'Destructive, disgusting' acts force Pittsburgh Regional Transit to alter fare vending machine hours

Pittsburgh Regional Transit on Tuesday announced that the fare vending machines at its Downtown Service Center will be closed outside of regular weekday business hours because of problematic behavior at the site.

Starting Wednesday, the fare vending machines at the Downtown Service Center at 623 Smithfield St. will be open only from 7:30 a.m. till 5 p.m. on weekdays, the agency said in a social media post.

Outside of those hours, Pittsburgh Regional Transit authorities pointed to fare vending machines at Wood Street Station and Steel Plaza Station as nearby alternatives.

This comes after months of problematic incidents the authority described as “destructive, disgusting and dangerous.”

People have defecated in the vestibule, and drug paraphernalia was found there on multiple occasions, said Adam Brandolph, a Pittsburgh Regional Transit spokesman.

“This came to a head this morning when it was discovered that someone had defecated in the vestibule and smeared it all over the windows,” he told the Tribune-Review Tuesday.

Due to repeated destructive, disgusting, and dangerous behavior, beginning TOMORROW - Wednesday, December 21 - access to the fare vending machines at the Downtown Service Center will be open only during business hours, weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

— Pittsburgh Regional Transit (@PGHtransit) December 20, 2022

Brandolph said there haven’t been similar issues at other nearby sites such as Wood Street Station or Steel Plaza Station.

“For security reasons, I won’t get into what measures we have in place at Wood Street Station or Steel Plaza Station to help prevent such behavior, but I can say that there are surveillance cameras and other reasons why this behavior does not occur there,” he said.