Pittsburgh Regional Transit releases plan for proposed redesign of bus routes

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh Regional Transit shared a first look at a major redesign of its bus routes on Monday that will impact thousands of daily riders.

Nicole Burke of McKees Rocks takes the bus every day to get to work and classes, but it hasn't come without some challenges.

"I [am] like, 'It's not my fault, it's the bus' fault,'" Burke said. "I [am] late half of the time because the buses [are] late coming to pick us up to get us into town."

Mikayla Wobrak of Bellevue has similar feelings.

"It does take quite a while to get to places," Wobrak said.

PRT is looking to solve its problems with an overhaul, its first in more than a decade. The agency released a proposal called Draft Network 1.0. It includes an interactive map online, where riders can look at their bus routes.

Adam Brandolph is a spokesperson for PRT.

"It's pulling all the lines off of the map, and putting them back on where it maximizes efficiency and effectiveness to make sure that we're picking up riders where they are and not where they were 10 years ago," Brandolph said.

Under the draft, the agency would use the same budget. There would be fewer routes overall, but more routes running every 30 minutes or less, making them more direct and on time, a 27% improvement. Also, 143,000 people in equity communities would have access to these faster routes, up 32 percent. This data is all based on service during the midday on weekdays.

"We are going to be serving more people, more jobs, more healthcare facilities, more grocery stores," Brandolph said.

The agency wants to reach more communities, improve rides to the airport and Oakland, have new transit hubs that don't require trips downtown, and eliminate busway stop restrictions.

By the spring, it expects to have a revised proposal and intends to roll out some simple changes as early as 2026.

For Burke, it will be hard to wait, but in the meantime, she'll keep riding the bus.

"I will because I got to get to where I got to go to," Burke said.

You can view the proposed redesign interactive map and more on the draft here .

PRT is looking for your feedback. Find out different ways to share your opinion on the proposal here .

The first public event will be held in Schenley Plaza in Oakland on Oct. 16 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.