburgh, is not only to do that seven times in seven weeks (there are some rules but I'll spare the details now), but to try to get to seven different parts of Pittsburgh. I count at least eight: 

a - North of the Allegheny where it's flat
b - North up a hill or out in the suburbs
c - South of the Monongahela where it's flat
d - South up a hill or out in the suburbs
e - West of town, either West End or out in the suburbs
f - Between the rivers but west of the Blue Belt
g - East of the Blue Belt
h - A distant diagonal, past the McKees Rocks Bridge, the 62nd Street Bridge, or Homestead Bridge

To those ends, I made it to seven different destinations, though two were in the same general area as another two. To be fair to myself, two of these were relatively near my house, though the requisite two or more miles away. Anyway, here is a better rundown, and if I can swing it, I will include the photos showing that I was really there:

* Ride #1: Oct 20 - Eat'n Park, Waterfront (distant diagonal)

https://bsky.app/profile/bus15237.bsky.social/post/3m3n5jschgk2j

This was a 17-mile ride to participate in a march, followed by a 10-mile ride downtown, then two miles over to the North Side, then a 1.6-mile ride home from a bus ride.

* Ride #2: Oct 23 - 2 Frays Brewery (between the rivers)

https://bsky.app/profile/bus15237.bsky.social/post/3m3vfwyovbk2j

This ride commemorated a rider who was killed biking home 10 years earlier. We rode from her ghost bike to her house, then to a nearby brewery where I had a hard cider. From there, I then biked to the Subway restaurant in Millvale, where I had another beverage but do not recall if it was eligible. I did take the bike right into the restaurant, which was mostly empty, and ate dinner while I awaited the arrival of the next bus. Probably a good 10 miles, all told.

Correction; the original Facebook post said the Millvale Subway (north where it's flat), which is not incorrect but not where I took the photo or made the post or had the eligible beverage.

* Ride #3: Oct 31 - Cafe 412, West End (west of town)

https://bsky.app/profile/bus15237.bsky.social/post/3m4izhuy7gk2o

I rented a bike downtown and rode the roughly three miles out to South Main St in the West End, had a coffee and a nibbly, then rode it back downtown.

* Ride #4: Nov 1 - Over the Bar, North Park (north in the 'burbs)

https://bsky.app/profile/bus15237.bsky.social/post/3m4lclm26a22g

Home to the North Park Ice Rink to pick up my supplies to run my election precinct the following Tuesday. Stopped at OTB for lunch on the way back. Six or seven miles each direction.

* Ride #5: Nov 7 - Big Dog Café, South Side (south where it's flat)

https://bsky.app/profile/bus15237.bsky.social/post/3m52d2ztla22f

Another trip via rental bike. Downtown to South Side is about four miles each way. Might have been 10 miles total with various wiggles around the South Side, trying to figure out whether to return the bike while I made my coffee trip or not, since they charge by the hour. Decided it wasn't worth the bother, just let the meter run.

* Ride #6: Nov 13 - Eat'n Park, McKnight Rd southbound (dup of #4)

https://bsky.app/profile/bus15237.bsky.social/post/3m5jwjzgsf22y

There are two almost identical restaurants along McKnight that have co-existed for almost 50 years but this particular one is closing in a few weeks. Lunch and coffee.

* Ride #7: Nov 14 - Yinz Coffee, Bloomfield (dup of 2)

https://bsky.app/profile/bus15237.bsky.social/post/3m5mqnkteic23

https://bsky.app/profile/bus15237.bsky.social/post/3m5mqos4f3s23

On my way to Critical Mass. Biked to the bus (about a mile), then biked from downtown to Bloomfield (about three miles), then to CM (about a mile), then CM itself (about 10 miles), then biked downtown (another 3-4), then home from the bus (1.5). So, about 20 miles total.

So I almost hit seven different areas. I wanted to eat one more time at that Eat'n Park on McKnight that's closing in a couple weeks. I didn't get to south-up-a-hill or east-of-the-Blue-Belt so maybe I'll do those another year.

Photos to accompany each coffee trip are on my Bluesky at the links shown.

