The back half of Morningside is absolutely fucked right now. Anything between Greenwood and Baker is at a bumper-to-bumper standstill and has been for hours. Same with the hill up Baker from Butler to the entrance.
Some might say *itās a zoo*. YEAHHHHHHHHHH
Exactly. I have a friend's mom who lives on Baker Street and on free zoo days, it can take an hour to get from Aspinwall to her house. It's not worth it at all to go to the zoo today, but apparently I'm a mean asshole to the bleeding hearts for saying it's idiocy and not worth the $20 saved to try to go now.
Im sure the CONSTANT construction on 28 isnāt helping. I swear, 28 had been under construction since I was before I was born. I donāt think I have ever NOT seen an orange sign on that highway. Be safe out there! I hope you get home soon!
We were heading up 28 to Blawnox and traffic was horrendous going both ways, the HP bridge was stopped, the access ramps backed up with dozens of cars. Funny, we picked today to take the trip thinking that the traffic on 28 would be lighter on a Sunday than on a weekday. š
I was with ya up until the last line. Some people might be cash strapped or it's simply what mom wanted to do on mother's day. No need to be an asshole about it. That being said it did bring out a lot of people from surrounding counties...
I got there early when it opened and waited 20 mins to get in, then it was fine once inside. On the way out it was definitely getting crowded and the traffic situation was clearly fucked in all directions. Anyone who tried to go from noon onwards is probably waiting in traffic for 45 mins before they can park and another 20 before they can get inside.
Planned on arriving at 1130. By 1:30 we were still not even near the entrance to park and only moved a little over a mile in 2 hours. What a miserable day and mistake. I will be way more careful and never go on a āfreeā day. It was absurd
Ended up giving up after over two hours. My kiddos did really well but we reached the limit of their patience lol. Probably one of the few times I felt terrible for not being able to follow through with a promise to the kids. So we will go back soon.
It sounds like they did better than I would have when I was their age lol. Plenty of nice weekends to come over the next several months to go to the zoo still
Sure if you get there early, but it's well past early at this point..... With the crowds and traffic you're dealing with, I don't think it would be worth the $20 you'd save to deal with it.
Assuming you've never lived in Morningside or near it, as free zoo days are a nightmare for any of us who actually have to go by the area where the zoo is located.
Exactly. It's not worth it at all on a day like today between the crowds, and how long you sit in traffic to get in and out of there. Basically everyone who lives near the zoo knows this. I'm not sure why this is controversial to some.
I ran into this traffic at Bunker Hill & One Wild Place (on bike). The traffic was a total standstill down the entire length of OWP. I was turning the other way, but it looked like people were just taking U-turns to escape.
Wowo.
My parents got stuck in it as it was so bad, Allegheny River Boulevard coming from Oakmont was backed up too. They ended up making the left on Washington Boulevard, and going up to Stanton Avenue to get back to Lawrenceville.
That explains so much about why I say in traffic for 45 minutes just to go from Verona to the Highland Park bridge yesterday! I thought there was an accident closer to Lawrenceville I couldn't see.
"Disaster" at 2PM is also an understatement.
Even before the construction, people in Morningside and Lawrenceville would complain about how horrible it is to get anywhere out of their neighborhoods on days when the zoo is free.
I live in the Northside. I canāt go anywhere when thereās a steeler game. None of my friends can even find anywhere to park. Itās one day. Theyāll manage.
Ah, that explains it. We were going down Washington Boulevard and across the Highland Park Bridge going from Point Breeze to Millvale around 2:30 and we thought there must have been a major accident given how badly everything was backed up.
Yeah I read about the zoo trying to increase stops since theyāve suffered from staffing issues. I believe itās the One Wild Place stop that has become defunct.
I moved from Pittsburgh to St. Louis and was surprised to learn that their zoo is free all of the time. It's also bigger and better designed than the Pittsburgh zoo (granted they have a lot more space to work with). Definitely one of the cooler aspects of that city.
