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Old 05-03-2014, 04:25 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,203,280 times
Reputation: 3509

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I don't see Ross Park Mall as an appropriate terminus for a permanent rail connection.

Its congested enough to get out of the mall on to a congested McKnight Road as it is. Further, Ross Park Mall is Pittsburgh's premiere shopping area now. In the future, none too distant, someplace else might be built and RPM might fall to secondary status like Northway and North Hills Village did in the past.

North Park might be a good location, maybe West View or Perrysville north of West View, if your looking for points north
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Old 05-03-2014, 04:25 PM
 
Location: Philly
10,220 posts, read 16,734,236 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnutella View Post
Right now, Carnegie is served by the West Busway, but the northern suburbs are served by...nothing.
theres a gigantic city killing highway with plebty of capacity outaide the rush and no row afaik
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Old 05-03-2014, 04:47 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
1,776 posts, read 2,685,877 times
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I think commuter rail w/ extensive park & ride (and eventual TOD) is a better idea for the north hills. Something more rapid and east busway-esque in terms of speeds. LRT can only go so fast. Most vehicles are speed limited at 60mph max. They are really meant to be used more like European-style trams. It could even be a rapid bus to save money – using the current HOV lane. The North hills don't have the optimal density of a good trolley neighborhood. Something like that, if you did it right, could slowly rework parts along McKnight into more urban-style business districts – SSW-style mixed use + parking garages for commuters. Lots of aging strip malls there just screaming to be turned into those types of things.

I actually think if we're going to do light rail anywhere in the city, it's that Downtown > Strip District > Lawrenceville > Highland Park > Zoo > Verona > Oakmont line that is part of the Allegheny Riverfront plan (I think?). That whole corridor feels right for shorter distances between stops and in-street rail. Lots of mom & pops, business districts that you want to get around by foot in, and a lot of things to stop at along your route. The problem right now is that there are small gaps between the business districts. You can walk them if you really want to, but for most people the distances are slightly over the limit of what they're willing to do.

For instance, if you worked downtown and lived in verona. You could stop in the strip before or after work pretty easily to grab groceries, on the weekends you could add stops in lawrenceville for lunch or shopping. I think it would really glue the experiences of those neighborhoods into one bigger one.

For the airport, I would just beef up the west busway and eliminate the stops in Robinson. Increase the frequencies from every 30 minutes to every 20. Wrap the bus in a special airport-scheme to make it really sink in with people that there's this stupid fast bus that goes to the airport for less than $4.

Finally, I would take the North Shore connector and extend light-rail down to Sewickley, through the more dense north side neighborhoods. Less stops and more speed than the Oakmont line, but more of an existing neighborhood connector than the north hills rapid.

Downtown to Oakland BRT can't hurt since it's pretty cheap, but it needs to cut all the way through the east end with two lines. One that terminates at the Highland Park LRT station. And one that maybe heads through Squirrel Hill. It could end there or if we're really feeling frisky, send it out to Homestead.

The order I'd do this in is:
1) Downtown > Oakland > East End BRT + Airport line upgrades (lowest-hanging fruit)
2) North Hills BRT (next easiest)
3) Downtown > Oakmont Allegheny River LRT ($$$ ka-ching*–*but could get a ton of private investment
4) Western LRT to Sewickley


I think I just spent like $20 billion on transit lines there. :P
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Old 05-03-2014, 06:30 PM
 
Location: Brookline, PGH
876 posts, read 1,138,332 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronPGH View Post
The order I'd do this in is:
1) Downtown > Oakland > East End BRT + Airport line upgrades (lowest-hanging fruit)
2) North Hills BRT (next easiest)
3) Downtown > Oakmont Allegheny River LRT ($$$ ka-ching*–*but could get a ton of private investment
4) Western LRT to Sewickley


I think I just spent like $20 billion on transit lines there. :P
And it would be worth every penny. Excellent breakdown.

