Single Mom moving to Pittsbugh

[greg42]

Mt Lebanon near the T line (light rail) makes for a simple car-free commute to downtown. One Mellon is right on top of the "Steel Plaza" subway station for the T downtown. It may or may not be difficult to find something in your price range. I think there are places available though around that level. Schools are good, but one thing to keep in mind when planning is that there is no school busing in Mt Lebanon. That may turn out to be a knock against it, or not, depending upon your perspective and how far the likely homes are from the schools.

Bellevue, while fairly convenient, doesn't really compare in terms of school district. (Northgate is the name of the school district.) It may be improving though, and the schools are better at elementary level than high school. If you go a little farther out that direction to Ben Avon and Emsworth, that is in a better school district (Avonworth), although you lose most of the walking business district options unless you are in Ben Avon fairly close to the Avalon border. Or depending upon how far you wish to walk, I guess. There is bus transit from that area to downtown.

You might also consider West View or nearby parts of Ross Township. These are in the North Hills school district which is good and there is a little bit of a business district in West View and another in the "Perrysville" area of Ross, with lots more stuff a very close drive away. (You probably don't want to live in or walk through the midst of the sprawl that is McKnight Rd in Ross and neighboring McCandless, but you can drive there easily from these spots.) Should be decent bus transit from this area as well and reasonable rents, more reasonable than Mt Lebanon I should think.

Transit commutes from all these places are going to take around half an hour roughly. The light rail is the least affected by traffic but from West View or Ross or vicinity the buses do have a dedicated HOV lane to get around a portion of that traffic. Coming from NYC the transit will look like a joke but probably so will the traffic in many cases. The good thing is working downtown gives you the most possible transit options as buses come in from most directions to downtown. It's not possible to do any of these suburban places with no car, so I hope you weren't thinking that, but you should be fine without having to drive to work.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by greg42

It's not possible to do any of these suburban places with no car, so I hope you weren't thinking that, but you should be fine without having to drive to work.

I think OP has a car, but living car free in Bellevue would definitely be possible. Probably in Dormont and Mt. Lebo, too, but I don't know those areas well enough to confirm.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by ferraris

I think OP has a car, but living car free in Bellevue would definitely be possible. Probably in Dormont and Mt. Lebo, too, but I don't know those areas well enough to confirm.

Depends upon definition of "possible" I guess. I should have said difficult or not recommended I suppose, because it is technically possible just extremely inconvenient. It might be a little easier with Uber/Lyft now though perhaps? There aren't any Zipcars stashed in the suburbs, although you could in fact grab one from downtown, take it to get what you need, drop stuff off at home, drop car downtown, and then take transit home. There are some places you could take transit to shopping but getting home would not be so much fun. So, yeah, possible, true, albeit a possibility I would write off.

I don't think there's a place in Mt Lebo that you could really walk to get groceries, although you could do that in Bellevue I think, and yes perhaps Dormont but Dormont though next to Mt Lebo is not the same schools.

[Elle74]

Originally Posted by greg42

Mt Lebanon near the T line (light rail) makes for a simple car-free commute to downtown. One Mellon is right on top of the "Steel Plaza" subway station for the T downtown. It may or may not be difficult to find something in your price range. I think there are places available though around that level. Schools are good, but one thing to keep in mind when planning is that there is no school busing in Mt Lebanon. That may turn out to be a knock against it, or not, depending upon your perspective and how far the likely homes are from the schools.

Bellevue, while fairly convenient, doesn't really compare in terms of school district. (Northgate is the name of the school district.) It may be improving though, and the schools are better at elementary level than high school. If you go a little farther out that direction to Ben Avon and Emsworth, that is in a better school district (Avonworth), although you lose most of the walking business district options unless you are in Ben Avon fairly close to the Avalon border. Or depending upon how far you wish to walk, I guess. There is bus transit from that area to downtown.

You might also consider West View or nearby parts of Ross Township. These are in the North Hills school district which is good and there is a little bit of a business district in West View and another in the "Perrysville" area of Ross, with lots more stuff a very close drive away. (You probably don't want to live in or walk through the midst of the sprawl that is McKnight Rd in Ross and neighboring McCandless, but you can drive there easily from these spots.) Should be decent bus transit from this area as well and reasonable rents, more reasonable than Mt Lebanon I should think.

Transit commutes from all these places are going to take around half an hour roughly. The light rail is the least affected by traffic but from West View or Ross or vicinity the buses do have a dedicated HOV lane to get around a portion of that traffic. Coming from NYC the transit will look like a joke but probably so will the traffic in many cases. The good thing is working downtown gives you the most possible transit options as buses come in from most directions to downtown. It's not possible to do any of these suburban places with no car, so I hope you weren't thinking that, but you should be fine without having to drive to work.