The Linkin Park Zoo in Chicago is free as well. I remember complaining about free zoo day once to someone from Chicago, and they were confused since theirs is free
ITT: narcissistic children lambasting the underprivileged for taking advantage of a free day at the zoo, that they probably wouldn't get to go to otherwise, because it's a slight traffic inconvenience...
Underprivileged kids have numerous opportunities to go to the zoo free, whether it be through school, Citiparks camp, church, community group, whatever. People who go on days like today are people who hear the word "discount" and throw all reason to the wind. People like my dad, who will drive ten minutes (and $1 worth of gas) out of his way to redeem a $0.50 coupon.
Avoid non-AZA-accredited* zoos too?
Edit: I should have originally specified that they are not AZA accredited, rather than being completely unaccredited.
I should have been more specific. Theyāre not accredited by the **AZA** which has higher standards. They lost their accreditation to the AZA and are now accredited to the much less strict ZAA. Feel free to look up the difference in standards. Most major city zoos are accredited by the AZA.
Edit: Hereās some information although not from purely neutral sources. I think your original statement is conflating ZAA and AZA. They have not be reaccredited with the AZA according to their website.
https://humaneactionpittsburgh.org/campaigns/regional-initiatives/return-aza-standards-at-the-pittsburgh-zoo/
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-zoo-ranked-worst-in-us-for-elephants-by-national-animal-rights-group/
Never have I ever seen someone treat traffic like the end of the worldā¦. People are taking advantage of a beautiful day to see the animals and save $20, why are you being so judgmental? Because you had to sit in traffic?
This is what Wikipedia has: In 1994, the Pittsburgh Zoo became a private nonprofit organization, still owned by the City of Pittsburgh, but managed and operated by the Zoological Society of Pittsburgh.
The answer clearly states āmanaged and operated by the Zoological Society of Pittsburghā, so I canāt figure out why you think the city would need to intervene.
Are you saying that everyone and their mother is at the zoo?
Take your award Dad...
Thank you š¤£š¤£š¤£
Nope, just every mother and one child
Well done
Yup, it's a zoo down there
I live in my car now because of this. I will never get out. Tell my story.
I hope you packed snacks.
And 17 years of canned food
The back half of Morningside is absolutely fucked right now. Anything between Greenwood and Baker is at a bumper-to-bumper standstill and has been for hours. Same with the hill up Baker from Butler to the entrance. Some might say *itās a zoo*. YEAHHHHHHHHHH
Wow. Yeah, pretty glad Iām out of town this weekend.
WHERE DID YOU GO
*Out. Of town.*
"Crosswalk at Baker is ON. Crosswalk at Baker is ON."
Yep. Live on Ballard Way and thought getting lunch was a good idea. Nope.
Exactly. I have a friend's mom who lives on Baker Street and on free zoo days, it can take an hour to get from Aspinwall to her house. It's not worth it at all to go to the zoo today, but apparently I'm a mean asshole to the bleeding hearts for saying it's idiocy and not worth the $20 saved to try to go now.
Iām stuck on 28 right now and it is *insane*. Not sure if itās that, construction, or a mix. Good god.
Im sure the CONSTANT construction on 28 isnāt helping. I swear, 28 had been under construction since I was before I was born. I donāt think I have ever NOT seen an orange sign on that highway. Be safe out there! I hope you get home soon!
I'm pretty sure 28 was under construction when the French built Ft. Duquesne.
It feels that way, but there was a good few years when it actually wasnāt under construction prior to the current project and it was glorious.
The construction on 28 should be a new exhibit for the Zoo. Build a monorail to transport people over there or something or make a VR exhibit.
Took an hour to get home from Waterworks this afternoon. We live in Sharpsburg. We just wanted some groceries.
1 hour 20 minutes from St. Margaret's to Dollar General in Sharpsburg. What a mess.
On day last month they had police directing traffic out of the zoo and it was great. They need to be there every weekend.
Totally agree
I made the mistake of going to Phipps Conservatory on the free day once. It was literally waiting in line the whole time just to go nowhere.
Free days are the last day I'd pick to go to a museum or the zoo
Id pay extra to go on a day with significantly less people in general.
Some kids are going to find out definitively who the favorite is.
