Figure 1: Route 86A East Hills

ROUTE 86A EAST HILLS Route 86A is a radial route that operates between Wilkinsburg and downtown Pittsburgh. It operates via East Hills, Brushton, Homewood, East Liberty, Friendship, Shadyside, Bloomfield, Lawrenceville and the Strip District (see Figure 1). It connects with the East Busway at Wilkinsburg and East Liberty Stations, and provides a convenient connection to the light rail system lines at Wood Street station in downtown Pittsburgh. It loosely parallels the East Busway along Frankstown Avenue, Penn Avenue and Liberty Avenue. The route connects residential neighborhoods to the east with shopping, employment and institutional destinations, the Pittsburgh Amtrak and Greyhound stations, and other activity centers. Figure 1: Route 86A East Hills Similar Routes Between Wilkinsburg and downtown Pittsburgh, Route 86A provides similar service as Route 86B Frankstown. Differences between the two routes are that: 1. Route 86A operates around an outer loop through the East Hills northeast of Wilkinsburg, whereas Route 86B operates directly from Wilkinsburg north to Brushton. 2. Route 86A operates between East Liberty and the Strip District via Negley Avenue and Liberty Avenue, whereas Route 86B operates via Penn Avenue. Other routes that provide similar service include: Routes 77A Oakmont, 77B Penn Hills, 77U Oakland-Penn Hills, and 78A Oakmont Express all provide similar service in East Hills and Brushton either along or parallel to Frankstown Avenue. Routes 91A Butler Street, 77D Highland-Friendship, 77F Morningside-Friendship, 77G Stanton Heights-Friendship and ML Millvale-Lawrenceville Flyer all operate between the Strip District and downtown. Routes 79D Mount Carmel and LP Lincoln Park Flyer loop through East Hills along an alignment that is similar to the outer loop of Route 86A. Page 1

Nearby Routes 68B Blackridge-Laketon Express and 78E Penn Hills-East Vue Express provides service between East Hills and downtown Pittsburgh. Routes 81B Lincoln, 71A Negley, and East Busway routes all provide service between Friendship/Shadyside and downtown Pittsburgh Routes 77D Highland-Friendship, 77F Morningside-Friendship, 77G Stanton Heights- Friendship, 86B Frankstown, and 91A Butler Street all operate between the Strip District and Downtown. Alignment/Service Patterns Route 86A travels from Wilkinsburg to downtown Pittsburgh. It serves the Wilkinsburg area on Wallace Avenue inbound or on Ross Avenue outbound. Inbound service begins by traveling outbound to East Hills on Swissvale Avenue, Montier Street, East Hills Drive, Wilner Street, Park Hill Drive, and Robinson Avenue. (Some trips also serve the Giant Eagle on Verona Road, Blackridge on Laketon Road and Douglas Drive, or both; trips that serve Blackridge double-back after that loop to serve the Park Hill Drive loop.). At Frankstown Avenue, the route begins to operate inbound and operates through Brushton on Frankstown Avenue (outbound trips travel for a short distance on Bennett Street in Brushton). It continues in East Liberty on East Liberty Boulevard and Penn Avenue. It goes through Shadyside and Friendship via Negley Avenue, Centre Avenue, and Liberty Avenue. Inbound trips continue on Penn Avenue from 32 nd Street through the Strip District and into Downtown. In Downtown, the alignment remains on Penn Avenue to 7 th Street where it turns to return outbound on Liberty Avenue. Route 86A operates with seven weekday service patterns that vary in terms of whether the route serves the Giant Eagle in East Hills, the Blackridge neighborhood on Douglas Drive and Laketon Road, both, or neither (see Table 1) 1 There is also one short-turn variant, 86A-OG, that runs one trip from East Hills from Wilner Drive at Bracey Drive to the Wilkinsburg East Busway Table 1: Route 86A Service Variants Variant Origin Destination Unique Feature I Wilkinsburg Downtown Pittsburgh Does not serve Blackridge or Station East Hills Giant Eagle IL Wilkinsburg Downtown Pittsburgh Serves Blackridge; does not Station serve East Hills Giant Eagle IV Wilkinsburg Downtown Pittsburgh Serves East Hills Giant Eagle; Station does not serve Blackridge O Downtown Wilkinsburg Station Does not serve Blackridge or Pittsburgh East Hills Giant Eagle OG East Hills Wilkinsburg Station East Hills-Wilkinsurg short turn OL Downtown Wilkinsburg Station Serves Blackridge; does not Pittsburgh serve East Hills Giant Eagle OV Downtown Wilkinsburg Station Serves East Hills Giant Eagle; Pittsburgh does not serve Blackridge Weekday Trips 12 12 16 10 1 15 15 1 Route 86A also has two weekend service patterns (IT and OT) that serve Wilkinsburg via Blackridge. Page 2

