Traveling around Europe has inspired me on Public Transport. I have had many new ideas on how Pittsburgh could create a rail/dedicated right-of-way based public transport system that was sustainable and scalable for a city of Pittsburgh size. I have a two ideas that I believe could work for this, and the one I will outline today is the first, and more conservative, of the two. I call it the "Pittsburgh City Line." Click on the picture for an interactive Google Map.This looks similar to the Circle line in London, but would function completely differently. It passes through Downtown, and then subsequently hits neighborhoods based on a couple main criteria
- Population density
- Shopping/Entertainment attraction
- Sports Venue
- Access to Hospitals
- Access to main hubs for employment
- Steel Plaza (Transfer for T)
- First Avenue (Transfer for T)
- Station Square (Transfer for T, Incline)
- 10th Street Bridge (Alight for Entertainment District)
- South Side Works (Alight for Entertainment District)
- Oakland Central (Alight for Universities, Hospitals, and Museums)
- Squirrel Hill
- Point Breeze/Shadyside
- East Liberty
- Shadyside Central (Alight for UPMC Presbyterian Hospital Shadyside)
- Lawrenceville (Alight for Children's Hospital)
- Strip District (Alight for Greyhound/Amtrack)
- Allegheny Commons
- North Shore/Stadiums (Transfer for T, Alight for Stadiums)
- Gateway Center (Transfer for T)
- Wood Street (Transfer for T)
The sytem would also allow for extensions which would integrate into the City Line concept perfectly, which I will discuss in my next post.
11 comments:
I like the idea Vatz. A few things you might want to think about:
- You mentioned that this would be an automated system. Do you think this would eliminate some jobs for port authority drivers? If so, do you think people will support that?
- Would this just be a one train system?
- I have no idea if you'll know the answer to this, but approximately how much would this system cost?
Those were just some things your post made me think about.
sorry vatz, Fallon is my sister, she was logged on.
This is Bailey.
-Obviously, the unions that represent the drivers wouldn't like that it's automated. But there would still be some jobs for station attendents, and I think the general public would be in favor of it.
-Not sure what you mean by "a one train system." Can you clarify?
-A complete guess at costs would be $1 billion. Considering, though, that systems like these could last ~100 years, that's not too bad. TallE and I were talking and he estimated $2b when all was said and done. It's really hard to estimate it without expert advice, though.
elevated? underground?
Combination of elevated and underground. You'd want to use elevated/grade separated right of ways whenever possible instead of underground (cause it's much cheaper), but in places like Oakland, Downtown, and Squirrel Hill/Shadyside underground may be the only option.
the map takes you way out da way to start off. fyi.
What do you mean, Sean?
What's the rationale for circling, but not connecting, the Hill District if access to employment is a goal? Is it just that the area is more central so buses are providing that connection? (I don't know the bus lines all that well) I feel like this plan would be publicly criticized as discriminatory for leaving out this group, despite East Lib's inclusion.
Fraggle - You´re probably right. In fact, TallE and I discussed that issue and I ended up agreeing that a Hill District connection is a good idea. I think a final plan would include a Hill District stop between the Strip and Lawrenceville.
Can you explain more please about the 25-30 minute estimate? It seems low to me. Are you including times at the stops along the way?
Bob Koca
Simply put, it was an estimate, but I believe a very accurate and realistic one.
In more detail, here's how I arrived at the estimate: The London Circle Line is approximately the same length as what I have proposed, at ~14 miles. It takes the London Circle Line 49 minutes to make a complete circle, calling at 27 stations. So clearly, it would be much faster than that.
I assumed 30 seconds for station dwell time (time that a train is stopped in the station). Of a 30 minute circle, that make about 8 minutes in stations. Realistically, station dwell would be shorter at some stations, but for simplicity, we'll stick with that estimate.
So the line has to average a speed of only about 40mph while it's actually moving to hit that 30 minute target, and have an overall average speed of 30mph. With modern, dedicated right-of-ways, that should be achievable and realistic, with possibility to be even faster.
In fact, if you look at the Paris Metro Line 14, another automated system...it has more stations in a smaller area (9 in 5.6 miles), and manages to average 25mph (including station dwell). With the longer distance between stations - the avg on the City Line would be nearly twice that of Paris Metro Line 14 - it could certainly have an average speed of 30mph or more, and thus be well within the 25-30 minute estimate I made.
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