Reverse commute- Shadyside to Cranberry? Or bus 13K?

[Blackbeauty212]

Yes Unfortunately - PAT (Pittsburgh's transit system) is NOT a "progressive" thinking, Pro-Transit mindset agency.... And this will hurt Pittsburgh's image in the long run...instead it's VERY Reactive and status quo-ish...It doesn't give people any incentive outside of usual cost saving over a car to actually use Public Transit.

To be honest PAT need to be scrapped at the top - and reorganized with Pro Transit management...Not just "I'm here for the paycheck and damn if I ever take the bus to work people".....

Its really a shame with all the Progress Pittsburgh has made in other areas....that its Transportation infrastructure is going the of the steel industry and will only hold this region back even more....When trying to attract young professionals here one thing they look for is a robust public transit system...They want their cars to be "LUXURIES" not "NECESSITIES"

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by CSOM

Thanks for the input everyone. The difficulty is that we are moving from London (yes, England) where it is not unusual to not have a car, we do all of our shopping/errands on foot and get everywhere else in the city or country by public transportation. Being in a suburb surrounded by nothing but houses that look alike and having to drive 10 minutes to a strip mall to do anything doesn't quite sound like our idea of living. It will be a rough transition, that's for sure! I haven't lived outside of a city centre in a decade or more, so trying to keep to that ideal if possible. But of course the new job is in Thornhill Industrial park.

The other thing is that for my wife to find work, she is likely in big corporation territory, so downtown is much more convenient for her to find a job, rather than being very limited when living north of the city.

I took a look at the 13K's route map (http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/apps/maps/13K.pdf) and if you are intent on getting by without a car, I would say your best bets are Deutschtown (The area around E. Ohio Street on that map) and The Mexican War Streets (North of Allegheny Center on that map, I believe). Keep in mind that that map is not to scale, so check out any potential housing locations on a real map, too.

As you can see, those locations are very near to Downtown Pittsburgh (possibly even considered walkable by some). This is good for if your wife ends up working there, easy access to downtown attractions, and easy access to other public transit routes that will get you all around the city/county.

Make sure you look at the schedule (http://www.portauthority.org/PAAC/apps/pdfs/13K.pdf). It's possible that the latest bus you'll be able to catch out of Cranberry is the 5:08pm one. Make sure that you'd be able to get from work to a bus stop in time to catch the last bus.

Basically, living without a car in Pittsburgh can be done fairly easily (for the US, at least), but living in Pittsburgh and working in Cranberry without a car is quite a bit more of a challenge.

Would you be willing to compromise and have a car solely used for commuting? And bus or walk to locations when running errands or going out for entertainment?

[greg42]

Originally Posted by CSOM

Thanks for the input everyone. The difficulty is that we are moving from London (yes, England) where it is not unusual to not have a car, we do all of our shopping/errands on foot and get everywhere else in the city or country by public transportation. Being in a suburb surrounded by nothing but houses that look alike and having to drive 10 minutes to a strip mall to do anything doesn't quite sound like our idea of living. It will be a rough transition, that's for sure! I haven't lived outside of a city centre in a decade or more, so trying to keep to that ideal if possible. But of course the new job is in Thornhill Industrial park.

The other thing is that for my wife to find work, she is likely in big corporation territory, so downtown is much more convenient for her to find a job, rather than being very limited when living north of the city.

Well, there are some big corps out that way in the north, like Westinghouse, but I think if you want to stay in the urban environment you should do that. The ol' suburban house surrounded by yard, etc. is not everyone's fantasy after all. Shadyside and Squirrel Hill probably best lend themselves to walking to the widest variety of typical shops you might want close to home, but you could make a case for various other neighborhoods including South Side, Regent Square, Strip District, Deutschtown, Bloomfield, Lawrenceville and probably a couple others. Depends upon what you're looking for: pricing, type of housing, rent vs buy, etc. Each has its pros and cons.

While that bus may turn out to work okay for you at least some of the time, I think more realistically you'll need a car for that commute. But you could easily get by using it only for that and for trips outside town. (Unlike London, you won't be just hopping on a convenient train to places outside the city. The car will be handy for that too. Living here should cure you of any gripes you have about Transport for London, the various rail companies, etc. ) And you'll only need one car, not the one for each of you that is so prevalent in this country. We actually live outside the city with one car, but we're odd that way. And sometimes it's troublesome, like today when I dropped the car off for service. But the occasional rental is cheaper than a second car. I keep telling myself that....

Anyway, I really think that's going to work best in your situation, live in city, drive to work. For the shortest commute, you might rule out some of those neighborhoods Regent Square would add several minutes vs Squirrel Hill which would add a few vs Shadyside which would add a few vs the Strip District. You could put Downtown on your list; the main thing lacking at the moment is a decently walkable grocery. It's not very residential feeling, but neither is the Strip. But that's just the drive time. The other aspects may sway you towards one area over another.

A word of caution on assuming your wife's work might be downtown. It really depends. A few things, like lawyers, accountants, banking, that's probably a good bet. But it can really depend. Some of the biggest operations in the Pittsburgh area, such as the Bayer US headquarters and Westinghouse, are not anywhere close to downtown. For Westinghouse, though, you could commute together.