Pittsburgh Regional Transit limits cuts to Swissvale service on P3 route

After more than a year of review, Pittsburgh Regional Transit will eliminate some of its trips from Swissvale on one bus route on the busy Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway but not all of them.

Two years ago, the agency was considering changing the path of the P3 route so it would begin in Wilkinsburg rather than Swissvale. Instead of ending its route at Fifth Avenue and Robinson Street, it would extend to Downtown Pittsburgh as part of the new Bus Rapid Transit system known as the University Line, which is now under construction.

When riders who use the three stops that would have been eliminated by starting in Wilkinsburg protested, PRT agreed to continue studying that route to see what the agency could do with service from Swissvale. Last week, Emily Provonsha, manager of service development, told the agency’s Planning and Stakeholder Relations Committee the plans now call for P3 service from Swissvale at least every other trip.

Provonsha added that the agency also will extend additional trips to Swissvale during rush hours.

Laura Wiens, executive director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit, said Wednesday she was happy P3 riders will have service from Swissvale at least some of the time.

“It is a good sign that they listened to riders and heard how important that service is,” Wiens said.

With the agency in the midst of a full redesign of bus routes, Wiens said, it’s possible that all of the trips from Swissvale could be restored over the next few years.

The proposed change was part of a series of adjustments the agency was planning in advance of the University Line. Four other routes — 61D Murray, 71A Negley, 71C Point Breeze and 71D Hamilton — were slated to end in Oakland, requiring riders heading for Downtown Pittsburgh to transfer to continue.

The changes to those four routes began in October 2023 with the start of construction for the University Line in the Golden Triangle. The goal was to reduce the number of routes entering the downtown area during construction of five stations for the new line, which will have exclusive lanes Downtown and on Fifth and Forbes avenues between Downtown and Oakland.

Downtown construction should be finished by early next year, when work will shift to Uptown and Oakland for the second part of the $291 million project. Buses will start using the Downtown lanes and stations when they are ready.