Major changes are being proposed to the 61D, 71A, 71C, and 71D. Riders have two opportunities to give feedback before they take effect on October 1
Pittsburgh Regional Transit has announced that some major changes to service on the 61D, 71A, 71C, and 71D will go into effect on October 1st. The changes are being brought on as part of the BRTX project between Oakland and Downtown, but that project is still years from being finished. Riders have been outspoken about the fact that these changes would cut off their easy access to healthcare, jobs, food and schools. Pittsburgh Regional Transit has two opportunities this month to speak up about how these changes will impact you.
Sign up here to rally with PPT and speak up about these changes on September 29th @ 8:30am
What are the changes that are being proposed?
The 61D, 71A, 71C, and 71D will turn around in Oakland and rejoin their traditional outbound route. This means riders on these routes will lose the direct connections to Downtown and Uptown. Destinations like Mercy Hospital, Duquesne University, and PPG Paints Arena – where thousands of people travel for jobs, healthcare, higher education, and recreation daily- will no longer be directly accessible to these routes. Conversely, riders in Uptown will lose direct access on these routes to locations in Oakland, East Liberty, Highland Park, Larimer, Homewood, Point Breeze, Park Place and Wilkinsburg.
These changes may also result in overcrowding on the few buses that will continue into towntown. AND, it will that riders who pay cash fares will need to pay DOUBLE the fare to transfer to a new bus in Oakland.