Pittsburgh Regional Transit to hire outside firm to review recent issues with Mon Incline

PITTSBURGH — With just days until Pittsburgh’s busy St. Patrick’s Day weekend, the Mon Incline remains closed.

“The incline takes like three minutes and 15 seconds. I used to use it every day,” said Charlene Adams, who lives in Mount Washington.

But what used to be a reliable form of public transit has been inconsistent in recent years.

“I want to see them be able to fix it and run it like it always has run,” Adams said.

The incline has repeatedly shut down in the last year, including several longer closures — like a 10-day closure in August 2023 after two cars got stuck with people inside and a five-week closure early this year while crews worked to fix electrical and mechanical problems.

On Tuesday afternoon, Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s CEO Katharine Kelleman announced that an outside firm will be stepping in to review previous maintenance and suggest the next best steps.

“It’s time for us to bring in a third-party, quality insurance and quality control, to not just talk to PRT, but to talk to our taxpayers who fund the incline talk to the business and the folks up in Mount Washington,” Kelleman explained.

The goal is to ensure the safety and reliability of the historic 154-year-old funicular. The review will be conducted by an objective third party and overseen by a committee, which will include local stakeholders, including affected business owners. Details regarding the consultant and committee will be made available once finalized.

Data from fiscal year 2022 shows on an average weekday more than 700 riders use the incline. That number jumps to almost 2,000 riders every weekend.

Businesses rely on tourists who come from near and far to experience the Mon Incline.

“The hotel is not too far from the bottom of the incline, so it was the ideal location to come up to see Mount Washington,” said Luke Tomlinson.

Tomlinson and his colleague were visiting Pittsburgh from the UK for a conference. They wanted to experience the incline but had no idea it was closed. They walked up McArdle Roadway.

“So I think we are going to try to walk along to the other incline which we believe to be open and take it down from there,” Tomlinson said.

PRT confirmed they are working to avoid a permanent closure of the Mon Incline.

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