station at 5:46AM. This trip was added in August 2008 to provide earlier service to a customer who desired to travel to the East Busway. Schedule Service operates seven days a week. On weekdays, service operates from 4:52 am to 1:42 am (see Table 2). Headways are somewhat inconsistent throughout the day, and generally range from 20 to 37 minutes. Table 2: Route 86A Schedule Statistics One-Way Trips Headways Span of Service Inbound Outbound (minutes) Weekdays Early AM 4:52 am 5:59 am 3 2 25-32 AM Peak 6:00 am 8:59 am 7 6 20-30 Mid-day 9:00 am 3:29 pm 14 15 20-33 PM Peak 3:30 pm 5:59 pm 4 5 30-37 Evening 6:00 pm 1:42 am 12 13 25-40 All Day 3:54 am 1:42 am 40 41 20-40 Saturdays 5:09 am 1:53 am 31 31 26-60 Sundays 5:16 am 12:37 am 15 15 75 As described above, Route 86B shares a similar alignment with Route 86A. However, the two routes operate at different headways, and as a result, schedules are not coordinated. 2 Ridership Route 86A carries approximately 4,040 passengers per weekday. These current APC data estimates are higher than farebox data indicates for prior years, when ridership has varied from 3,707 weekdays passengers in 2002, 3,230 in 2004, and 3,370 in 2006. Ridership is heavy throughout most of the day (see Table 3). In the AM peak, mid-day, and PM peak, average ridership per trip ranges from 50 to 78 passengers (see Table 2). As would be expected, there is a commute orientation to ridership patterns. However, the route also has very strong bi-directional and midday ridership. Route 86A essentially provides three types of service: (1) to and from downtown Pittsburgh, (2) intermediate service to shopping and institutional destinations along the route, and (3) feeder service to the East Busway at Wilkinsburg. The route serves a large amount of intermediate activity, and riders board and alight at all points along the route. Some of the key activity centers include: Penn Avenue in East Liberty, which has shopping and other activities, including multiple grocery destinations 2 PAAC is currently in the process of coordinating these schedules. Page 3

Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield, which has a commercial retail strip with West Penn Hospital on one end and a Shur-Save grocery store at the other Centre Avenue in Shadyside, which has a Giant Eagle, UPMC Shadyside Hospital and the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. A portion of the rapidly redeveloping Baum-Centre Corridor, where a large-mixed use development is proposed for the area encompassing Liberty Avenue, Baum Boulevard and South Aiken Avenue. Table 3: Route 86A: Ridership by Time Period and Per Trip Weekday Ridership Ridership/ Trip Inbound Early Morning 89 29.7 AM Peak 390 53.6 Midday 814 58.3 PM Peak 289 57.8 Evening 254 31.8 All Day 1,836 Outbound Early Morning 50 50.0 AM Peak 303 50.4 Midday 963 68.4 PM Peak 511 77.5 Evening 372 41.4 All Day 2,199 Both Directions 4,035 In more detail, on inbound trips: 211 passengers (12%) board at Wilkinsburg Station or the Hay Street ramp. Many of these passengers likely transfer to the Route 86A from the East Busway, and are making return outbound trips on the segment of inbound service that operates outbound to East Hills. 465 passengers (26%) board and 280 (15%) alight between Wilkinsburg Station and of Frankstown Avenue at Oakwood Street in Brushton. Most of these passengers board and alight in small volumes in stops throughout the East Hills. 467 passengers (26%) board and 452 (25%) alight in Brushton and East Liberty between Frankstown Avenue at Oakwood Drive and Penn Avenue at Negley Avenue. 508 passengers (28%) board and 399 (22%) alight in Friendship and Lawrenceville between Penn Avenue at Negley Avenue and Penn Avenue at 32 nd Street. 135 passengers (7%) board and 78 (4%) alight in the Strip District. 597 passengers (33%) alight in Downtown. Within these overall segment volumes, some of the variant services serve the following passengers volumes: The Laketon Road/Blackridge variants serve only three inbound boardings and 14 alightings per weekday. Half of these alightings are at Turner Elementary School, which is only 600 feet from the regular alignment. Outbound trips serve only one boarding and Page 4

