T riders gather for information on Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s $150M light rail project

PITTSBURGH — More than 100 T riders gathered in Beechview Thursday to hear more about Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s $150 million light rail project.

“I am fully reliant on public transit here,” Amy Zaiss told Channel 11. “It’s a huge disruption because there’s no equivalent bus service.”

Like many in Beechview, Amy takes the Red Line. It’ll be shut down for nearly three months starting in June.

“The infrastructure improvement will be a benefit to the community, but at the same time, we want to be sure that we’re taken care of,” Amy said.

Dozens of people asked questions. Some brought up the disparity in size between T cars and buses. More than double the riders can fit on the T.

One woman had concerns about wheelchair accessibility. PRT officials said they’d review protocol with drivers.

Speaking of drivers, the plan is to hire a hundred more by June to help fill the gaps.

“People, when they are waiting on the T or bus that’s going to be shuttling them now, it’s very important that that bus is on time, just like the T,” Pittsburgh City Councilman Anthony Coghill said.

PRT officials say riders should expect to take about 20 extra minutes to get to their destinations.

“We’re sort of pulling off the Band-Aid, if you will, of making sure we can get in there, finish it up. We won’t have to then do these projects for another 20, 30, 40 years,” Adam Brandolph with PRT said.

There is one more meeting before the project gets started. It’ll be online on April 2. You can find more information and our past reporting here.

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