Background info on the Coffeeneuring Challenge: Coffeeneuring Challenge 2025: You’re Only 15 Once – Chasing Mailboxes

My comments at the P.R.T. Board meeting, September 26, 2025

 Good morning, members of the Board, Ms. Kelleman, elected officials and other dignitaries.

My name is Stuart Strickland, McCandless Township, and I speak only for myself, though I am the current Secretary of ACTC, the official citizens' advisory group to the P.R.T. Board.

I am here to help answer the question, what can YOU -- the Board -- do in this situation. I will not waste time on suggestions what Harrisburg should do, or asking you to do the impossible, or things that are out of your control. There are things that P.R.T. staff can do, and it's your job to help focus their efforts in that direction.

The Allegheny County Transit Council is your friend. Your sounding board. Your rider representatives, chosen by riders themselves. That is what we were legislated to provide and that's what we've been doing since its predecessor organization, TAP -- Transit Advocates and Patrons -- was formed in 1980.

Back in 1994, ACTC developed a 10-point plan for helping make transit service more desirable. Copies of this hung in the Board room at Manchester, and every operating division, for many years. It's worth re-stating it here:

What the Rider Expects

Every transit rider is entitled to expect:

1. To be treated like a paying customer whose business is important.

2. To receive pleasant, calm and patient service from all transit personnel.

3. To board a clean, trash-free, and appropriately heated or cooled vehicle, and have a seat if traveling a longer distance.

4. That the vehicle will stop, at the curb if possible, will be on time, and that the driver will check the area for additional riders before leaving.

5. To be driven safely, as smoothly as the road allows, and free of quick stops, lurching starts and hard turns.

6. To have a transit trip cost less than a similar trip by automobile, and not take significantly more time.

7. To have convenient access to readily understandable fare, scheduling and routing information.

8. To be able to tell when and where to board the vehicle, and figure out where it is going before boarding it.

9. That any changes to the schedule or routing will occur infrequently and be made with adequate advance notice.

10. To have complaints, concerns and suggestions accepted, acted upon promptly, and to be advised of the action(s) taken.

I know you cannot force Harrisburg's hand, but you and the staff can make the lot for the transit rider more attractive, despite all the gloom and doom from the public and hostile media.

I think it comes down to this: Listen to ACTC, do what's on that 10-point list, and be vocal about what you are doing well.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My testimony at the transit hearing, April 29 2025

Good morning Ms. Kelleman, members of the Board, elected officials and other dignitaries present.

I cannot be the only person in this situation. Yes, I have a reliable car, a clean license, and can afford to drive and pay to park downtown. But I don’t want to! Why should I be forced to part with $25 to $30/day just to keep my car close to my work? And be forced to get stuck in traffic both direction? That’s nuts.

Let me put it simply: I take the bus by choice. I do not want that choice removed.

35 years ago, I had four cars and put 60,000 miles on the fleet each year. But a temporary move made a transit commute possible, and I found I liked it. On our next permanent move in 1991, we chose to live near a bus line. In three short years, we retired three of those cars and lived with only one for the next 18 years. The money we saved not keeping multiple cars on the road allowed us to pay off the mortgage eight years early, paid for my Masters degree, allowed us to live on one moderate income, and we still became debt free by our 50s. All because I could use the transit system for over 90% of my travel needs.

In 1995 I was only making $36,000 a year. I don’t know what that is in today’s money but it sure isn’t six-digit territory! Using the bus saved my family $12K/year in today’s money, 18 years in a row. That $12K is triple-A’s estimate of what it costs to run a car for a year.

I want everyone to have the same opportunities I had! I ask everyone here, what would you do with an extra $12K/year? Pay off debt? Get out from under that college loan or that second mortgage? Go back to school? Take a vacation? Start a business? My wife and I not only paid off the mortgage early, we also put both our kids through college. Further still, not keeping two/three/four cars running helped us keep the one older car running longer, so we were able to put off its replacement by five years, then pay cash in full when we did replace it.

In short, transit is not a government handout for the poor. For those of us a little higher on the ladder, it meant major quality of life improvements, all because I chose to use transit.

To reiterate:

·       I do not want only to avoid these cuts.
·       I also want the 2011 cuts reversed.
·       I also want the 2007 cuts reversed.
·       I also want the 2002 cuts reversed

SO THAT everyone can have the same opportunities that I had!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.