Port Authority of Allegheny County - Future - Transit Development Plan

Transit Development Plan

The Transit Development Plan (TDP) was approved by the Port Authority Board of Directors on October 23, 2009, and seeks vast and dramatic improvements of the Port Authority's service. Many of the changes are drastic, and virtually every aspect of the system is to be modified in some way. A major rationale behind the service redesign is to better meet demand due to population shifts in the area. The Transit Development Plan is also expected to make service easier to understand, eliminate route variants, consolidate stops, run buses and light rail vehicles on clockface headways, and reduce the number of non-revenue bus and light rail trips.

The fare system is to be simplified under the Transit Development Plan. The previous system of (not counting the downtown Free Fare Zone) three main zones and two transition zones was simplified into two fare-paying zones with the downtown Free Fare Zone left intact. The 2B transition zone and Zone Three merged into Zone Two on January 1, 2010. Furthermore, the Port Authority plans on introducing smart cards for fare payment in the near future. This plan is proceeding; a pilot plan, testing the smart cards with the new fareboxes used by Port Authority employees was completed successfully. University of Pittsburgh students began using their smart card university IDs August 1, 2011. The Port Authority will begin transitioning customers using its regular fare products to smart cards in early 2012. A slight fare increase was the first change undertaken as a part of the TDP, as the Zone Two fare increased by fifteen cents and transfers increased by quarter on January 1, 2010; however, the Zone One fare remained at $2.

The route system used by the Port Authority will be radically altered by the TDP. The number of active routes used by the Port Authority will be reduced from 186 routes to 124 routes; however, transit service levels of will remain the same or actually increase for the vast majority of Port Authority riders under the plan. Many routes that duplicate service will be consolidated, and system-wide service levels will actually increase by eight percent.

The current numbering conventions are also slated to change dramatically. Light rail lines, bus routes that travel solely on one of the busways, and bus routes that spend part of their route on a busway are to be renumbered according to a color-coded system. Light rail lines via Beechview are to be a part of the Red Line, light rail lines via Overbrook are to be a part of the Blue Line, and the light rail line via Allentown is to be a part of the Brown Line. For the busway system, all routes using the East Busway are to get a purple designation, all routes using the West Busway are to get a green designation, all routes using the South Busway are to get a yellow designation, and all routes using the Interstate 279 HOV lane are to get an orange designation. For example, the AV Allegheny Valley Flyer, which spends part of its route on the East Busway, is re-designated the P10 Allegheny Valley under this system (with the P standing for purple). Local bus routes, which are almost always designated by a number followed by a letter, are to simply become numbers under the TDP; however, the counterclockwise numbering system is to be retained. For example, the 51C Carrick is slated to be re-designated as the 51 Carrick.

Another key service change that may be implemented as a part of the Transit Development Plan is bus rapid transit that runs through Oakland and several other regions apart from its three currently existing busways. According to this plan, the agency seeks to purchase specialized buses that run on natural gas, have off-vehicle fare collection, and traffic signal priority to reduce travel times. The agency is currently seeking around $80 million of financial aid from the Federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help fund the new bus rapid transit system.