New Downtown Pittsburgh bus loops released

Pittsburgh Regional Transit wants to reduce the number of paths buses take through Downtown Pittsburgh from 26 to 19, eliminate buses from some streets, and upgrade stations to accommodate stops in new locations.

The agency released its plan during an online meeting Wednesday to realign bus routes through the Golden Triangle in advance of construction of the Bus Rapid Transit system between Downtown and Oakland. That system will use exclusive lanes to increase reliability, and PRT wants to do all it can to reduce any potential traffic disruptions and have other buses spend less time Downtown.

Ellie Newman, PRT’s section manager for service development, said the final recommendations are a combination of two options proposed in February. The agency took comments on those options to develop this plan, she said.

The proposal would eliminate all buses on Fourth Avenue, Penn Avenue and Fort Duquesne Boulevard behind the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. It would add buses on a portion of Forbes Avenue — a popular location until the city revamped Market Square a decade ago — and create a new layover for drivers near the Gateway Station on Stanwix Street.

The agency projects buses would drive 8% fewer miles daily Downtown, saving about $1.4 million a year. There would be 64 more trips into Downtown, but most of them would be on dedicated lanes; buses would make 7% fewer turns and operate on 20 fewer blocks Downtown.

There would be 67 bus stops Downtown, and stops/stations would fall into four designs depending on how busy the stop would be. Overall, that’s a reduction of 17 stops, and there would be 18 stops in new locations.

The agency didn’t have an estimated cost for the new stations, seven of which will be large sites for the BRT system. It plans to establish the stops and apply for grants to upgrade them as money becomes available.

The most extensive proposed changes would be for buses that come from eastern neighborhoods.

The P1, the agency’s busiest route, would come off the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway, turn left on Grant Street, right on the exclusive BRT lane on Fifth Avenue, right on Liberty Avenue, right on Sixth Avenue and left on Grant Street back to the busway. Right now, it goes the opposite way, down Liberty to left on Wood Street, left on Sixth Avenue to left on Grant.

Newman said that would allow the P1 to take advantage of amenities at BRT stations such as boarding through all doors. The route would be longer in distance, she said, but likely would be faster than the current 12-minute loop because of the exclusive lanes and different boarding procedure.

Other East Busway routes would continue to use the Liberty Avenue route.

There would be changes for other buses from the east, too.

Routes from the Hill District that now use Fifth Avenue would use Forbes to Wood Street, Wood to Liberty Avenue to Seventh Avenue.

The 65, 67 and 69 routes would shift from Fifth to the Boulevard of the Allies to Commonwealth Place to Liberty Avenue to Seventh Avenue and back to the Boulevard of the Allies.

The 52C, 53L, 57 and 58 would continue to come in on Second Avenue to the Boulevard of the Allies, but instead of turning right on Stanwix Street and right on Fourth Avenue they will continue on the boulevard to Commonwealth, right on Liberty and right on Stanwix to the boulevard.

All of the west buses will continue to come in on the Fort Pitt Bridge, but they would break into four groups.

The G2 would come off at Liberty and then follow the BRT route up Sixth Avenue to Grant Street and Steel Plaza, where it turns right on Center Avenue, and back onto the BRT lane down Fifth Avenue to Liberty, where it turns left onto the Fort Pitt Bridge. It would no longer go on Liberty north of Sixth Avenue.

Routes 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 36 and 38 would enter on the Boulevard of the Allies, turn left on Stanwix and left on Fort Duquesne Boulevard to leave Downtown. That would be one of the shortest loops in the business district.

Routes 29, 32, G3 and G31 would get off the bridge and follow Liberty Avenue to Penn Station for a layover, then return on Liberty to the bridge.

There would be no change for the 28X that serves Pittsburgh International Airport.

The proposal would group most buses from the north to cross the Andy Warhol Bridge and turn right on Fort Pitt Boulevard to Stanwix Street, up Liberty to Seventh Street and back across Warhol.

There would be few changes to routes from the south, which enter Downtown on Smithfield Street, turn right on Wood Street, right on Sixth Avenue and right on Smithfield. The exception would be the rush-hour commuter routes, 51L, Y1 and Y45, which would have a shorter loop by turning right from Wood onto Forbes Avenue and right on Smithfield.

A second online meeting will be held at noon Thursday. Participants must register in advance.

Spokesman Adam Brandolph said the changes will be finalized before the end of the year and rolled out over 12 months likely beginning early next year.