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Pittsburgh transit and expected costs


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 25 May 2015 - 05:14 PM

In this thread I will give a quick lesson on the transit system in Pittsburgh, as well as discuss what costs you can expect while our Fest group is in town.
 
Pittsburgh's transit agency is known as Port Authority of Allegheny County. They were formerly known as Port Authority Transit (and even shorter as PATransit), and as such their acronym was PAT.  Throughout this document and over the course of Fest preparation and the post-Fest reporting, I will still refer to them as PAT. (This is to distinguish it from other agencies that have Port Authority in their name, and also from the postal abbreviation of the state that PAT is in.)
 
PAT runs an extensive bus system, including local routes and some limited and express/flyer routes. They were a pioneer in Bus Rapid Transit, as they have exclusive busways fanning out in many directions from downtown. While they have had a few iterations of commuter rail in the past, none currently exists.  There are studies to bring new commuter rail to the Allegheny Valley Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railroad corridors. 
 
Pittsburgh had a number of funiculars in its history, but only two of them remain.  The Monongahela Incline is owned and operated by PAT, and it runs from Station Square to the top of Mount Washington.  The Duquesne Incline is further west, and it runs from Carson Street to a different part of Mount Washington. Duquesne is now owned by PAT, but it is operated by a separate non-profit organization.
 
They do have a light rail network oriented mostly to communities south of Pittsburgh. They are remnants of older interurban lines.  The old trolley routes in downtown Pittsburgh were replaced in the mid-1980's with a subway.  South of downtown Pittsburgh, all light rail trains cross the Panhandle Bridge over the Monongahela River, and then through the Mount Washington Tunnel between Station Square and South Hills Junction.   At South Hills Junction, the system splits into two routes -- one via Beechview and the other via Overbrook.  The two come together again at Overbrook Junction, and run together to Washington Junction.  South of Washington Junction there are two branches again, one to Library and the other to South Hills Village.  The old trolley lines, even after they were converted to modern light rail, were integrated with the PAT's bus numbering system. The Beechview route was known as the 42 line (with suffixes for route variants), and the Overbrook route was the 47 line, again with suffixes to denote short turns and the two southern branches.  There was also a route via Allentown known as the 52 line which ran as a streetcar over Mount Washington between the Panhandle Bridge and South Hills Junction.
 
Only the light rail system is known for short as "The T".  The moniker does not apply to any local or express bus routes, nor the inclines.
 
In a total system route renumbering in April of 2010, the 42 line via Beechview became the Red Line, the 47 via Overbrook became the Blue Line, and the 52 Allentown route over the hill became the Brown Line.  Busway routes were color coded as well, with the Martin Luther King East Busway becoming Purple (and all of its routes getting P prefixes), West Busway as Green (G prefixes), South Busway as Yellow (Y prefixes), and there is also an Orange Line (O prefixes) along an HOV lane on the I-279 freeway.
 
The Brown Line via Allentown did not have much service, with only a few rush hour trips on the timetable towards its demise. It ended up being short-lived under that name. In a sweeping 15% service cut in March of 2011, the Brown Line was totally eliminated, with its service covered by bus.  The infrastructure however has remained, as the route is needed when there are breakdowns or scheduled service upgrades in the Mount Washington Tunnel. While this route takes about 8 minutes longer than the route via the tunnel, it still serves as a functional detour for the Red and Blue Lines when needed.
 
Another line whose trackage still exists but sees no regular service is branch off the downtown subway between Steel Plaza and Penn Station. This is a single-track branch that was intended to someday feed a light rail line that would eventually replace the Martin Luther King East Busway, which ends by Penn Station.  Only very select rush hour trips ran on this branch instead of to the Gateway terminus, and it is used once in a while for special events.  PAT cited its limited ridership and capacity as reasons for its removal from service. Because it runs underneath the US Steel Tower, its expansion to 2 tracks is blocked by building supports.
 
You may also have heard of the Drake Line, which had the designation 47D.  The Drake Line, which branched off the South Hills Village line, was the last to use old PCC cars. It ran to a relatively rural area, the last vestige of a line further south to Washington, PA.  The PCC's ran to downtown at one point, but in its later years it ran as a shuttle either to Washington Junction or a now defunct loop at Castle Shannon. It was not deemed cost effective to upgrade this line for modern light rail vehicles, so when PCC cars were retired in 1999 and sold to museums, the line was replaced by buses.
 
The modern day Blue Line runs alternately to endpoints at either Library or South Hills Village.  The Red Line on weekdays during most hours terminates in Castle Shannon at the Overbrook Junction station.  The station at Overbrook Junction is along the Red Line only, but there is a walkway between there at the Willow station along the Blue Line to allow for transfers.   During weekends and only selected (Non-rush hour) times of the day on weekdays, the Red Line is extended to the South Hills Village terminus.
 
In March of 2012, the downtown end of the line, which previously ended at Gateway Center, was extended through a tunnel under the Allegheny River to the growing North Side district. Two stations there serve sports stadiums, hotels, museums, and a casino.  All trains now proceed through downtown to the new endpoint at the Allegheny station.  This short extension may one day be further extended to the northern suburbs, or west to Pittsburgh International Airport.
 
Now that you know the basics of the system, fare discussion is coming up next.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ


#2 KevinKorell

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Posted 15 June 2015 - 08:14 PM

PAT has a very complex fare system. It is difficult to figure out with all of the various zone, time-of-day, and light rail surcharges.  This is all complicated by the fact that PAT has no unlimited day pass instrument where all of this would normally become transparent. So there is in fact a smart card known as ConnectCard, which depends on value loaded.  The problem will be determining exactly how much value to load on this card.

 

The base fare for any ride, whether it be a bus, an incline, or the light rail (within one zone) is $2.50. The light rail has a zone boundary at Washington Junction; whenever that station is crossed the second zone costs an additional $1.25. So a full ride from anywhere downtown or North Side to one of the southern branches of the Blue Line will cost $3.75.  While our travels should avoid the surcharges added during the flow of the rush hour (northbound in the morning, southbound in the evening), for your own information please note that there is an additional 75 cent surcharge above those amounts regardless of how many zones are passed through.  To make a transfer between light rail lines, between light rail and bus, between light rail and incline, etc. there is a $1 transfer charge which serves as a first zone fare on the second vehicle.

 

One bit of  good news is that travel on light rail within the downtown area is free, as is light rail travel between downtown and the North Side.  So in effect one only needs to worry about fares if travel is involved south of the Monongahela River.

 

And another piece of good news is that Senior Citizens (age 65 or over) with a Medicare Card do not need to worry about fares at all; they travel for free. Thus no ConnectCard will be needed.

 

I put together a Pittsburgh-only version of the itinerary, adding a column for fares.  Based on the information as I understand it, I've come up with what I believe the various segments will cost, taking into consideration the transfer fees, zone charges, etc. Please note that this is not an exact science, and that what it ends up costing us may be more or less than this estimate. You may choose to put more on the ConnectCard to cover what potentially could be more than this amount, or you could put less on the card and opt to add value as needed. Or if we all end up with too much, we could "burn" it off by either taking another Incline ride after dark, or re-riding some of the light rail.  In addition, costs may vary based on what we ultimately choose to do about dinner, as there may be more or less one-seat rides involved.

 

Thanks to Penny for making several phone calls to this agency to find out the answers to some of the questions that this complex fare structure causes.



Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ




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