United States. Urban Mass Transportation Administration

NTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Bus Transportation ; NTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Transit Economics and Finances ; NTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-PLANNING AND POLICY ;

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The Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT), the primary public transit operator in Pittsburgh, PA, built an exclusive roadway for buses which opened for service in February 1983. The two-lane, 6.8-mile facility serves the eastern suburbs via a right-of-way shared with Conrail tracks. The busway includes six stations and seven bus ramps. New routes which provide frequent service catering to walk-ons and transfers at the stations have proved popular. These routes, and pre-existing express service which has been rerouted to take advantage of the busway, offer significant travel time savings compared to conditions before the busway. The busway was as expensive to build as a light rail line built in an alignment requiring similar (cut and fill) construction techniques. Operating costs on the busway are less than those for comparable light rail service. The report includes documentation of planning and implementation, operations, safety and reliability, ridership, and community impacts.

Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center