Pittsburgh Regional Transit unveils potential Downtown bus routes

Instead of the Golden Triangle, picture Downtown Pittsburgh as a diamond with its points at Fort Pitt Boulevard and Liberty Avenue, following Smithfield Street and Ross and Stanwix streets, with Fifth Avenue as the connector. The axis point — some things never change — is at Fifth and Smithfield, the longtime meeting point under the former Kaufmann’s clock.

That diamond, or square, depending on how you look at it, is the starting point for two possible new scenarios for bus routes through Downtown Pittsburgh unveiled Monday by Pittsburgh Regional Transit. As the agency looks to simplify and reduce the 26 paths that buses currently follow through Downtown, its goal is to have each of the 84 routes that pass through the central business district touch some part of the diamond, so riders who have to transfer will have a short walk.

The agency will have open houses each day through Saturday at 625 Smithfield St., and online meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, to get public comment on the concepts. It expects to put the new routes in place by the end of the year.

Ellie Newman, PRT’s section manager for service development, said the project is an opportunity for the agency to consider “things that some people have asked about for a long time.” One scenario offers limited time and fewer stops in the Downtown area that would lead to longer walks, while the other would increase the time and stops Downtown to drop passengers closer to their destination.

Newman stressed that the final outcome could be a combination of the two concepts if riders think certain aspects of each would work better together.

“There are potential routings that would work in either scenario,” she said. “That’s why we want to see what people think is important.”

One constant in any scenario is the route for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit system between Downtown and Oakland, so all other routes will work around that, and some may share the dedicated lanes. The P3, 61A, B and C, and 71B routes will use exclusive lanes inbound on Fifth Avenue to Liberty, Liberty to Sixth Avenue and Sixth to Ross Street before exiting on Forbes Avenue.

Other than that, the routes are grouped by direction. Almost all routes will enter Downtown at the same point as they do now.

“We want to group together as many buses as possible [on the same path] to make it easier for riders,” said Stephanie Kambic, an urban mobility analyst for consultant Michael Baker.

Two of the system’s busiest routes, the P1 on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway and the G2 on the West busway, are a main focus.

In the first concept, the P1 would enter Downtown on Liberty Avenue and many of the buses would pass through the business district and become the G2 on the West Busway while others would turn around on Liberty near the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Hotel and circle back to the east busway.

In the second concept, the P1 and G2 would share the exclusive bus lanes, entering on Grant Street (P1) or Liberty Avenue (G2). In that scenario, riders would pay at street fareboxes and could enter all doors of the buses to make for quicker boarding and resumption of the route.

Here are the other proposals:

• A group of west routes (20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, G3 and G31) would enter Liberty Avenue from the Fort Pitt Bridge to Seventh, Seventh to Fort Duquesne Boulevard and back to the bridge in the first concept. The second would be a shorter route turning at Stanwix to Fort Duquesne.
• A group of south routes (39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 48, 51, 51L Y1, Y45, Y47 and Y49) would enter from the Smithfield Street Bridge and turn left on Fort Pitt Boulevard to Wood Street, Wood to Liberty and Liberty to Smithfield in the first concept. The second is a shorter path that reverses the bus lane on Smithfield to make it inbound to Forbes Avenue to Wood Street to Fort Pitt Boulevard.
• Three routes (31, 36 and 38) would follow completely different paths in each concept. In the first, they would follow the longer path of the west routes. In the second, they would follow the shorter path of the south routes.
• East busway routes (P7, P10, P12, P16, P17, P67, P68, P69, P71, P76, P78) would enter on Liberty from the busway, turn left on Smithfield to Fifth Avenue to Grant Street in the first scenario. In the second, they would follow Liberty to Wood, Wood to Fifth to Smithfield.
• East routes (52L, 53L, 56, 57, 58, 65, 67, 69) will enter from Second Avenue to Third Avenue to Ross Street in the first scenario. In the second, they would follow Second to Smithfield to Forbes to Wood and back to Second.
• Hill District routes (77, 81, 82, 83) would enter on Seventh Avenue to Smithfield to Grant Street in the first scenario. The second concept follows Seventh to Liberty to Wood to Fifth to Smithfield to Seventh.
• Northeast routes (86, 87, 88 and 91) follow Liberty Avenue into the business district. In the first concept, they would go to Smithfield to Fifth to Grant. The second has them on Liberty to Wood to Fifth to Smithfield.
• Routes using Penn Station (1, 6, 11, 12 and 15) would enter on the Warhol Bridge to Seventh Street to Liberty Avenue to Penn Station under both concepts.
• A group of northern express routes (01, 05, 015 and 19L) enter on Fort Pitt Boulevard and follow Stanwix Street to Liberty Avenue, Liberty to Seventh Avenue and Seventh to Crosstown Boulevard. The route is the same under both concepts.
• North local routes (2, 4, 7, 8, 13, 16, 17 and P13) also have the same proposal for both scenarios: enter on the Rachel Carson Bridge at Ninth Street to Liberty to Stanwix to Fort Duquesne Boulevard and exit on the Andy Warhol Bridge.
• 28X Airport Flyer, no change.

PRT will have additional meetings on the proposals.

In-person sessions, 625 Smithfield St.:

• Tuesday, noon-4 p.m.
• Wednesday, 7-11 a.m.
• Thursday, 3-7 p.m.
• Friday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Online meetings:

• Tuesday, 5-6:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, noon-1:30 p.m.

Anyone can walk into the in-person sessions, where staff will be available to answer questions informally. Participants can register for the online meetings at https://nextransit.network/events.