Pittsburgh Fantasy Subway System (Wilkinsburg, Greensburg: transfer to, mall, train)

[UKyank]

A friend of mine who is a consultant for transportation systems asked this evening that if Pittsburgh had virtually unlimited funds & was able to build a full service subway system what should it look like. I came up with this messing around: Pittsburgh Fantasy Subway System - Google Maps as a quick draft - any suggestions, critiques or otherwise are appreciated before I send it off to him to rip apart. Thanks

[ctoocheck]

I came up with this baby a while ago (you might be able to see it more clearly if you download it). There seems to be some similarities with your map. Mine wouldn't necessarily be subway (either below-grade or heavy-rail). There would also ideally be some commuter rail in there, say, to Arnold and Greensburg.


I know there are a couple other threads on here somewhere with ideas/discussing this topic.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by ctoocheck

I came up with this baby a while ago (you might be able to see it more clearly if you download it). There seems to be some similarities with your map. Mine wouldn't necessarily be subway (either below-grade or heavy-rail). There would also ideally be some commuter rail in there, say, to Arnold and Greensburg.

Very Cool!

[raubre]

I like it. The East End is covered, goes to nearby Regent Square and the zoo!

[BrianTH]

Some suggestions:

I think your red ("City") line should go to Oakland. I think your blue ("Circle") line should go to East Liberty. Combining these suggestions, the red and blue lines could run on the same route between Oakland and East Liberty.

I also think your green ("East") line should go to Wilkinsburg. It could be rerouted to stay along Forbes with a stop around Forbes and Braddock, then over to downtown Wilkinsburg.

[Blackbeauty212]

If you ask me Pittsburgh needs 4 lines over everything else

1 - Carson Street - Waterfront - Mckeesport

2 - Fifth Ave - Penn Av - Monroeville Mall

3 - Fifth Ave- Forbes - Wilkinsburg (this line would be more of spur from line 2 splitting off somewhere in Oakland from line 2, reconnecting with it at its terminal in Wilkinsburg where you can transfer to line 2 or 4 for Monroeville)

4 - Penn Ave - Wilkinsburg - Monroeville

A Number of North Side lines could be created from the NSC terminal most sensible would be a Brighton Road line, but North Side doesn't have the demand like the East End and South Side currently have.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Some suggestions:

I think your red ("City") line should go to Oakland. I think your blue ("Circle") line should go to East Liberty. Combining these suggestions, the red and blue lines could run on the same route between Oakland and East Liberty.

I also think your green ("East") line should go to Wilkinsburg. It could be rerouted to stay along Forbes with a stop around Forbes and Braddock, then over to downtown Wilkinsburg.

Thanks, I took most of your suggestions into account & did some reworking. Shadyside can be a junction. I didn't however want to run the blue line all the way out to East Liberty as I think the Red Line services it enough.....the whole endeaver was basically trying to provide at least somewhat convenient access to most areas of the city while at the same time having as few stops as possible so that the train could get from one end of the city to the other as quickly as possible

[SteelCityRising]

Polish Hill needs a station! Then our population could skyrocket to 0!

[escilade18]

Originally Posted by UKyank

A friend of mine who is a consultant for transportation systems asked this evening that if Pittsburgh had virtually unlimited funds & was able to build a full service subway system what should it look like. I came up with this messing around: Pittsburgh Fantasy Subway System - Google Maps as a quick draft - any suggestions, critiques or otherwise are appreciated before I send it off to him to rip apart. Thanks

So would the suburban connectors be similar to the Long Island Railroad and meet at a subway station where people from the suburbs could theoretically commute from the burbs to the city without worrying about their car. Honestly, had Hillary Clinton been elected we may have been closer to having this realized since she stated the problem with public transit (paraphrasing of course) was the outside of NYC and DC it isn't good enough to be a complete substitute for a car which is definitely the the case in Pittsburgh

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by escilade18

So would the suburban connectors be similar to the Long Island Railroad and meet at a subway station where people from the suburbs could theoretically commute from the burbs to the city without worrying about their car. Honestly, had Hillary Clinton been elected we may have been closer to having this realized since she stated the problem with public transit (paraphrasing of course) was the outside of NYC and DC it isn't good enough to be a complete substitute for a car which is definitely the the case in Pittsburgh

Yea, I was thinking something along the lines of having a few rail lines shoot out from the connectors to the various suburbs....again these would have some fairly limited stops, but some large stations with ample parking that you could drive to, leave your car and jump on the train, get off at the connector and jump on the subway.

What is to be mainly avoided is what I see as the main failing with the current 'T' system, that of it having so many stops & thus goes so slow, that it takes nearly as long to get to the city as does driving at rush hour & much longer at other hours.