liam o’connell
@liamoc.bsky.social
city kid thinking about trains • he/him
not disagreeing at all with the premise, but they’d surely run into some pretty serious platform work at those uptown stations especially (which should probably be happening anyway, the way the first/last cars “fit” the platforms at 9 and christopher is wild).
November 17, 2025 at 8:54 PM
not disagreeing at all with the premise, but they’d surely run into some pretty serious platform work at those uptown stations especially (which should probably be happening anyway, the way the first/last cars “fit” the platforms at 9 and christopher is wild).
other than the branching, what about the type of service offered by rem is not metro-like? (not that having a branch is incompatible with being a metro, either!)
November 16, 2025 at 12:32 AM
other than the branching, what about the type of service offered by rem is not metro-like? (not that having a branch is incompatible with being a metro, either!)
exactly! they could finally close the weird metro numbering gap!
November 15, 2025 at 10:18 PM
exactly! they could finally close the weird metro numbering gap!
montreal, truly the marriage of france (we will build a large, efficient metro system with rubber tires and automated trains) and north america (you will be required to understand local government divisions of responsibility to ride it)
November 15, 2025 at 10:10 PM
montreal, truly the marriage of france (we will build a large, efficient metro system with rubber tires and automated trains) and north america (you will be required to understand local government divisions of responsibility to ride it)
(Map credit Jake Berman, via www.publicsource.org/mapping-pitt...)
Mapping Pittsburgh-area transit from streetcars and grandiose plans to the buses and trains we see today
Like most older American cities, Pittsburgh was built by the electric streetcar. In the first half of the 20th century, mass transit in most American cities was a profitable business — one that was se...
www.publicsource.org
October 25, 2025 at 12:41 AM
(Map credit Jake Berman, via www.publicsource.org/mapping-pitt...)
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
Other than the crosstown "urban line," the majority of Skybus miles were part of the group of "suburban lines," structured in a very S-Bahn-esque trunk-branch structure. (As such, I have given them numbers starting with S.) Only two short branches, to Etna and Carnegie, remain to be built.
October 24, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Other than the crosstown "urban line," the majority of Skybus miles were part of the group of "suburban lines," structured in a very S-Bahn-esque trunk-branch structure. (As such, I have given them numbers starting with S.) Only two short branches, to Etna and Carnegie, remain to be built.
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.
(I'm building only study-proposed alignments—but would be curious to compare the performance of the two. FWIW, Subway Builder's demand model, unsurprisingly, posits that most Monroeville workers live in adjacent suburbs, thus probably won't contribute to the ridership of Downtown-bound rail.)
October 23, 2025 at 1:17 AM
(I'm building only study-proposed alignments—but would be curious to compare the performance of the two. FWIW, Subway Builder's demand model, unsurprisingly, posits that most Monroeville workers live in adjacent suburbs, thus probably won't contribute to the ridership of Downtown-bound rail.)
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).
PGH's rail corridors largely follow rivers & valleys. Between downtown and the East End, the PRR's main line tracks a series of ravines and valleys, remnants of a preglacial course of the Monongahela, skirting north of Oakland.
www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-...
www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-...
How ancestral rivers carved up — and flattened — Pittsburgh
The large arc of flat land curving through Pittsburgh's East End seems out of place, but it's actually an ancient riverbed marking where the Allegheny and Monongahela once flowed.
www.wesa.fm
October 21, 2025 at 4:51 AM
PGH's rail corridors largely follow rivers & valleys. Between downtown and the East End, the PRR's main line tracks a series of ravines and valleys, remnants of a preglacial course of the Monongahela, skirting north of Oakland.
www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-...
www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-...
Before continuing the build, a quick detour thru PGH rail history.
We tend to build transit infra where it's easiest. PGH topography makes the overlap of "easy to build" & "high ridership potential" rail corridors quite narrow. Oakland—the "eds & meds"-anchored second CBD—is the biggest victim.
We tend to build transit infra where it's easiest. PGH topography makes the overlap of "easy to build" & "high ridership potential" rail corridors quite narrow. Oakland—the "eds & meds"-anchored second CBD—is the biggest victim.
October 21, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Before continuing the build, a quick detour thru PGH rail history.
We tend to build transit infra where it's easiest. PGH topography makes the overlap of "easy to build" & "high ridership potential" rail corridors quite narrow. Oakland—the "eds & meds"-anchored second CBD—is the biggest victim.
We tend to build transit infra where it's easiest. PGH topography makes the overlap of "easy to build" & "high ridership potential" rail corridors quite narrow. Oakland—the "eds & meds"-anchored second CBD—is the biggest victim.