BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Steel Plaza for both! You just leave the station towards 6th ave to pick up the busway (Grant St in front of US Steel) Or go through the Mellon building to Ross St to get to Oakland

Thanks, I think I Got it: Grant St at US Steel for busway trips on (P1, P2 , P68, P71) OR Ross at 5th for oakland trips (61A, 61B, 61C, 61D toward Sq Hill and 71A, 71B, 71C, 71D toward shadyside / highland park / east liberty)

It's ashame we have to ask this question. It should go further to cover some fraction of the east busway scenarios, but that the T doesn't link our two biggest economic centers (downtown and Oakland) at the very least is a cruel joke. I'm told there was a chance in the past, but the window closed and it would now cost something obscene (order of 2 billion!??) to do. Is that right? Why??

Semi-related question: I've used the East Busway stop from Penn Station many times. I always see the train tracks (not the Amtrack lines on the other side of the busway) behind Penn Station B & C stops and wonder, where do they go? Did there used to be a T route that connected to Penn Station? Why are those lines no longer used?

I've recently become a big fan of transferring in the underpass at the "Fifth and Sixth" stop, though mostly coming from Oakland since to go outbound you would have to loop all the way through town. The lines at Penn Park station go down to the disused platforms at Steel Plaza. Around 1999-2000 I believe there were around 1-2 trips scheduled daily. http://www.lightrail.com/photos/pittsburgh/PennPark2.jpg No idea why it was discontinued, except to think of low ridership (though it might be a latent demand issue). For a number of years they had special service on the day of the St. Patrick's parade to accommodate street closures.

Wood Street is also close to the route of the 61/71s, but the elevators there make it harder to get a bike in and out. I agree Steel Plaza is better. Plus if you want to get out of the rain, the inbound Sixth at Fifth stop is under a building. I think the Penn Station T connection was originally going to include a pedestrian walkway right into the convention center, but that was cut for budget reasons.

If heading into Oakland you could also disembark the T at Station SQ, then ride the bike east thru SS to 18th/22nd and hop on a 54, or ride a bit further to the Southside Works and hop a 75 (which goes further into the east end).

Let me second the idea of getting off at Station Square and riding a bit to your connection. Having to carry your bike up and out of the downtown stops can be a hassle, especially if your panniers are loaded down. At Station Square you can just roll off the T.

I've never carried my bike on or off the T. I just take the elevator. Even the small elevator at Wood Street is manageable, if a bit tricky. The main disadvantage of the 75 or 54 is service frequency, which varies from every 20 to every 50 minutes. Downtown, service to Oakland is theoretically every 2-4 minutes almost all the time.

Mr. Destructicity wrote:Let me second the idea of getting off at Station Square and riding a bit to your connection. Having to carry your bike up and out of the downtown stops can be a hassle, especially if your panniers are loaded down. At Station Square you can just roll off the T.

I wonder if T stations are at all good candidates for bike rails on stairs?

ieverhart wrote:I’ve recently become a big fan of transferring in the underpass at the “Fifth and Sixth” stop, though mostly coming from Oakland since to go outbound you would have to loop all the way through town. The lines at Penn Park station go down to the disused platforms at Steel Plaza. Around 1999-2000 I believe there were around 1-2 trips scheduled daily. http://www.lightrail.com/photos/pittsburgh/PennPark2.jpg No idea why it was discontinued, except to think of low ridership (though it might be a latent demand issue). For a number of years they had special service on the day of the St. Patrick’s parade to accommodate street closures.

Have to agree - it would be very nice if the Penn Station line were still open.