By MARTY LEVINE
New EV chargers installed or planned, new access to Carnegie Mellon shuttles and a banner year for bike sharing mark the latest developments from Pitt’s Mobility office.
This past November, eight new charging stations were added to the Schenley Garage for use by parking permit holders as well as Pitt’s fleet vehicles. The University also is considering more locations for EV chargers in the near future. Mobility’s design team will determine the number of new outlets for each:
• U lot (at the VA Medical Center): Final design is underway, with planned installation in March or April 2024.
• Panther Hollow lot: Funding, if acquired, will allow installation toward the end of the semester.
• RA Lot (Ruskin Hall lot) and LS Garage (at School of Computing and Information on N. Bellefield Avenue): Summer installations are anticipated, once approvals are finalized.
In a reciprocal agreement, Pitt students, faculty and staff can now ride the Carnegie Mellon University fixed-route shuttles for free by showing their Pitt IDs upon entry. Pitt community members can view the CMU shuttles on the TransLoc app by going to Settings/Agency Preferences/Carnegie Mellon and sliding the Visible button.
Finally, Bike Share Pittsburgh (now known as POGOH) set a yearly ridership record with more than 200,000 trips in 2023. Pitt riders took the majority of them — more than 110,000. Launched in 2019, POGOH offers free use on trips under 30 minutes for all students, staff and faculty at its 60 stations with 600 bikes (more than half electric-assist versions) across Pittsburgh.
Eight of the 10 most used POGOH stations in 2023 were on or near the Pitt campus:
1. S. Bouquet Ave and Sennott Sts
2. Boulevard of the Allies and Parkview Ave.
3. Forbes Ave. and Schenley Dr.
4. O’Hara St. and University Place
5. N. Dithridge St. and Centre Ave.
6. Zulema St. and Coltart St.
7. S. 27th St. and Sidney St.
8. Atwood St. and Bates St.
9. Schenley Dr. and Schenley Dr. extension
10. Ivy St. and Walnut St.
Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.
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