Figure 2: Route 86A Ridership by Stop: All Day Inbound 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 EAST BUSWAY @ BRUSHTON TERMINAL-NO STOP EAST BUSWAY @ HAY ST RAMP OUT SHELTER ROSS ST @ CENTER ROSS ST @ COAL TURNAROUND @ HIGHRISE ENTRY DRIVE SWISSVALE AVE @ HILL PARK AVE @ MONTIER MONTIER ST @ PARK MONTIER ST @ #1824 MONTIER ST. @ LAKETON-NO STOP LAKETON RD @ OPP TURNER SCHOOL LAKETON RD @ WINTON LAKETON RD @ COLLINS DOUGLASS DR @ OPP ANDREW (ROBINSON WILNER DR @ BRACEY WILNER DR @ #2278 EAST HILLS DR @ OPP #2220 EAST HILLS DR @ PARK HILL PARK HILL DR @ #2102 PARK HILL DR @ #2350 PARK HILL DR @ EAST HILLS DR WILNER DR @ OPP #2278 WILNER DR @ ROBINSON VERONA RD GIANT EAGLE @ ENTRANCE FRANKSTOWN RD @ EASTWOOD FRANKSTOWN RD @ WOODS FRANKSTOWN AVE @ STANDARD FRANKSTOWN AVE @ OPP OAKWOOD FRANKSTOWN AVE @ BRADDOCK FRANKSTOWN AVE @ STERRETT FRANKSTOWN AVE @ LANG NS FRANKSTOWN AVE @ EAST VIEW FRANKSTOWN AVE @ OPP LASCHALL FRANKSTOWN AVE @ FINLEY NS FRANKSTOWN AVE @ LINCOLN EAST LIBERTY BLVD @ OPP HAMILTON EAST LIBERTY BLVD @ PENN PENN AVE @ OPP SHADY NS (GIANT EAGLE) PENN AVE @ SHERIDAN PENN AVE @ WHITFIELD PENN AVE @ ST CLAIR NEGLEY AVE @ CORAL NEGLEY AVE @ #370 (BAUM BLVD) CENTRE AVE @ GRAHAM LIBERTY AVE @ BAUM LIBERTY AVE @ OSCOLA-EVALINE LIBERTY AVE @ GROSS LIBERTY AVE @ MATHILDA (WEST PENN HOSP) LIBERTY AVE @ PEARL LIBERTY AVE @ MAIN LIBERTY AVE @ 40TH NS LIBERTY AVE @ 37TH LIBERTY AVE @ 34TH LIBERTY AVE @ 32ND PENN AVE @ 31ST PENN AVE @ 29TH PENN AVE @ 27TH PENN AVE @ 25TH PENN AVE @ 21ST PENN AVE @ 17TH PENN AVE @ 15TH PENN AVE @ 13TH PENN AVE @ 11TH PENN AVE @ 9TH Passengers Load Out From Stop Total Ons Total Offs Load Out From Stop Page 5

eight alightings. This ridership is especially low considering that these variant services provide 12 inbound trips and 15 outbound trips. The Park Hill Drive Loop is and in and out deviation inconveniences through-passengers but serves 152 passengers per day (or about 7% of total inbound ridership). This is much higher than the other two routes that serve this area (Route LP Lincoln Park Flyer and Route 79D Mount Carmel (Route LP serves 15 boardings and 29 alightings in this area and Route 79D serves 2 daily boardings and 2 alightings). Trips that serve the Giant Eagle on Verona Drive serve just 9 inbound boardings and 2 alightings and 8 outbound boardings and 17 alightings. Although ridership per trip is very high, because there is high turnover along the route, maximum loads are relatively low (see Figure 3). Very few trips have maximum loads that exceed 30 passengers, and only the occasional trip exceeds seated capacity. Figure 3: Route 86A Peak Loads by Time of Day (All Sampled Trips) 60 50 Inbound Outbound 40 Maximum Load 30 20 10 0 4:42 5:19 6:03 6:36 7:08 8:02 8:26 8:52 9:33 9:49 10:37 10:52 11:35 12:09 12:38 13:13 13:45 14:18 15:01 15:44 16:31 17:22 18:53 19:46 20:44 21:25 22:22 24:00 Productivity Route 86A s productivity is very good (see Table 4). Operating Cost/Passenger: Route 86A s operating cost per passenger is $2.16, which is low. The low cost per passenger is due to strong ridership levels throughout the day, and significant ridership turnover along the route. Page 6

