Text Size:
A|
A|
A
Email
PrintAnother wave of changes to Port Authority bus routes will occur Sunday, affecting about half of the system.
"This is the largest group of changes that we've made this year," authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said.
Nearly 80 of the system's 160-plus routes will change, with 15 routes eliminated. Other routes are being renumbered, relocated or have service frequency adjusted.
The changes are part of a two-year overhaul designed to make service more efficient. Other rounds of changes took effect in April and June.
PDFThe changes are unrelated to the authority's plan to cut service by 35 percent and raise fares in January unless the state Legislature resolves a statewide funding crisis and helps the agency fill a $47 million projected deficit in its 2010-11 budget.
"It's sort of an odd situation," Mr. Ritchie said. "On the one hand the hot topic right now is this very dark proposal to cut back service dramatically and increase fares in January. And we're continuing to follow through with route changes that are intended to improve our system and better pair demand across Allegheny County with service. So you have this upward movement and downward movement happening at the same time."
Indeed, many of Sunday's changes -- including added service on the West Busway and a new Lawrenceville-to-Oakland route -- would be erased if the January service cuts go into effect.
Among Sunday's revisions are restoration of one-bus service from the Carnegie park-n-ride lot through Downtown to Oakland, and elimination of an Oakland loop that added to travel times for West Busway commuters.
G2 West Busway-Oakland will be extended to serve the 215-space Carnegie lot, restoring service to Oakland without transfers. It, too, will pick up and discharge passengers at all busway stops.
In Oakland, G2 service will be discontinued on Bellefield, Forbes and Craft avenues. Instead of doubling back to the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway, buses will continue down Fifth Avenue to Downtown using the Boulevard of the Allies, Crosstown Boulevard and the Seventh Avenue ramp.
The changes were made after complaints from West Busway riders that an earlier round of changes caused longer travel times and overcrowding.
The G1 West Busway-All Stops route will be renamed G1 West Busway-Robinson. It will operate from the Mall at Robinson to Downtown via the West Busway between Bell and Sheraden stations. There will be no pickup or discharge restrictions at busway stops. The route will no longer serve the Carnegie park-n-ride lot.
Also on Sunday, boarding and alighting restrictions will resume on the 28X Airport Flyer and some other busway routes to keep seats available for long-haul riders.
The new 93 Lawrenceville-Oakland route will operate between the supermarket at 55th and Butler streets and Oakland via Butler, 40th Street, Penn Avenue, Main Street, the Bloomfield Bridge, Bigelow Boulevard, North Craig Street, Fifth Avenue and DeSoto and O'Hara streets. It will serve the new Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
A 125-space park-n-ride lot will open in South Fayette and be served by two bus routes.
The lot is at the former Star City Cinemas at Hickory Grade and Millers Run roads. Parking will be free. It will be served by a new 31 Bridgeville route (formerly 31D and 31E), which will run seven days a week between Downtown and the park-n-ride, using Millers Run Road and current 31D routing; and the G31 Bridgeville Flyer (formerly 33D and 33E), which will operate weekdays only via Millers Run Road and Route 50 to Carothers Avenue, Main Street and Mansfield Avenue to the West Busway.
The authority is adding trips to the Y1 Large Flyer, which operates between Jefferson Hills and Downtown via Route 51 and the South Busway, to relieve overcrowding.
The route will make 10 trips during the morning rush and 11 during the afternoon rush, operating about every 15 minutes. The old schedule had six trips in the morning and six in the afternoon, at 30-minute intervals.
Other routes are being renumbered, renamed and shortened to eliminate variations that drew low ridership.
The 1F Millvale route, for example, becomes 3 Millvale, and no longer goes north of Millvale Loop or to Allegheny Center and Washington's Landing.
The 36A Banksville becomes the 36 Banksville and no longer serves Upper St. Clair, Kirwan Heights, Bridgeville and Mayview State Hospital.
Routes being eliminated are: 13B Babcock Express, 13C Perry Highway Express, 13F West View Express, 18C Bellevue-Union Avenue Express, 29E Millers Run, 35A Baldwin-Whitehall, 43E Mount Washington Express and 46A Brentwood.
Also 67C Laketon Road, 77D Highland-Friendship, 77U Oakland-Penn Hills, 84A Herron Hill-Oakland, 84C Hill Loop, BR Brentwood Flyer and GC Garden City Flyer.
As with previous route changes, the authority has had trouble keeping up with demand for the revised paper schedules, Mr. Ritchie said.
"We fill [the boxes] up and they're emptied in a day or two," he said.
A guide to the route changes and the revised schedules are available at www.portauthority.org.
Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
