Image Description: a grainy image of a bus stop outside the Target at the Waterfront development. Overlaid is black and yellow text reading “ACTION ALERT: Bus stops removed at the Waterfront”.
Update as of September 29th, 2025
Update: On September 20th, 2025, Waterfront owners reached an agreement in principle with Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato to find a long-term solution that would keep PRT service inside the Waterfront.
While no details on the deal are available, Innamorato has said that the stops outside Target and Giant Eagle will remain in service until a more specific deal is struck.
This is a short-term win generated by the advocacy of over a thousand transit riders, Waterfront shoppers, Waterfront employees, and transit operators. In just 13 days, over 1,300 people signed our petition; we also received support from from U.S. Representative Summer Lee, City Councilmember Barb Warwick, State Senator Nick Pisciottano, and ATU Local 85 President Ross Nicotero. 50 Waterfront employees signed the petition, sending a clear message that the Waterfront needs public transit in order to function.
As the County and Waterfront management work out the details of their deal, advocates need to send a strong message: The Waterfront needs transit riders, and transit riders won’t tolerate harm. Keep the bus stops where they are. Please continue to circulate this petition to your networks, and help us keep the pressure up.
Waterfront management forces major bus stop removal
There are major changes planned that will impact riders taking the 53/53L, 57, 59, 64, and 61D to and from the Waterfront in Homestead, PA. The stops they use to shop at Target and Giant Eagle will be removed.
In the next round of schedule changes on October 19, 2025, riders who rely on buses to pick them up and drop them off at stops by Target or Giant Eagle, will no longer be able to use those stops. These stops, which serve over 2,500 rider boardings per week, will be removed entirely. This change was triggered by M&J Wilkow Properties, LLC, which manages the shopping center.
Instead, riders will have to walk or from Target, Giant Eagle, and other nearby shops, to existing stops on Amity Way (see map below). Depending on location, this could mean distance of a thousand feet, beside a sprawling parking lot and requiring riders to cross major roadways. The stops at this new location currently see less than half the weekly ridership as the existing stops at Target and Giant Eagle.
PRT previously considered relocating the stops to East Waterfront Drive (which currently see less than 1 rider a day on average), but opted for the Amity locations due to a lack of accessible drop off areas on East Waterfront. This change will likely cause some of the buses that service the Waterfront to be rerouted entirely for that portion of their journey.
Image Description: a screenshot from Google Maps of the Waterfront development. Target and Giant Eagle are marked on the map. The current bus stops, which are slated for removal, are marked in yellow. In red, across 20-30 rows of cars in a parking lot, are the new stop locations on Amity Street.
What This Could Mean For Riders?
Eliminating these stops will have a huge impact on riders and businesses both.
These bus stop changes will harm already marginalized community members: People using mobility devices like wheelchairs, walkers, and canes; other disabled folks; caregivers with kids; hourly retail workers; and shoppers carrying heavy groceries will all face a more arduous journey between their grocery stores and the bus. Riders will have to budget additional time into their trips, traveling long distances between the sidewalk or crossing through a sprawling parking lot to get to and from a stop quickly.
This will harm stores as well: shoppers may decide to make fewer trips to stores because they are physically not able to make it to and from the new stops easily.
Finally, this will add confusion to routing patterns that riders rely on to plan their trips. Adjustment to routes takes time and many riders will experience delays, confusion, and pass-ups due to not understanding changes patterns for the new inbound and outbound routes. While some buses already use the Amity stop, others will need to be rerouted entirely for their Waterfront journeys to make room for this change.
What Can You Do?
We need your help to spread the word! Do you take any of these routes to the Waterfront? Are you an employee who takes the bus to work, a shopper, or anyone whose rider will be impacted? Take action by signing the petition asking Waterfront Management (M&J Wilkow Properties, LLC), the Boroughs of Homestead and West Homestead, and Pittsburgh Regional Transit to stop these cuts and ensure that transit riders are not displaced to the margins.