Ridership per Unit of Service: Route 86A carries 44 passengers per vehicle hour, which is slightly above, average, and 42 passengers per total vehicle hours, which is much better than average. Very high performance in this measure is because the route is efficiently scheduled with very little non-productive time. Total Vehicle Hours Versus Revenue Vehicle Hours: Route 86A performs extremely well in this regard, with almost no time spent out of service. Table 4: Route 86A Weekday Productivity Radial Route 86A Average Operating Cost/ Passenger $2.16 $2.81 Passengers/Revenue Vehicle Hour 44.3 42.9 Passengers/Total Vehicle Hour 41.6 33.3 Passengers/ Revenue Vehicle Mile 3.5 3.1 Total Vehicle Hours/Revenue Vehicle Hour 1.06 1.29 Average Speed 12.8 14.0 Bus Stops/Mile 7.9 5.9 Directness 0.44 0.65 Number of Variations 7 7.5 Average Speed: The average speed is somewhat low, at 12.8 mph. The slow speed is a function of the urban operating environment and frequent stops (7.9 per mile). Bus Stops/Mile: Route 86A has an average of 7.9 stops per mile along its entire route, or a stop every 670 feet. This stop spacing is fairly close, and much closer than the average for radial routes of 5.9 stops per mile. Directness: The outer end of Route 86A is indirect and it serves a circuitous path through East Hills which largely runs north-south, and then heads toward downtown Pittsburgh which is an east-west connection. Number of Variations: Route 86A has seven variations, many of which carry relatively little ridership in the areas that are different from the main variant. Service Design For most riders, Route 86A provides very straightforward and direct service. However, at the route s outer end, inbound service first runs eastbound and northbound before turning westbound toward Downtown. In this respect, the route runs backwards before it runs forward. There is also a large amount of service duplication in the East Hills that Route 86A contributes to. Route 86A, as well as the other routes, could like be reconfigured to provide more direct and less duplicative service. Page 7

Service Improvement Opportunities Service is generally fairly well patronized on a per-trip basis, but the route essentially duplicates service that is available elsewhere and efficiency could be improved. Potential enhancements could include: Reconfigure East Hills Service: As described above, there is a large amount of overlapping service in East Hills. Redundant service could be eliminated in order increase productivity. For example: Shift the outer end of Route 86A to East Hills and operate it via Wilkinsburg Station as the flagship route in East Hills. The outer end could be the Park Hills Drive Loop. Eliminate Route 79D and Route LP service to the Park Hills Drive Loop since it is better served by Route 86A. Discontinue Route 86A service on Frankstown Avenue in East Hills as this alignment is also served by Route 77A Oakmont, Route 77B Penn Hills, Route 78A Oakmont Express, and Route 78E Penn Hills East Vue Express. Discontinue Service to Blackridge and Verona Drive Giant Eagle: These areas generate very little ridership but add ambiguity to the schedule and impede speeds. Route 86A already serves multiple other grocery sites and the main traffic generator for the Blackridge area, Turner Elementary School, is very close to the main routing of the bus. Rebalance Route 86A and 86B Service to provide similar service levels on both routes and to coordinate schedules between the Strip District and downtown or along Frankstown Avenue. Consolidate Stops on Route 86A: The number of stops per mile on Route 86A is very high, and stops in many areas could be consolidated to provide faster service, particularly in Wilkinsburg, in parts of the East Hills, along Penn Avenue and in the Strip District. Operate Service at Clockface Headways: Most of Route 86A s service operates every 30 minutes. Schedules could be made more convenient if all service operated at consistent 30 minute headways. Eliminate the Early Morning Short-Turn Trip to Wilkinsburg: Although data is not yet available for this trip, it is inconsistent with the rest of the schedule. Page 8