Wow lots of info thanks so very much I did not know that there are no school buses in the Mt. Lebo area Well Honestly my daughter would probably not take the school bus as I would feel more Comfortable taking her to school


I do have a car and will be driving but every now and than I would like to take the T in to downtown as I would like to break it up and not have to drive everyday unless its absolutely not an option
I did not know they had buses that go into downtown that is new to me but I think I would prefer the train over the bus

I have looked at the Ross Park area but I don't really care for McKnight Rd unless I need to go shopping as it seems so hard to even make a U-turn there took me forever to find a place where I could make one and it just did not have that sense of Community to me just a bunch of Apt Complexes maybe the back roads are different ?

Again thanks for all the info

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Elle74

I have looked at the Ross Park area but I don't really care for McKnight Rd unless I need to go shopping as it seems so hard to even make a U-turn there took me forever to find a place where I could make one and it just did not have that sense of Community to me just a bunch of Apt Complexes maybe the back roads are different ?

On Perrysville Ave it is a bit different. As I said the "Perrysville" area of Ross Township, which is along Perrysville Ave/Rt 19 (the real Rt 19; McKnight Rd is "Truck Rt 19", confusing!) has a little business district (although no grocery), as does the borough of West View which is farther south along the same road. These are older suburbs, not quite as affluent as Mt Lebanon has been but definitely a nice enough area with good schools, and separated from the mass of sprawl on McKnight while being convenient to it.

As far as bus vs T, I can understand the preference. And hey, Mt Lebanon is a great place too. I would caution, though, that the T operates more like a bus than a typical rapid transit subway. The T is not rapid, it makes many intermediate stops, and fares are collected on the vehicle like a bus. It does ride on metal rails and carries somewhat more people in one vehicle. And it completely avoids road traffic, although it makes some at grade crossings with roads that occasionally result in crashes with road vehicles. Buses from the North Hills area also avoid a little bit of road traffic with the HOV lane. Buses from east and west areas as well as some different south areas have dedicated bus roadways that skirt a lot of road traffic. The T is usually less subject to weather delays than a bus.

Just don't want anyone making that choice thinking T=subway, because, although it runs underground up here in downtown and under the river in the newest extension to the near North Side, it does not otherwise operate anything like a NY/DC/etc subway except for the rails.

[Elle74]

Just don't want anyone making that choice thinking T=subway, because, although it runs underground up here in downtown and under the river in the newest extension to the near North Side, it does not otherwise operate anything like a NY/DC/etc subway except for the rails.[/quote]








I honestly thought that the subway there ran faster than what you are telling me sounds like it makes lots of stops and could take a really long time to get downtown as I would not hit traffic which is a plus it will still take some time did not even know it ran underground I will really need to consider this as I thought the T would be a good idea as far as commuting

I will look into the Perrysville area and see what they have to offer thanks so much for all this info

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Elle74

I honestly thought that the subway there ran faster than what you are telling me sounds like it makes lots of stops and could take a really long time to get downtown as I would not hit traffic which is a plus it will still take some time did not even know it ran underground I will really need to consider this as I thought the T would be a good idea as far as commuting

I will look into the Perrysville area and see what they have to offer thanks so much for all this info

It's not all or nothing. The T is a good idea as far as commuting. It's just not going to whisk you downtown from Mt Lebo in 10 minutes. You'll need about half an hour commute by transit from either of those areas. The T will most definitely cut your rush hour commute vs car from Mt Lebanon, though. Driving would usually take longer, or at least be more expensive and more irritating and take about the same amount of time. The bus from areas north may not cut much time vs drive though. Depends upon conditions and exactly where you start from.

Either place is fine depending upon what you look for. Good luck with your search. Let us know what you decide on, always curious.

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by Elle74

Just don't want anyone making that choice thinking T=subway, because, although it runs underground up here in downtown and under the river in the newest extension to the near North Side, it does not otherwise operate anything like a NY/DC/etc subway except for the rails.

I honestly thought that the subway there ran faster than what you are telling me sounds like it makes lots of stops and could take a really long time to get downtown as I would not hit traffic which is a plus it will still take some time did not even know it ran underground I will really need to consider this as I thought the T would be a good idea as far as commuting

I will look into the Perrysville area and see what they have to offer thanks so much for all this info

Its not rapid, but its not slow either. Downtown to dormont is 15-20 minutes

[Copanut]

Yeah, the T makes a lot of stops after the Dormont terminal. But it still beats riding the bus hands down.

[Elle74]

Either place is fine depending upon what you look for. Good luck with your search. Let us know what you decide on, always curious. [/quote]




Thanks Greg I will keep you in the loop you have been so helpful