Huge shock: Mon-Fayette Expressway is a disaster. (Pittsburgh, McKeesport: amusement park, houses)

[Velvet Jones]

Unfortunate, as this is the piece of the road that would actually make the whole highway useful. The problem is that current section bypasses an area that really isn't that bad to travel through. Once you cross the river on 51 it is fairly smooth sailings. It the part between the tunnels and the county line that is horrible. I use to travel that every day for four years. It was torture. Still, never say never. That little section between Brownsville and I70 sat there by itself for over a decade. Eventually it will get finished.

[Impala26]

Yeah you're probably right. If the rapid bus program were implemented correctly, it could be a big hit. I still tend to think however that there has to be unique ideas considered to try to encourage exclusive drivers to use transit. Making buses more attractive in some way would be money well spent in my mind. You have to make them a viable alternative to the automobile for people to consider using them.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Impala26

Yeah you're probably right. If the rapid bus program were implemented correctly, it could be a big hit. I still tend to think however that there has to be unique ideas considered to try to encourage exclusive drivers to use transit. Making buses more attractive in some way would be money well spent in my mind. You have to make them a viable alternative to the automobile for people to consider using them.

People in Squirrel Hill already use quite a bit of transit, and since it is an easy drive to Oakland/Downtown, I suspect at the margins it is really a matter of pricing more than anything else (if parking and/or gas prices go up, I suspect even less people from Squirrel Hill would drive).

That said, the periodic overcrowding on the 61s from Squirrel Hill to Oakland has to be discouraging some potential riders, and the total time from Squirrel Hill to Downtown also has to be discouraging some potential riders. If Rapid Bus can address those issues, it should be pretty successful at increasing Squirrel Hill ridership.

Edit: Oh, and Zipcars! With decent public transit and a lot more Zipcars, Squirrel Hill would become a great neighborhood for those who wanted to be carless. Conversely, that is one of the big barriers to getting some drivers: if they need a car occasionally and therefore own one, then they figure that if they already are paying for a car they ought to use it daily. But if they don't need to own one in order to use one periodically, that effect can be greatly diminished.

[Impala26]

Yeah, I suppose I'm not exactly concerned about Squirrel Hill riders. Generally East-Enders are accustomed to riding buses. I'm more concerned about some growing second and third ring suburbs within the county. In order to address those issues, I think more park-and-rides need to be added and current ones expanded. Things like the P10 Allegheny Flyer need to be advertised as a comfortable way of avoid obnoxious Route 28 traffic. The Port Authority needs to advertise better, especially in light of such negative perceptions. Combining modes is an excellent way of dealing with traffic, but I think it needs to be advertised better. I combine bike and bus all the time, but then again I live close to the city and only own my bike and no car.

[Impala26]

Originally Posted by Velvet Jones

Unfortunate, as this is the piece of the road that would actually make the whole highway useful. The problem is that current section bypasses an area that really isn't that bad to travel through. Once you cross the river on 51 it is fairly smooth sailings. It the part between the tunnels and the county line that is horrible. I use to travel that every day for four years. It was torture. Still, never say never. That little section between Brownsville and I70 sat there by itself for over a decade. Eventually it will get finished.

You're quite right in this regard. The issue is that the Hazelwood LTV site is such a large tract of land so close to Downtown and Oakland and in this day and age people are more interested in seeing useful development rather than more highway. People have a vested interest in the MFE because it could serve as a bypass for the Squirrel Hill Tunnel congestion, but I just don't see that being as practical for how much money would need to be spent. I would rather see a lively Hazelwood than a new highway.

[BrianTH]

You're absolutely right about PAT needing to rebrand its commuter services, in addition to improving them. Of course again higher parking costs, higher fuel prices, more congestion, and so on are likely to help.

[bradjl2009]

So can someone here tell me what the difference between a regular bus route and a rapid bus route would be?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Impala26

You're quite right in this regard. The issue is that the Hazelwood LTV site is such a large tract of land so close to Downtown and Oakland and in this day and age people are more interested in seeing useful development rather than more highway. People have a vested interest in the MFE because it could serve as a bypass for the Squirrel Hill Tunnel congestion, but I just don't see that being as practical for how much money would need to be spent. I would rather see a lively Hazelwood than a new highway.

Absolutely, and there is also little reason to believe the MFE would do much in the long run to reduce congestion along I-376 anyway.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

So can someone here tell me what the difference between a regular bus route and a rapid bus route would be?

There is a spectrum of things they could incorporate. More frequent routing with fewer stops is the baseline. To that you can add things like signal prioritization and dedicated buslanes (which can be just at congested intersections or continuous). You can use nicer/distinctive vehicles and distinctive stops, perhaps enclosed with off-board fare collection and loading platforms (which reduces dwell times).

As PAT has described it, they plan to phase in this stuff as funding becomes available, and presumably they wouldn't do everything on every route all at once.

[neurodistortion]

Even if they build the rest of the highway, the only businesses that will really benefit from it would be Kennywood and the Waterfront. I also believe that people from the Morgantown area are more likely to use I-79 to get to the South Hills area of Pittsburgh rather than the toll road.