Port Authority will revise 26 bus routes Sunday in the second wave of service changes that ultimately will affect nearly every rider.
The authority also will add service on the West Busway, where the first round of route revisions on April 4 led to overcrowded buses and rider complaints.
Sunday also will bring slight adjustments to 22 bus and rail routes, part of the regular quarterly tweaking of transit service by the agency.
Then on Monday, an additional 24 bus routes will return to their regular Downtown corridors after being detoured by construction.
The authority is overhauling service throughout this year and next, eliminating little-used routes, adding service to popular destinations, trimming the number of variations on routes and renaming them.
Sunday's changes "are the latest moves that ultimately will help make Port Authority's route system more effective and productive," spokesman Jim Ritchie said.
Routes that will change Sunday are 6B Spring Hill (becomes 6 Spring Hill), 11E Fineview (becomes 11 Fineview), 13G Thompson Run Express (O5 Thompson Run Flyer), 13U North Hills-Oakland Express (O4 McKnight-Oakland Flyer), 16F City View (15 Charles), 28K Moon Express (G3 Moon Flyer), 41B Bower Hill (41 Bower Hill), 44U Mt. Lebanon-Oakland (42 Mt. Lebanon-Oakland), 46F Baldwin Highlands (Y49 Prospect Park Flyer), 46G Elizabeth (Y46 Elizabeth Flyer), 51A Arlington Heights (48 Arlington) and 51C Carrick (51 Carrick).
Also, 53F Homestead-Lincoln Place (53 Homestead Park and 53L Homestead Park Limited), 55M Century III Mall (55 Jefferson), 56B Hazelwood (57 Hazelwood), 56C McKeesport-Lincoln Place (56 Lincoln Place), 67A Monroeville (67 Monroeville), 67F Trafford (69 Trafford), 67H Squirrel Hill (65 Squirrel Hill), 68D Braddock Hills Express (P68 Braddock Hills Flyer and 68 Braddock Hills), 79D Mount Carmel (79 East Hills), 86A East Hills (86 Liberty), 86B Frankstown (88 Penn), E Elizabeth Flyer (Y1 Large Flyer), HP Holiday Park Flyer (P12 Holiday Park Flyer) and LP Lincoln Park Flyer (P17 Lincoln Park Flyer).
Schedules are available in racks at the Downtown subway stations and Port Authority's service center on Smithfield Street. Schedules can be viewed online at www.portauthority.org.
On the West Busway, the 28X Airport Flyer will serve all stops on its current route, eliminating restrictions on where passengers could board and exit along the busway. Stop restrictions also will be lifted for the G2 West Busway-Oakland route on the busway and in Oakland.
Six morning and six evening peak-hour weekday trips will be added to the G1 West Busway-All Stops route to alleviate crowding.
The busway also will be served by the new G3 Moon Flyer route (formerly 28K Moon Express). The G3 will pick up and discharge riders at all inbound busway stops between Bell and Sheraden; outbound service between Sheraden and Bell will be pickup only. The G3 will not serve the Carnegie park-n-ride station.
The latest changes won't address complaints from Carnegie park-n-ride users who lost direct service through Downtown to Oakland in the April revisions. They said their travel times grew from 35 minutes to more than an hour because of transfer times and other delays. The authority plans to restore direct service in September.
After Downtown street reopenings, 24 bus routes will return to their regular routes starting Monday.
These routes will return to Penn Avenue at Fifth Avenue Extension: 13C Perry Highway Express, 13F West View Express, 13J Franklin Park Express, 13K Marshall Express, 13X Ross Park-n-Ride.
Bus service on the following routes will return to inbound (westbound) Fifth Avenue: 19L Emsworth Limited, 51E Camp Hollow, 65 Squirrel Hill (formerly 67H), 67 Monroeville (formerly 67A), 67C Laketon Road, 67E Greensburg Pike, 67J Lincoln Highway, 68F Trafford Express, 68J Lincoln Highway Express.
Also, 69 Trafford (formerly 67F), 77A Oakmont, 77B Penn Hills, 78A Oakmont Express, 81A Oak Hill, 81B Lincoln, 81C Webster, EBS East Busway-Short, P7 McKeesport Flyer, P17 Lincoln Park Flyer (formerly LP).
Detoured Downtown routing on the 61 and 71 routes has become permanent, as reflected on those routes' current schedules, authority spokeswoman Heather Pharo said.
Also this weekend, about 45 bus routes will have detours because of Pride Week events that will close parts of Liberty Avenue, Downtown.
The earliest detours will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, with the longest detours lasting through end of service Sunday, Ms. Pharo said. Certain routes will be detoured only during Sunday's Pride Awareness March, scheduled for noon to 1 p.m.
Customer service is available at 412-442-2000 or for TTY, 412-231-7007.
First Published: June 11, 2010, 4:00 a.m.
