One in an occasional series.

"Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor," wrote novelist and essayist James Baldwin. Decades later, that's still true: From paying more money every month in rent than you would for a mortgage to paying check-cashing fees because you don't have a bank account, it's still expensive to be poor. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is examining the high cost of poverty in a series of stories this year. 

The 59 Mon Valley bus winds its way on a Sunday through nearly a dozen Mon Valley municipalities, on an hours-long and twisting route through West Mifflin, Dravosburg, McKeesport, Duquesne, Homestead, Rankin and other boroughs, stopping at grocery stores, public housing complexes and two Walmarts.

Many riders on this route, which serves some the region’s most impoverished communities, carry grocery bags from shopping trips.

On a recent Sunday, many also pay their bus fares in cash, rather than using a ConnectCard, the plastic “smart” card Port Authority riders can use.

Because of a push by the Port Authority to encourage transit users to use the ConnectCard, those who pay cash — sometimes the most low-income riders — pay more money for the same service. ConnectCard riders pay $2.50 for a bus ride, those who pay their fare in cash pay $2.75.

When riders use ConnectCards, that reduces the time buses wait curbside, creating an efficiency for the system, Port Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said.

“We believe that efficiency is worth a 25-cent discount to riders who pay with a ConnectCard,” he said.

Read the full article at http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/03/19/poverty-pittsburgh-cash-fare-port-authority-connectcards-public-transit/stories/201803180010