PITTSBURGH — Restaurants and baseball parks aren’t the only ones returning to full capacity this summer. After a year of struggles, hardships and tough decisions brought on by the pandemic, tour buses are welcoming back visitors and others looking to learn about Pittsburgh from a seat on the top deck.
Since opening in April, The Pittsburgh Tour Co. has been seeing a steady increase in passengers who want to ride its red double-decker buses that cruise through the city’s streets. Co-owner Vince LaMonica said that the open seats on top give people greater peace of mind.
“People feel better about the fact that they’re not in the same space,” breathing the same air, he said.
Among the passengers breathing a little easier on a recent excursion were former Pittsburgher Cathy McKinley and her two grandchildren. McKinley, who now lives in Suttons Bay, Michigan, said she liked that they could hop on and off at any of the 21 stops.
“It's like the perfect situation for anybody who visits Pittsburgh,” she said. “It makes more sense to use this rather than use our car and drive around and try to park.”
Pittsburgh Tours’ season usually starts in mid-April and ends in October. Last year, LaMonica said that he and his wife and co-owner, Manon, were forced by the pandemic to push back the start to July 4. They figured the holiday would attract people looking to tour the city, but it didn’t work out that way.
For the next three weeks, they had very few passengers willing to risk COVID-19 even on an open-air bus, he said. Strict adherence to distancing, reduced capacity and other health regulations did not help.
“The bus was empty. There were no travelers,” he said.
Their season was over by early August. They figured it would cost them less money to close than to continue offering tours on nearly empty buses.
While LaMonica said it made financial sense to stop running, it was still a difficult decision. They still had to pay for insurance and other fixed costs, and their employees also suffered. Many of the drivers and other employees had to file for unemployment when the company decided to close prematurely, he said.
Though restaurants, bars and other hospitality businesses received government grants and other breaks to stay afloat during the pandemic, “there was no help” for tourism companies like his, LaMonica said. He estimated that 95% of his customers are out-of-town visitors.
He said things are starting to look up as vaccinated Americans begin to travel again, noting that his employees have all had COVID-19 shots.
“I have high hopes for this year,” LaMonica said. “Maybe I’m just being hopeful. That’s all we can do.”
He expects that this summer will be filled with people traveling to places they had planned to visit before the coronavirus shutdown. Some families that normally take one summer vacation will take two this year, he predicted. He’s seeing a surge in business with passengers falling into distinct groups.
“The first travelers we saw were mostly seniors.”
He said many of them had just gotten vaccinated and wanted to get out to travel again. The next batch of passengers were families with children, followed by students who were done with classes and ready to travel, LaMonica said.
Donna and Lee Ridenour of Tyler, Texas, said they didn’t feel comfortable getting on an airplane when COVID-19 cases were high. Now that the couple is vaccinated, they’re ready to visit cities they have never seen before. They were enjoying a tour of downtown on Wednesday.
“We were ready to come, and it was fun to think we're going to conquer a new city like Pittsburgh,” she said.
The bus tours give an insightful glimpse into Pittsburgh’s history, culture and architecture. Tour guides for The Pittsburgh Tour Co. spend the 2½-hour ride pointing out features that can only be seen and experienced in Pittsburgh, including the Fred Rogers statue on the North Shore, the old Heinz factory on the North Side and the original Primanti Bros. sandwich shop in the Strip District.
McKinley, who moved away from Pittsburgh 20 years ago, is glad she returned this year. While the city was becoming a beautiful place then, it’s “so much more mature,” she said.
“It's a much better town. I would love to move back. Someday I will.”