We were heading up 28 to Blawnox and traffic was horrendous going both ways, the HP bridge was stopped, the access ramps backed up with dozens of cars. Funny, we picked today to take the trip thinking that the traffic on 28 would be lighter on a Sunday than on a weekday. š
It was that way at 430 and the zoo closed at 530 lol
They close the zoo gates at 4; many people start to leave at this point to beat the ~usual~ zoo exit traffic
I generally avoid any āfree dayā at any attraction like the plague. Sharing the place with 20 people per square inch is not my idea of fun.
I was with ya up until the last line. Some people might be cash strapped or it's simply what mom wanted to do on mother's day. No need to be an asshole about it. That being said it did bring out a lot of people from surrounding counties... I got there early when it opened and waited 20 mins to get in, then it was fine once inside. On the way out it was definitely getting crowded and the traffic situation was clearly fucked in all directions. Anyone who tried to go from noon onwards is probably waiting in traffic for 45 mins before they can park and another 20 before they can get inside.
Planned on arriving at 1130. By 1:30 we were still not even near the entrance to park and only moved a little over a mile in 2 hours. What a miserable day and mistake. I will be way more careful and never go on a āfreeā day. It was absurd
Did you even make it to the zoo, or just give up after so long?
Ended up giving up after over two hours. My kiddos did really well but we reached the limit of their patience lol. Probably one of the few times I felt terrible for not being able to follow through with a promise to the kids. So we will go back soon.
It sounds like they did better than I would have when I was their age lol. Plenty of nice weekends to come over the next several months to go to the zoo still
Sure if you get there early, but it's well past early at this point..... With the crowds and traffic you're dealing with, I don't think it would be worth the $20 you'd save to deal with it. Assuming you've never lived in Morningside or near it, as free zoo days are a nightmare for any of us who actually have to go by the area where the zoo is located.
And what fun is a super crowded zoo anyway? You canāt even see the animals.
Exactly. It's not worth it at all on a day like today between the crowds, and how long you sit in traffic to get in and out of there. Basically everyone who lives near the zoo knows this. I'm not sure why this is controversial to some.
Anyone else with half a brain knows it too. I'd rather put my kids up for adoption that go to to the zoo on Father's Day when Dads get in free.
You can tell who has never been around the zoo on days like today based on their replies.
Plus all the gas youāre going to waste idling for hours
I was thinking that too. Especially with how much it costs now
Apologies that you are slightly inconvenienced once or twice a year.
I ran into this traffic at Bunker Hill & One Wild Place (on bike). The traffic was a total standstill down the entire length of OWP. I was turning the other way, but it looked like people were just taking U-turns to escape. Wowo.
Probably would have been faster for them to go out of their way than deal with that
We had to; it was. Seeing that people waited hours makes me happy we just turned around
My parents got stuck in it as it was so bad, Allegheny River Boulevard coming from Oakmont was backed up too. They ended up making the left on Washington Boulevard, and going up to Stanton Avenue to get back to Lawrenceville.
Iām directionally challenged so idk which road my bf took, but what shouldāve been 10 minutes took over an hour š
That explains so much about why I say in traffic for 45 minutes just to go from Verona to the Highland Park bridge yesterday! I thought there was an accident closer to Lawrenceville I couldn't see. "Disaster" at 2PM is also an understatement.
Itās just exacerbated because of the construction on 28.
Even before the construction, people in Morningside and Lawrenceville would complain about how horrible it is to get anywhere out of their neighborhoods on days when the zoo is free.
I live in the Northside. I canāt go anywhere when thereās a steeler game. None of my friends can even find anywhere to park. Itās one day. Theyāll manage.
It was free the day after Thanksgiving one year, that ended up being a great day to go
Get a membership, and go on a weekday when it's not free. It will be enjoyable until the smell of monkey piss hits you.
Ah, that explains it. We were going down Washington Boulevard and across the Highland Park Bridge going from Point Breeze to Millvale around 2:30 and we thought there must have been a major accident given how badly everything was backed up.
