Feasibility of Living w/o a car in Pittsburgh (Liberty: for rent, neighborhoods)

[ElphinKnight]

My wife and I are in our early/mid-30s, and recently relocated to South Carolina (from Michigan) for her career. She works in health care and I hold a Master's degree and work in higher education (while also pursuing a writing career). I won't complain here; I'll just say this relocation has been a huge mistake because of the culture difference and our preference for compact cities.

In about 15 months her contract ends and we... are... outta here! At which point we want to move to a compact city, and have considered Chicago (too big?), Boston (too expensive?), and Portland Oregon (too far from family?). One we hadn't considered until very recently was Pittsburgh. My father's family actually originates from 95 miles outside of Pittsburgh; my wife and I have friends in Michigan who are originally from Pittsburgh and intend to return there in the next 18 months.

Now that you know my life's story... My wife and I want to live in a lively city with lots of cultural options, an attitude of open-mindedness (leaning liberal), and most importantly walkable neighborhoods with good access to public transit. I've seen some photos of the Mexican Streets area and Lawrenceville. If they have good non-car livability, that's really our ideal.

So my question to locals is: are there areas in Pittsburgh to live in this way, with walkable neighborhoods, local shopping, and public transit around the city?

Thank you for any help or ideas you can provide.
- Brandon

[desibhar]

There are a lot of options for you. If you are planning to live and work in the city of Pittsburgh, I would recommend checking out Squirrel Hill and Shadyside. These areas are very open minded with lots of young people and lots of walkable areas, with accessible transit options. Good luck in your search.

[fleetiebelle]

I drive, but a good number of my friends and coworkers don't own cars and get around fine. Most of them live in the East End--neighborhoods like Bloomfield, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, and Regent Square.

[dugdogmaster]

Pittsburgh is definitely livable without a vehicle, however, many residents still have one. The busing system is pretty decent, the light rail is decent in the south hills and downtown, no extension into the east end yet though. And just about every major neighborhood is walkable and shoppable.

[BrianTH]

Yep, there are a lot of walkable neighborhoods with good transit access in Pittsburgh. As others noted many are concentrated in the East End, but you could also look at some of the neighborhoods around Downtown, like the South Side, the Strip District, and parts of the North Side.

[Staash]

Originally Posted by ElphinKnight

Now that you know my life's story... My wife and I want to live in a lively city with lots of cultural options, an attitude of open-mindedness (leaning liberal), and most importantly walkable neighborhoods with good access to public transit. I've seen some photos of the Mexican Streets area and Lawrenceville. If they have good non-car livability, that's really our ideal.

So my question to locals is: are there areas in Pittsburgh to live in this way, with walkable neighborhoods, local shopping, and public transit around the city?

The majority of the residents in the city proper are liberal; the conservatives tend to live in the suburbs. Generally speaking, however, both the liberals and conservatives in the greater Pittsburgh area are relatively centrist in comparison to, let's say, liberals in San Francisco or conservatives in rural Texas.

As for the feasibility of living in Pittsburgh without a car, I managed to do it for over 6 years. When I worked at CMU, I lived in Shadyside and later in the South Side. Now I work and live in Squirrel Hill. I'm a bachelor in my late twenties, so my situation is a bit different than yours, but not drastically so.

Public transportation is surprisingly good for a city this size, provided that you don't mind taking the bus. Light rail is mostly used to get downtown from the suburbs. If you work in Oakland or Downtown, you're set, as these are the central hubs of the public transportation infrastructure. If you work in another neighborhood, it gets a bit hairier because you'll most likely need two trips to get where you're going (one to downtown/oakland, one to your destination). Still, it's doable. Working outside the city is a different story.

For walkable neighborhoods, my personal preference is Squirrel Hill. It has restaurants, movie theaters, multiple grocery stores, coffee shops, retail stores, and a few bars. Some of my octogenarian neighbors still do all their shopping and socializing without the benefit of an automobile. All the things you'd need, and most of the things you'd want, won't require a drive.

South Side is very much the same way, especially with the addition of the South Side Works. It's a younger area than Squirrel Hill, and the main street is packed with bars, so it naturally gets pretty wild on weekends. If you enjoy that, or don't mind it, then it's a great place to live. If you prefer peace and calm, I'd recommend Squirrel Hill.

Shadyside is also pretty walkable, especially if you can afford to buy groceries at the upscale deli on Walnut Street. If not, you're going to have to cross the busway and head to Whole Foods or Giant Eagle, a walk that isn't fun when you're hauling a sack of potatoes,a gallon of milk, and three other bags of food. The shopping is very upscale, so if you're on a budget you'll find yourself taking the bus to Downtown or the Waterfront to buy commodity household items at a reasonable price (at least anything that the Rite-Aid on Walnut street doesn't carry).

Personally, I'd stay away from Lawrenceville and the Mexican War Streets, although I'm sure many here would beg to differ. I consider a neighborhood "walkable" if I feel totally safe walking large distances alone late at night, and I don't really get that vibe in the North Side or Larryville. For rents similar to Lawrenceville, I would check out Bloomfield instead. In many ways, I consider it to be more "walkable" than Shadyside (a local hardware store is a huge convenience when you don't have a car).

[K-Bear]

Before we lived to MD, DH and I lived in Shadyside (at this point in our lives, we were DINKS).

We had one car and it only got used on the weekends. DH worked in Oakland and walked to his job (he enjoyed the exercise) and on very cold/rainy days he would take the bus. I would take the bus into the city for my job. We lived a few blocks away from a grocery store, so usually could walk to the grocery store. Lived a few blocks in the other direction from the main shopping street, so could walk to restaurants/stores.

The car was nice for the weekends though when we wanted to go to Target, movies (although Squirrel Hill does have a movie theatre that you could walk to if you live in that neighborhood), the malls.

Like others have mentioned, if you live in Shadyside/Squirrel Hill you probably wouldn't need a car.

That being said - does Pittsburgh have FlexCar/Zip Car now?

[Staash]

Originally Posted by K-Bear

B
That being said - does Pittsburgh have FlexCar/Zip Car now?

Yup. Last time I looked though, there weren't very many vehicles available. Of course, that was in January, before 4 dollar a gallon gas...

[Agbor]

Pittsburgh does have FlexCar now...

[dugdogmaster]

Ooh, ooh, let's not forget Bloomfield(Little Italy), it's close to Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, East Liberty, Frienship, Polish Hill, Lawrenceville and The Strip, and Downtown is just a short 5-10 minute bus ride away. Very very walkable, great Italian grocers and such. I'm ****, I'm biased

Edit: I can't believe they starred out d a g o, what the heck?