Starting Oct. 1, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) will change four bus routes that come through Oakland to prepare for construction of the Bus Rapid Transit system that will connect downtown and Oakland.
The 61D-Murray, 71A-Negley, 71C-Point Breeze, and 71D-Hamilton will end their inbound trips in Oakland and will no longer serve uptown and downtown Pittsburgh. Their innermost point will be Craft Avenue in Oakland, and will no longer directly serve the Uptown and Downtown neighborhoods.
Riders who currently take the 61D, 71A, 71C or 71D to uptown or downtown can instead take the 61A-North Braddock, 61B-Braddock-Swissvale, 61C-McKeesport-Homestead or 71B-Highland Park bus routes or transfer to these routes in Oakland. Transfers are free for three hours for riders who use a ConnectCard or a mobile ticket.
To support these changes, PRT will add service on routes 82-Lincoln, 87-Friendship, and the P7-McKeesport Flyer, each of which share portions of their service areas with the shortened routes.
Construction on the downtown portion of the University Line, the first part of the BRT project, began Sept. 13. Work started on Fifth Avenue between Liberty Avenue and Market Street, adjacent to Triangle Park. The contractor will be working weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The initial work includes relocating and replacing water and sewer infrastructure.
Bus stop closed
Pittsburgh Regional Transit says the outbound bus stop on Forbes Avenue next to Hillman Library will be out of service during the final phase of the library reconstruction project, which started this summer and is expected to take approximately two years.
A PRT spokesman said it’s likely that a new PRTX station next to Schenley Plaza, serving the new Bus Rapid Transit University Line, will open before the space next to Hillman is available for a stop.
For now, riders can get on/off buses outside Barco Law Library (across from Dunkin’) or the Carnegie Library (near the Dippy the Dinosaur statue).
— Susan Jones
Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.