A couple of simple things Port Authority could do to improve service without much expensive:

- Improve the website. Replace that archaic PDF schedule with a more interactive, user-friendly route tracker.

- Cut down on the number of stops. I apologize for saying this every time I post anything about Port Authority, but there's no damn reason for the 88, for example, to stop on 37th street 38th street, 39 street, etc... All the extra stops lead to a lot of wasted time and fuel, as well as increased congestion.

- Clean up some of the dilapidated bus stops, keep them stocked with route maps and schedules, and make sure the stop signs don't list routes that no longer exist.
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Old 05-03-2014, 07:05 PM
 
65 posts, read 87,200 times
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You can still see make out where the streetcars/trolleys/railroad traveled in the northern suburbs. It's particularly visible in West View, but you can also pick out some of their paths on satellite maps.

Comment Boards :: Topic: Where's This in in West View? (1/1)

http://acrossross.com/index.php/mess...-this-location
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Old 05-03-2014, 07:16 PM
 
65 posts, read 87,200 times
Reputation: 58
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimboPGH View Post
And it would be worth every penny. Excellent breakdown.

A couple of simple things Port Authority could do to improve service without much expensive:

- Improve the website. Replace that archaic PDF schedule with a more interactive, user-friendly route tracker.

- Cut down on the number of stops. I apologize for saying this every time I post anything about Port Authority, but there's no damn reason for the 88, for example, to stop on 37th street 38th street, 39 street, etc... All the extra stops lead to a lot of wasted time and fuel, as well as increased congestion.

- Clean up some of the dilapidated bus stops, keep them stocked with route maps and schedules, and make sure the stop signs don't list routes that no longer exist.

I don't even mind the pdf schedule. It's nice to have something to print out and carry with you; easy to check if your bus failed to show up, when the next bus ought to come. But I'd like it if you clicked on the link to the schedule, it actually took you to the correct schedule. It's extremely annoying to find mistakes like that.
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Old 05-03-2014, 08:14 PM
 
1,445 posts, read 1,963,077 times
Reputation: 1190
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimboPGH View Post
- Improve the website. Replace that archaic PDF schedule with a more interactive, user-friendly route tracker.
I never bother with the PAT site and just use Google Maps to look up transit routes.
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Old 05-03-2014, 09:29 PM
 
6,597 posts, read 8,916,294 times
Reputation: 4673
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goinback2011 View Post
"Park and Ride style" stops are the only ones used in the South Hills.
I don't think that's true for Dormont and Mt. Lebanon. And Beechview too if you count that as south hills.

I'm not against park and ride T stops. I just think they should be a lower priority than walkable stops.
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Old 05-03-2014, 09:34 PM
 
6,597 posts, read 8,916,294 times
Reputation: 4673
Quote:
Originally Posted by Copanut View Post
I have driven from Downtown Pgh to Oakland at the top of rush hour, and it only took my 10 minutes. Again, why do we need the LRT?
A downtown to Oakland LRT line wouldn't exist in a vacuum. People who commute from the South Hills or NSC stops to Oakland would benefit a lot from a T extension to Oakland.
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Old 05-04-2014, 03:54 AM
 
4,556 posts, read 3,370,961 times
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For a North Hills BRT, go totally retro and reuse the old Harmony Line ROW, much of it is still clear. Ramps off of 279 onto Nelson Run and Ivory, up Nelson Run to Renfer, long bridge over Nelson Run to McKnight and Stevens, over the hill left along Babcock, bridge over Cemetary and Rochester. Connector at Seibert for the mall, cross over Three Degree at Babcock, over Perrymont, under Perry and Old Perry south of CCAC, along Harmony Parkway, long bridge over Sloop, along Harmony Drive through Ingomar and continue along the old ROW to Warrendale, direct ramps from 79 and the Turnpike into a big park and ride lot. I'd say 80% of that is still clear and at and acceptable grade.
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