liam o’connell
@liamoc.bsky.social
city kid thinking about trains • he/him
With the coming of the Downtown-Oakland BRT, many of the Skybus corridors can be considered "addressed" with some form of upgraded transit. Busways do the heaviest lifting, but their total traffic separation makes them work. (Rapid transit > on-street BRT for Oakland is the biggest downgrade).
October 25, 2025 at 12:41 AM
With the coming of the Downtown-Oakland BRT, many of the Skybus corridors can be considered "addressed" with some form of upgraded transit. Busways do the heaviest lifting, but their total traffic separation makes them work. (Rapid transit > on-street BRT for Oakland is the biggest downgrade).
The full Allegheny County 60-mile rapid transit system, a.k.a. Skybus, doesn't perform half-badly
October 25, 2025 at 12:21 AM
The full Allegheny County 60-mile rapid transit system, a.k.a. Skybus, doesn't perform half-badly
Substantial progress building out the rest of the "suburban system:" the lines to Rankin (on the PRR main line, essentially the rest of today's East Busway), the North Hills, and the County Airport (how times have changed).
October 24, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Substantial progress building out the rest of the "suburban system:" the lines to Rankin (on the PRR main line, essentially the rest of today's East Busway), the North Hills, and the County Airport (how times have changed).
monroeville ridership update:
October 23, 2025 at 4:00 AM
monroeville ridership update:
2. Adding a Morewood stop on the Oakland line, because it seemed like a large destination that the Skybus proposal missed, and definitely *not* because of my own experiences waiting for overcrowded 61 buses at this location. It gets 4k daily riders, only slightly lower than the other Oakland stops.
October 23, 2025 at 2:03 AM
2. Adding a Morewood stop on the Oakland line, because it seemed like a large destination that the Skybus proposal missed, and definitely *not* because of my own experiences waiting for overcrowded 61 buses at this location. It gets 4k daily riders, only slightly lower than the other Oakland stops.
Actually, though I said I'm building to the study, I've made a couple "editorial" changes:
1. On the M'ville line, adding the Busway's Negley stop. Shadyside is pretty residentially dense. The Baum-Centre Skybus stop *isn't* on the Busway—an odd miss, as it's right in front of Shadyside Hospital.
1. On the M'ville line, adding the Busway's Negley stop. Shadyside is pretty residentially dense. The Baum-Centre Skybus stop *isn't* on the Busway—an odd miss, as it's right in front of Shadyside Hospital.
October 23, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Actually, though I said I'm building to the study, I've made a couple "editorial" changes:
1. On the M'ville line, adding the Busway's Negley stop. Shadyside is pretty residentially dense. The Baum-Centre Skybus stop *isn't* on the Busway—an odd miss, as it's right in front of Shadyside Hospital.
1. On the M'ville line, adding the Busway's Negley stop. Shadyside is pretty residentially dense. The Baum-Centre Skybus stop *isn't* on the Busway—an odd miss, as it's right in front of Shadyside Hospital.
One interesting quirk of this proposal is that the rapid transit study *slightly* predates the development of the Monroeville Mall and growth of US-22 into a suburban commercial corridor. Were this being proposed today, a rail line would almost certainly just follow US-22 to hit the mall.
October 23, 2025 at 1:16 AM
One interesting quirk of this proposal is that the rapid transit study *slightly* predates the development of the Monroeville Mall and growth of US-22 into a suburban commercial corridor. Were this being proposed today, a rail line would almost certainly just follow US-22 to hit the mall.
Next: the Monroeville line. This extends the South Hills line, mostly following the PRR thru the East End. The canceling of Skybus that turned the South Hills line into LRT turned this line into the East Busway, a very successful early example of North American BRT.
October 23, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Next: the Monroeville line. This extends the South Hills line, mostly following the PRR thru the East End. The canceling of Skybus that turned the South Hills line into LRT turned this line into the East Busway, a very successful early example of North American BRT.
New Skybus line dropped. (Sorry for the hard-to-see blue).
The "urban line" from the 1967 report combines two segments that run thru Downtown: the Oakland line, running east to Homewood, and the Ohio River line, serving the inner valley suburbs to the north and west.
The "urban line" from the 1967 report combines two segments that run thru Downtown: the Oakland line, running east to Homewood, and the Ohio River line, serving the inner valley suburbs to the north and west.
October 22, 2025 at 3:02 AM
New Skybus line dropped. (Sorry for the hard-to-see blue).
The "urban line" from the 1967 report combines two segments that run thru Downtown: the Oakland line, running east to Homewood, and the Ohio River line, serving the inner valley suburbs to the north and west.
