Realistic Downtown-Oakland connection

It seems like a realistic, cost efficient rail connection between Downtown and Oakland is the white whale of Pittsburgh public transport. I have created a system that runs on existing rail rights-of-way that could hopefully solve these problems. You can view it here on Google Maps.

A few notes:
The first station is Penn Station downtown. This would connect to Steel Plaza, and would provide an intermodal transfer opportunity to Amtrak and Greyhound bus services (once the new bus station opens). It's possible you could get rid of this station.

The second station provides service to the Strip District. I have located it near 24th and Liberty so that it can provide coverage for the whole strip district and avoid being too close to Downtown. It also provides transfer options to the East Busway for trips to East Liberty.

The third station is Bloomfield, providing access to residential neighborhoods and Liberty Ave business district. It is also a couple blocks from West Penn hospital.

The fourth station is North Oakland, providing service for...North Oakland.

The final station is Oakland Central, and while it looks to be closer to CMU, the street level entrance would be near the Carnegie on Forbes. The actual station would exist in Panther Hollow, and large escalators (red line on the map) would shuffle passengers up to Forbes Avenue. right into central Oakland.

Broken computer

Hello faithful readers,

My computer broke about a month ago. I just got my new one, and will be posting more very soon...expect a new post within the next 48 hours, stay tuned!

Exciting news for the Pittsburgh Promise

So I know it's unlike me to post twice in one day...but wow - the PG is reporting that UPMC will donate $100 million over the next 10 years for the Pittsburgh Promise.

Despite all the bad press the Pittsburgh Promise has received (and surely, not without reason), I think it is an innovative, visionary program that will help to make urban living more attractive for families. This is truly excellent news that UPMC, the oft-criticized nonprofit, has made such a strong commitment to the program. I really hope the Mark Roosevelt doubters will start to believe - this guy is good at what he does.

Walking and Metro Rail

According to a recent study by the Brookings Institution, Pittsburgh is one of the 10 most "Walkable" Cities in America, ranking one spot ahead of New York. Good news, and something that I'm sure will be helped by the recent addition of the walking/biking path over the Hot Metal Bridge.

According to the study, of the 10 cities in the top 10, all but Seattle are served by some sort of Metropolitan rail systems. Also of the top 10, 5 of the 10 have "full" rail transit systems, and Pittsburgh is listed as having a "starter" syetem.

Give it a read, it's a great article on how good transport makes more livable cities, and good transport breeds new development. If you're interested, you could also check out the full study.

Still coming soon (seriously) - Pittsburgh City Line: Part 2

Two Newspaper Articles

1) First Person: Pittsburgh's Lovely Trap - A great article written by a recently graduated CMU student, about Pittsburgh's magnetic culture.

2) Opening bid: Internet auctions call for a modern state solution - A P-G editorial about a strange business law in Pennsylvania. Hopefully, the State will continue to change outdated laws that hurt entrepreneurs and small businesses (albeit in a specific industry). It's good to see the P-G bringing attention to issues like this.

PA is chock full of laws that hurt small businesses - just a few days ago, Darren brought to my attention that "State Law in PA allows peer to peer lending of only up to 6%, this is the lowest of the 50 states and inhibits entrepreneurs from using services such as prosper.com to start their business." Hopefully legislators and voters alike push for changes in these outdated laws so that our cities can more easily foster small business growth.

Coming soon - Pittsburgh City Line: Part 2

Pittsburgh City Line: Part 1

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
  

The stations, in order, are

1. Steel Plaza (Transfer for T)
   
2. First Avenue (Transfer for T)
3. Station Square (Transfer for T, Incline)
4. 10th Street Bridge (Alight for Entertainment District)
   
5. South Side Works (Alight for Entertainment District)
   
6. Oakland Central (Alight for Universities, Hospitals, and Museums)
   
7. Squirrel Hill
8. Point Breeze/Shadyside
9. East Liberty
10. Shadyside Central (Alight for UPMC Presbyterian Hospital Shadyside)
    
11. Lawrenceville (Alight for Children's Hospital)
    
12. Strip District (Alight for Greyhound/Amtrack)
    
13. Allegheny Commons
14. North Shore/Stadiums (Transfer for T, Alight for Stadiums)
15. Gateway Center (Transfer for T)
    
16. Wood Street (Transfer for T)
    

The line would be automated, similar to Paris Metro Line 14. The automation would allow it to run at shorter headways without needing extra drivers (and salaries, and pensions, and benefits) and continue to run good frequency service in off peak hours. Also similar to Line 14, it would use a combination of traditional rail and rubber tires so it could climb the steeper grades needed in Pittsburgh's geography. The whole City Line would be approximately 15 miles long, and I'd estimate it would take 25-30 minutes to travel the entire length. This would mean that a trip from any one point to another would take a maximum of 12-15 minutes...not bad.

The sytem would also allow for extensions which would integrate into the City Line concept perfectly, which I will discuss in my next post.

Pittsburgh Schenley

Everyone's got themselves all riled up because Mark Roosevelt has proposed a plan to close and relocate programs from certain schools, most notably Pittsburgh Schenley in Oakland. This is all part of a larger plan to retool PPS from the ground up. While Pittsburgh Schenley is a good school in a good location, and it will certainly be missed for many of its good factors, moves like this are needed to move PPS forward.

Now, I understand pride in one's high school. But people have to realize, the moves that are being made by Roosevelt are being done to improve the overall quality of the school district. Using the closing of Pittsburgh Schenley as a lightening rod to condemn the whole plan is both ridiculous and myopic.

I have heard Roosevelt speak last year, at the Pittsburgh Foundation. He's smart, innovative, and uses deep studies of educational problems to find correct solutions. I'm certain that the plan he has proposed is something that, while it will be tough for students in the short run, will help to make the district successful in the long run. That is what is important to Roosevelt, and really, what should be important to all Pittsburghers. The public school system that is in place right now is an artifact of a different time for our city, and serious reforms, like what Roosevelt has proposed, are needed to move us forward.