Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus riders in Aspinwall may lose access to the South Side and the Strip District, but gain stops in Lawrenceville, Bloomfield and Downtown Pittsburgh as part of a bus line redesign project.

Riders would also see 20- to 30-mile trips shortened and increased direct connections to neighborhoods instead of having to catch connecting routes Downtown as part of proposed efforts to increase efficiency and provide better quality trips.

Those changes and others were explained at a community meeting at the Aspinwall borough building Nov. 6.

PRT senior planners Jake Stockman, Ben Nicklow and associate project manager Jahd Burns led the discussion in what was one of more than 20 public engagements in a bus line redesign process.

“We’re looking not only at where the need is greatest, but also where there are opportunities to link people to their daily needs,” Stockman said.

“That means hospitals. That means grocery stores. That means employment and also in some cases recreation. … There are more neighborhood-t0-neighborhood connections than we’ve had in the past. That Downtown service is still strong, but it’s less than an emphasis than in the past.”

New route classifications

The redesign of bus routes also would come with rebranding. Those proposed classifications are as follows:

• Routes that begin/end in Downtown would start with a D.

• Routes that begin/end in Oakland would start with an O.

• Routes that primarily connect between neighborhoods and transit hubs would start with an N.

• Routes that operate limited service such as peak commuter hours would start with an L.

What is and what may be

There are three PRT bus routes through Aspinwall: the 91, 1 and 75. The first two go Downtown and the 75 goes to Oakland.

The 1 would be replaced with D5, which would start in Harmar, make its way to Aspinwall and a few other communities before getting to Downtown.

The 75 would become the D96, meaning it would go Downtown in addition to Oakland in a different route.

The 91 would become the D81 and go to Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Oakland and the Hill District.

Aspinwall also would gain the N92 route as part of the proposed changes. That includes service from VA Heinz Campus to East Liberty via Homewood, Lincoln-Lemington and Aspinwall.

The current and proposed routes, as well as other proposed changes, are available for review at buslineredesign.com.

A transit hub would be created in the Waterworks Mall to accommodate the routes.

Aspinwall resident Steve Kochanowski said most of the changes were all well and good, but what PRT needs to focus on is having the buses run on time and make more routes available in the late evenings.

“It’s not as much as the people going out as it is the people that work,” Kochanowski said.

He said he knows a lot of people who work in Lawrenceville restaurants, area hospitals and other locations and is worried about them not being able to make it home.

Kochanowski recalled at least one bus being not available after 10 p.m., and some friends regularly work until midnight or later.

“If they can’t get back home, why are they going to take a job down here? It then becomes more about not just the bus. It becomes a staffing issue, stuff like that.”

Burns said it is that kind of feedback the trio is looking for during the community engagement events.

“There’s a lot of feedback that we’re going to be able to use from this and really make the (routes) work better for everybody,” he said.

Nicklow said there will be more pop-ups and community engagements through January to get more public input.

A revised draft of the bus network is expected to be released in the spring and the public input process would begin again.

“We have to get things approved by our executives and our board (after that),” Nicklow said. “The soonest that would be is 2026. We may even be getting ahead of ourselves. Right now, we’re just draft one, getting your opinions tonight.”

Burns said the rollout of the changes would eventually be done in phases in order to make any necessary adjustments and infrastructure upgrades.

Aspinwall Councilman Mark Chimel said he regularly takes the bus to work at Carnegie Mellon University. He shared Kochanowski’s concerns about timing.

“Buses don’t necessarily run on time,” Chimel said. “Overall, I would say they run pretty well. The 75 can get very busy in the evenings on the way home from work. Sometimes the bus coming home would be full, and you have to wait up to 40 minutes for another bus.”

The PRT meeting took place right before council’s workshop session.

Chimel said it was important for the borough to provide an opportunity for residents to learn about what the transit company plans to do and how it may impact them.

“I think the main thing is making sure the buses and where they’re going and how often they’re going is able to meet demand,” Chimel said.

“It sounds like they are doing some of that and looking at the data, and looking at where people and where people might not be going to eliminate and consolidate some routes. … So far, from what I saw, it could be beneficial for us.”

Aspinwall residents and other riders who were unable to make it to the November meeting can still have their voices heard.

They can call 412-442-2000, share comments via email to buslineredesigns@rideprt.org or download a survey at buslineredesign.com and send it to the PRT Downtown Service Center at 623 Smithfield St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

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