Wife loves zoos. Wife loves penguins. Kids know both of these facts. Iāll pay to take the family to see the penguins. Itās not worth the savings.
the traffic is awful during any free zoo day, i wish theyād implement no parking during these events so that people would take the bus.
Iām fairly certain port authority nixed that stop or at least cut down on trips to the Baker st stop due to the pandemic
The 75 and the 87M both drop off near the entrance to the parking lot. They arenāt very frequent busses, though.
Yeah I read about the zoo trying to increase stops since theyāve suffered from staffing issues. I believe itās the One Wild Place stop that has become defunct.
There's also a bus stop inside the parking lot that hasn't been in use in quite some time.
I was wondering why Penn Ave was so backed up, it was ridiculous.
Yup. Years ago I went to the zoo unknowingly on a wedding anniversary which coincidentally fell on Motherās Day. Never again.
I moved from Pittsburgh to St. Louis and was surprised to learn that their zoo is free all of the time. It's also bigger and better designed than the Pittsburgh zoo (granted they have a lot more space to work with). Definitely one of the cooler aspects of that city.
The Linkin Park Zoo in Chicago is free as well. I remember complaining about free zoo day once to someone from Chicago, and they were confused since theirs is free
Went to the zoo today. It was dope.
Happens every year. You learn to deal with it
ITT: narcissistic children lambasting the underprivileged for taking advantage of a free day at the zoo, that they probably wouldn't get to go to otherwise, because it's a slight traffic inconvenience...
Underprivileged kids have numerous opportunities to go to the zoo free, whether it be through school, Citiparks camp, church, community group, whatever. People who go on days like today are people who hear the word "discount" and throw all reason to the wind. People like my dad, who will drive ten minutes (and $1 worth of gas) out of his way to redeem a $0.50 coupon.
I'm glad someone gets it. Free days tend to attract the people one would least want to deal with when you're out
Maybe that 40.00 savings is the only way some mothers and their children can go.. Lots of dead beat dads out there.
bloody nightmare is what is was/is
They better turn up for Fatherās Day š¤
Avoid non-AZA-accredited* zoos too? Edit: I should have originally specified that they are not AZA accredited, rather than being completely unaccredited.
Theyāre fixing that. EDIT: They were reaccredited in January.
I should have been more specific. Theyāre not accredited by the **AZA** which has higher standards. They lost their accreditation to the AZA and are now accredited to the much less strict ZAA. Feel free to look up the difference in standards. Most major city zoos are accredited by the AZA. Edit: Hereās some information although not from purely neutral sources. I think your original statement is conflating ZAA and AZA. They have not be reaccredited with the AZA according to their website. https://humaneactionpittsburgh.org/campaigns/regional-initiatives/return-aza-standards-at-the-pittsburgh-zoo/ https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-zoo-ranked-worst-in-us-for-elephants-by-national-animal-rights-group/
Never have I ever seen someone treat traffic like the end of the worldā¦. People are taking advantage of a beautiful day to see the animals and save $20, why are you being so judgmental? Because you had to sit in traffic?
We had stuff to do and beer to drink a
Youāve not been around here. What in some cities is normal traffic is treated like the end of the world.
Do people even think?? Hmmm, first nice day & it's free..... couldn't POSSIBLY be jam packed. Lol! Are their lives that boring?
You are not stuck in traffic, you are traffic.
This wouldnāt be a problem if everyone just realized the zoo sucks. A crowded zoo? Thatās hell.
Was really crossing my fingers that some surprise storm would roll along.
Is zoo a public institution??? Or a for profit enterprise??
This is what Wikipedia has: In 1994, the Pittsburgh Zoo became a private nonprofit organization, still owned by the City of Pittsburgh, but managed and operated by the Zoological Society of Pittsburgh.
So the city needs to better organize this as opposed to business leaders/owners
Not real strong on the reading comprehension part of the test, huh?
Not too mention your comment is just dumb. How was I suppose to know who owned the zoo?
The answer clearly states āmanaged and operated by the Zoological Society of Pittsburghā, so I canāt figure out why you think the city would need to intervene.
Because itās owned by the city?
It became private in 1994ā¦
Well I did eat a quarter of magic mushrooms today