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Old 10-18-2013, 02:05 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
510 posts, read 900,538 times
Reputation: 688

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It would be great if Carnegie had been so wowed by the NYC subway system that he had one built here. If I ever time travel back to the turn of the 20th century, I will make this happen--after I catch Jack the Ripper and earn my fortune, of course.
Oh, and the bus system here sucks. Getting from Squirrel Hill is an ordeal with packed buses and too many stops, along with strange and/or grouchy people (I realize this is not the fault of the buses).
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Old 10-18-2013, 04:18 PM
 
Location: Brookline, PGH
876 posts, read 1,138,063 times
Reputation: 930
Quote:
Originally Posted by that412 View Post
Stop right there,

There is just so much that could be done with the bus service that could turn Pittsburgh's transit from a negative into a positive, and it would all cost less than a fraction of what it would to implement this fantastical rail system.
Agreed. A few ideas off the top of my head for Port Authority:

- Properly utilize the East Busway as a main artery serving downtown to decrease general inbound traffic congestion and route time.

- Cut down the absurd number of stops in dense neighborhoods (i.e. one stop every three blocks on Penn Ave on the 88 instead of every.... single.... block).

- Don't have lengthy bus routes that service Oakland AND Downtown.

- Create "circulator" routes that better connect neighborhoods to each other, and serve as tributaries to the busways and T lines.

Port Authority could easily improve route efficiency, service time, and increase ridership just by utilizing it's existing infrastructure more intelligently, instead of complacently following all the out-dated street car routes.
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Old 10-18-2013, 05:24 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,201,334 times
Reputation: 3509
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3days3ways View Post
Saw this article today...thoughts? Aside from the "never gonna happen," what do you think about the lines, connections, etc.?

The connections make enough sense I guess in the year 2013, but will they by the time the project would be completed or in the decades afterwards?

The problem with a fixed rail system like this is that it becomes costly to abandon and build new lines as circumstances change and the area grows or contracts in different sectors.
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Old 10-18-2013, 06:07 PM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,636,560 times
Reputation: 30710
There's a huge segment of the North Hills being ignored by there not being a rail that goes up Route 8 and further up Route 28. There's no room in Sharpsburg, Aspinwall, etc. for a giant park in ride parking lot for the rest of north hills to utilize that line.

If the North (purple) one is going to go all the way to Cranberry and the yellow on is going all the way to New Kensington, the Northeast (blue) one should go further than Fox Chapel.

I also don't like that Fox Chapel requires two transfers from downtown, one at Northside and the other at Aspinwall. Cranberry gets a direct route from downtown.
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Old 10-18-2013, 06:11 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,201,334 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes View Post

I also don't like that Fox Chapel requires two transfers from downtown, one at Northside and the other at Aspinwall. Cranberry gets a direct route from downtown.

FC just requires 1 transfer from town, yellow to Highland Park.
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Old 10-18-2013, 06:12 PM
 
814 posts, read 1,143,422 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam View Post
The connections make enough sense I guess in the year 2013, but will they by the time the project would be completed or in the decades afterwards?
How much do you think living patterns will change in the next few decades? There's no way it would be so much that a given fixed-rail line planned today would somehow become totally obsolete in that time period. If they do, it'd most likely be because something catastrophic has happened, and then we'd have much bigger problems than the fact that people aren't living where the light rail goes anymore.

If anything, the argument can be made that a fixed rail system itself would begin to dictate which areas grow and become or remain desirable.
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Old 10-18-2013, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,201,334 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by that412 View Post
How much do you think living patterns will change in the next few decades? There's no way it would be so much that a given fixed-rail line planned today would somehow become totally obsolete in that time period. If they do, it'd most likely be because something catastrophic has happened, and then we'd have much bigger problems than the fact that people aren't living where the light rail goes anymore.
.

Maybe not totally obsolete, but its uncertain which areas will go into relative decline or become booming within the lifetime of the LTR system. The old Pittsburgh Railways had streetcars running to little Washington, to Trafford and beyond, as well as other outlying areas that fell in popularity. Most were replaced by buses, but could they efficiently have been maintained as fixed rail routes if they only have a half dozen trips a day nowadays.

I think a case can be made for Pittsburgh to Oakland, and a few other highly dense areas that are very unlikely to decline much, but committing to such a large system considering the future is pretty much unknown. The future, for all that we know, might mean very few wanting to come into Pittsburgh from Cranberry on any kind of a regular basis, if home offices start to predominate or Butler County really starts to boom.
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Old 10-18-2013, 06:39 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
6,327 posts, read 9,099,328 times
Reputation: 4048
I saw it. I really wish this could become reality.
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Old 10-18-2013, 07:51 PM
 
11,086 posts, read 8,498,033 times
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Sending the Library route only to Mt. Oliver and the South Side, Shadyside, East Liberty, etc. is not a good idea.

Everyone from the South Hills would disembark at South Hills Junction to catch another train.
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Old 10-18-2013, 08:58 PM
 
Location: North Oakland
9,150 posts, read 10,826,539 times
Reputation: 14503
Quote:
Originally Posted by airwave09 View Post
This is the more detailed version of the map, shows exactly what streets and rail lines these routes would be utilizing.
Is that S. Negley Avenue you'd be taking from Wilkins Avenue down to Fifth (the turquoise line)? It'd suck trying to get something like the T up that hill with a carload of passengers. I don't even want to think about it in winter or wet weather.

Also, they spelled Coraopolis wrong. And please, please, please, Mr. Map Man, just Pitt, not U Pitt.
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