West Hills residents can learn about plans to refresh the Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s bus network during a virtual community meeting that will take place Monday, April 13 .
And to hear PRT officials talk, residents who use the system are going to like what they hear.
Details will be made available at Monday’s 5:30 p.m. meeting, which will be co-hosted by the Airport Corridor Transportation Association (ACTA). The focus of the meeting will be on changes that would affect riders in the western suburbs resulting from the PRT’s so-called Bus Line Refresh and give those in attendance an opportunity to ask questions about the new plan.
Those interested in attending the one-hour virtual meeting must register here.
Emily Provonsha, PRT’s manager of service development, said the proposed Bus Line Refresh would result in improved service for those living in the West Hills.
According to the PRT website, major route changes and new connections for the western suburbs include:
- All routes operating on the West Busway will now serve all stops in both directions
- A new connection between Carnegie Station and the airport on the X28, as well as between Carnegie, all West Busway stations, Oakland and East Liberty
- Eliminating the Robinson Town Centre stop on X28 to improve the airport connection, and replace the connection to Robinson with the D24, D25 and D29, each of which would operate at 30-minute frequencies
- A new weekend connection between Robert Morris University and Robinson Town Centre
“We’re adding a lot more service to the area,” Provonsha said, “and frequency would be improved on multiple routes.”
Provonsha said that many existing routes that run every 45 minutes would run every 30 minutes if the new plan is implemented. A detailed look at the new plan can be found here.
Provonsha said another change that is proposed is providing a connection between McKees Rocks and the Crafton-Ingram Shopping Center. That’s being done by extending the D27, which now ends at Fairywood, to McKees Rocks.
Provonsha said some segments on existing routes would be eliminated in the new plan because it had to be cost-neutral. One segment that would be discontinued if the plan were adopted would be on the existing 20-Kennedy route that includes a stop at Long Valley Drive, a segment that Provonsha said has very low ridership.
“There are other lines that cover the rest of that route,” Provonsha said.
Provonsha said she’s hoping for a good turnout from folks in the West Hills because there are plenty of changes in store for the area according to the second draft of the plan, which is more than two years in the making.
“We’ve seen ridership growth in this area,” Provonsha said, referring to the western suburbs. “A lot of it is coming into the city and going out of the city.”
PRT’s original revision plan was more of an overhaul of the existing service and was branded as a Bus Line Redesign. But after sifting through more than 16,000 public comments, PRT officials chose to go in a different direction.
Provonsha said riders told PRT it would make more sense to keep the elements that worked well rather than scrap the entire system and start from scratch.
Hence the movement to refresh the system, rather than redesign it.
Now, Provonsha said, officials are focusing on the aspects of the system that have not worked well and are trying to remedy those with the refresh.
PRT is planning to host more than 60 public events to get the word out on the refresh, and those who aren’t able to attend can submit comments online. That public comment period will end by the end of May. Public hearings are scheduled to take place in June and July and officials hope to submit the final plan to the PRT board in the fall. If approved, the changes would be implemented in 2027.
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