light rail (Oakland: how much, where to buy, live in)

[coronadeluxe]

ever since google added pittsburgh to their street view maps, i've spent way too much time exploring this great city. one thing i've noticed is that i've yet to see a single light rail car on any of the tracks. most of the photos seem to be taken shortly after dawn, so i guess this could have a lot to do with it. but about how often do they run and do people make good use of the trains? thanks.

[Seaharbour]

Hey!

Can you explain how to use google to see Pgh? I would appreciate it!

[tarnas]

go to google maps, you'll see north america. select the "street view" button and a little camera will appear over any city with street views. pittsburgh is one! zoom in and any blue-highlighted roads can be clicked and a street view bubble window will pop up.

as for the light rail, you can get info here:
Port Authority of Allegheny County

and here:
System Map
http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/Portals/0/system_map.pdf (broken link)

pittsburgh only has one light rail leg... also some bus-only expressways (busways).

[Picksburgh]

I don't know how much people use the tram, but I can tell you it doesn't go to enough locations.

They are extending it to the North Shore area (probably to help people commute to the gambling area that's going up). But they need to extend it to areas that would make better use - like Oakland and Squirrel Hill. If only they would!

I think those are the areas that would make best use of it. I myself live in the North Hills. Another area where the tram doesn't go...

[FrickParkMtBiker]

Originally Posted by coronadeluxe

ever since google added pittsburgh to their street view maps, i've spent way too much time exploring this great city. one thing i've noticed is that i've yet to see a single light rail car on any of the tracks. most of the photos seem to be taken shortly after dawn, so i guess this could have a lot to do with it. but about how often do they run and do people make good use of the trains? thanks.

Lots of people use it in the South Hills area. They use the parking garage at the South Hills Village Mall and ride it downtown for work M-F and also use it for Penguins/Steelers/Pirates games too.

[Geeo]

I used to work at Port Authority and was there when the present light rail system was built. It was essentially an update to the old South Hills trolley lines, and they added a subway in the downtown area to get the trolleys out of the surface congestion. The system was upgraded to modern light rail standards in phases between the early 80s and 90s, and now has about 23 miles of lines. This was all done in the South Hills because Port Authority already owned the private right of way and didn't have to buy much land. The only section where the vehicles are on surface streets is through Beechview.

The line they are building now to the north side is essentially a first leg that could split and go north and to the airport. But because of the laborious process involved in securing federal dollars for these capital projects, it will be decades before it is extended.

[Seaharbour]

thanks for the information here! its more than i hoped for!

[guylocke]

Lots of people use it in the South Hills area. They use the parking garage at the South Hills Village Mall and ride it downtown for work M-F and also use it for Penguins/Steelers/Pirates games too.

It mostly goes to the South Hills, but is actually heavily used for workers to and from South Hills and downtown. I used to work at South Hills Village mall and used it quite often and it was VERY busy during rush hour.

It is free to use if you are traveling downtown to downtown, how about that!! I use it frequently uptown at Steel City Plaza and get dropped off in the culture district at Wood Street.

It is used a lot for Penguin games, but not sure how people are using it too much for Steeler or Pirate games, considering the light rail doesn't extend to the North Shore (YET!).

A lot of youths also use it to get to and from Station Square.

There is also talk now on the table to extend it to the airport and into Oakland, two fantastic ideas, but I'm not sure how serious the talks are, I imagine not very.

[kpoeppel]

To use the Sim City example again, I hope the #1 priority of the city/region is improving the economy. Everything else can just...wait. It may require painful short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term growth. The Port Authority is far in the red already, so it's unlikely that the light rail network will be extended any time soon, sad to say. If anything, there have been talks of cutting some service.

I really think the region needs some radical new leadership. I don't care about party affiliation...we just need a new and more efficient way of doing things...and fast.

[Seaharbour]

This does add one point for the southside here, verses the east for ideas on where to buy a home, I think its awesome and I hope one day they do expand it for everyone to use, sorta like DC! Now that would be cool!