Awesome news - Pittsburgh examining dedicated bike lanes Downtown (York: transfer, construction)

[tclifton]

Pittsburgh examining dedicated bike lanes Downtown | TribLIVE

[MathmanMathman]

Glad to see that the lanes will be protected.

Interesting what comments about Pittsburgh will come from the Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place conference in September.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

I hope this plan is also accompanied by a plan to do something about bus stops downtown. Downtown is sorely in need of one or two dedicated bus depots, possibly even a loop/circulator for downtown with a major stop or two on either side of the triangle, one nearer the point and one nearer the hill. Major bus stops on Liberty and elsewhere which aren't accompanied by dedicated pull-off lanes or space for folks to wait for their bus contribute to pedestrian as well as vehicle congestion. This has the secondary effect of making biking downtown in many places difficult, because of displaced pedestrians and especailly displaced vehicles.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

I hope this plan is also accompanied by a plan to do something about bus stops downtown. Downtown is sorely in need of one or two dedicated bus depots, possibly even a loop/circulator for downtown with a major stop or two on either side of the triangle, one nearer the point and one nearer the hill. Major bus stops on Liberty and elsewhere which aren't accompanied by dedicated pull-off lanes or space for folks to wait for their bus contribute to pedestrian as well as vehicle congestion. This has the secondary effect of making biking downtown in many places difficult, because of displaced pedestrians and especailly displaced vehicles.

Two bus stops for all of downtown?

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Two bus stops for all of downtown?

That's how I read that comment also. Fear of that kind of thing happening is one the reasons I'm nervous about the downtown loop plan. In theory, it seems nice...

[Geeo]

I don't know if people realize how many buses and how many people there are using the buses in a course of a given day in downtown Pittsburgh. There are probably several thousand bus trips and tens of thousands of people. One or two bus stops would be impossible, and even one circulator route would mean the entire perimeter of the Golden triangle would be lined with buses during rush hour. I realize that given the geographic constrains of downtown and the density of people and traffic some new options should be explored, but it has to be practical, given that half the people who come downtown do so on public transport.

[SteelCityRising]

Anything that would preclude buses from box-blocking would be very welcomed in my eyes. Nothing is more frustrating than sitting on William Penn Place trying to turn left onto Sixth Avenue through a zillion light cycles at rush hour because "slinky" buses keep blocking the intersection. That wouldn't be tolerated in New York City.

[pman]

they could start by halting all subsidized parking garage construction and allowing the cost of parking to rise.

[ctoocheck]

This is great and exciting news, though I think I would prefer such improvements in places like the Strip, Lawrenceville, Oakland, Bloomfield, etc. In my (admittedly limited) experience biking downtown, it's never really been terribly stressful. Even biking down Liberty (admittedly not much during rush hour) isn't too bad. Not that making streets more bike friendly wouldn't help, but a separated cycle track could be more useful elsewhere, particularly on a more precarious road feeding into downtown.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

I think I probably did a bad job of describing the reasoning and actual meaning behind my suggestion for "one or two stops". I think there are too many transfers going on right in the middle of downtown. There needs to be a better place for a hub for these transfers to take place. Even if busses all still stop downtown in various locations, the main "shared spot" for these stops can't continue to be Sixth and Liberty (or whever they are) without some major reconfiguration. Busses stopping in the middle of congested traffic lanes are a nightmare for autos and bicycles alike.

That said, I am generally an advocate of less stops. PAT is atrocious in its effeciency due to the excessive number of bus stops. One every block or even two per block in the densest parts of Oakland and Downtown is complete insanity. I don't see how dedicated bike lanes can be implemented without addressing this problem, becuase it induces unsafe driving and exacerbates auto congestion that will only be worse with bike lanes. This is coming from someone who rides his bike in the city often and would prefer every major roadway to have a protected bike lane.

And on the topic of subsidized parking consturction, I am all for cutting the number of new spaces and/or instituting a better version of demand pricing for parking downtown. Right now, each individual piece of transportation infrastructure seems to be managed on its own. This lack of coordination has been extremely prohibitive in terms of ease of access and transference from one area to another in the metro. I hope something can be done about it, but I know the city itself only has so much say, as major roadways are managed by the state (who hates bikes and busses seemingly equally) and public transit is managed by the county.