The comment period is now open on service changes needed for Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s upcoming Bus Rapid Transit project along Fifth and Forbes avenues between downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland.

The plan calls for a core service operated across five bus routes that go east to Highland Park, Wilkinsburg, Braddock and McKeesport. Current regular bus routes 61A, 61B, 61C, 71B and P3 will become BRT routes.

Four other bus routes — the 61D, 71A, 71C and 71D — will turn around earlier, with their innermost point becoming Craft Avenue in Oakland, and will no longer directly serve the Uptown and Downtown neighborhoods. 

A fifth bus route, the P3, will be shortened on its outer end to only go as far west as Wilkinsburg Station along the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway and will no longer serve the Swissvale and Rankin communities along the outer edge of the busway. Additionally, the P3 route will be extended from its current inbound/eastern terminus in the Oakland neighborhoods into Uptown and Downtown. Weekend service also will be added on the P3 route. 

Construction is expected to begin this summer on the nearly $300 million BRT project, starting with the downtown loop. The project will use dedicated bus lanes in both directions, improve safety with the addition of wider sidewalks and bike lanes, and upgrade existing infrastructure throughout the corridor. There will be 23 new transit stations constructed within the corridor.

There also will be minor changes to other bus routes. The changes are expected to go into effect as early as June 2023 to coincide with the first phase of construction.

To help riders better understand the changes, staff from PRT’s Planning & Service Development Department will provide an overview and answer questions at an online information session at 6 p.m. Jan. 10 in advance of three public hearings on Jan. 18.

To register for the Jan. 10 information session, call 412-442-2000 or fill out the form on the PRT website.  The informational session will be recorded and placed on the www.rideprt.org website following the session. No official public comments will be accepted at the information session.

The public hearings will be at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Jan. 18 in-person at Pittsburgh Regional Transit board room, 345 Sixth Ave., 5th floor, and 6 p.m. the same day online or phone only. To register to speak at the in-person sessions or attend the online event, call 412-442-2000 or fill out the form on the PRT website. Registration for the public hearings will close at 5 p.m. Jan. 17.

The public also can comment through 5 p.m. Feb. 1 via any of the following ways:

1) Written comments submitted online at www.rideprt.org/brtcomments

2) Written comment sent by U.S. mail or hand delivery to:

Pittsburgh Regional Transit
Attn: BRT Service Changes
Heinz 57 Center, 345 Sixth Ave., Third Floor
Pittsburgh PA 15222

3) Oral comment by calling 412-566-5335 and leaving a message on a recorded line