The "urban line" from the 1967 report combines two segments that run thru Downtown: the Oakland line, running east to Homewood, and the Ohio River line, serving the inner valley suburbs to the north and west.
yeah! i suspect the "people" in this game may be slightly more rational about picking transit over driving than their irl counterparts
October 22, 2025 at 2:57 AM
yeah! i suspect the "people" in this game may be slightly more rational about picking transit over driving than their irl counterparts
Before getting to this second construction phase, this is how we're doing so far: ~12-13k daily riders on the yellow line here, which includes only the South Hills line as outlined in the engineering docs above.
October 21, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Before getting to this second construction phase, this is how we're doing so far: ~12-13k daily riders on the yellow line here, which includes only the South Hills line as outlined in the engineering docs above.
It is quite a significant job cluster to have no dedicated-ROW transit service! (In this quick pull from OnTheMap, Oakland is the cluster to the right, Downtown to the left). SoI am most curious to see the travel pattern impacts of a metro to Oakland (even w/ Subway Builder's modeling limitations).
October 21, 2025 at 4:51 AM
It is quite a significant job cluster to have no dedicated-ROW transit service! (In this quick pull from OnTheMap, Oakland is the cluster to the right, Downtown to the left). SoI am most curious to see the travel pattern impacts of a metro to Oakland (even w/ Subway Builder's modeling limitations).
Downtown<>Oakland has long been one of the city's busiest transit corridors, but never got a rail ROW. Several earlier 20th century proposals were never built. Skybus' South Hills line advanced first...because a ROW already existed for streetcars. (And was later converted to the above LRT).
October 21, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Downtown<>Oakland has long been one of the city's busiest transit corridors, but never got a rail ROW. Several earlier 20th century proposals were never built. Skybus' South Hills line advanced first...because a ROW already existed for streetcars. (And was later converted to the above LRT).
As the South Hills line got the furthest, its engineering docs provide instructions from which to conduct (virtual) construction:
historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/ob...
So it's the first built—I'm hoping that getting started on the Oakland line ASAP will bolster the mid early ridership stats.
historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/ob...
So it's the first built—I'm hoping that getting started on the Oakland line ASAP will bolster the mid early ridership stats.
October 20, 2025 at 4:46 AM
As the South Hills line got the furthest, its engineering docs provide instructions from which to conduct (virtual) construction:
historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/ob...
So it's the first built—I'm hoping that getting started on the Oakland line ASAP will bolster the mid early ridership stats.
historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/ob...
So it's the first built—I'm hoping that getting started on the Oakland line ASAP will bolster the mid early ridership stats.
The line was never built, but if the route above looks familiar, it is because it is essentially the route of today's Red Line LRT; the consolation for the failure of Skybus cancelation was the renovation of two South Hills streetcar corridors into a modern light rail system.
October 20, 2025 at 4:30 AM
The line was never built, but if the route above looks familiar, it is because it is essentially the route of today's Red Line LRT; the consolation for the failure of Skybus cancelation was the renovation of two South Hills streetcar corridors into a modern light rail system.
Skybus was the nickname for the "Transit Expressway Revenue Line," a 1960s proposal to bring rapid transit to the Pittsburgh region using automated, rubber-tired cars. A 60-mile system was initially planned, but only one line—the one to the South Hills—ever advanced to the engineering stage.
October 20, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Skybus was the nickname for the "Transit Expressway Revenue Line," a 1960s proposal to bring rapid transit to the Pittsburgh region using automated, rubber-tired cars. A 60-mile system was initially planned, but only one line—the one to the South Hills—ever advanced to the engineering stage.
For decades, everyone has been wondering: would the Pittsburgh Skybus actually have worked? 50 years after the project was canceled, we have the tools* (Subway Builder) to find out.
(*This is, at best, half-serious.)
(*This is, at best, half-serious.)
October 20, 2025 at 4:30 AM
For decades, everyone has been wondering: would the Pittsburgh Skybus actually have worked? 50 years after the project was canceled, we have the tools* (Subway Builder) to find out.
(*This is, at best, half-serious.)
(*This is, at best, half-serious.)
in summary, please just let this system cook, for it has the juice
March 19, 2025 at 3:18 AM
in summary, please just let this system cook, for it has the juice
Should be emphasized that Pittsburgh transit retains its impressive strength *in spite of* facts like this, which should be telling policymakers how much stronger the system could likely be with just a little investment! People, shockingly, do not actually enjoy sitting in Pittsburgh tunnel traffic.
March 19, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Should be emphasized that Pittsburgh transit retains its impressive strength *in spite of* facts like this, which should be telling policymakers how much stronger the system could likely be with just a little investment! People, shockingly, do not actually enjoy sitting in Pittsburgh tunnel traffic.
ok let’s start things off here with nyc’s premier urban canyon
July 1, 2023 at 8:03 PM
ok let’s start things off here with nyc’s premier urban canyon