Pittsurgh Commuting Made Easy

Greater Pittsburgh,
Commuting Guide

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Everything To Know About

Commuting In Pittsburgh

We do a lot of relocations, which inspired the creation of this guide.  Pittsburgh is a city built on a whim piece by piece and not a grid, and many of our suburbs are mazes of roads that even confuse locals.  This makes wanting to find homes with easy commutes or good public transit a high priority item for our clients.

The good news is Pittsburgh has great public transit infrastructure and many commuting options.  Below is an overview and links to detailed guides for Park & Rides, Rail Transit (the T), Inclines, and Bike Lanes.

Pittsburgh Park and Ride Icon
Skip The Tunnel & Parkway Traffic

Park-and-ride lots let commuters leave the car behind before the worst of the Fort Pitt Tunnel, Liberty Tubes, and Parkway backups, then finish the trip by T, busway, or bus.

South Hills and West Suburb Park and Ride Access
South Hills & West Suburb Connectivity

Communities like Dormont, Mt. Lebanon, Castle Shannon, Bethel Park, Carnegie, and Crafton all sit within a short drive of a Pittsburgh Regional Transit park-and-ride lot.

Free Commuter Parking
Free (Or Cheap) Commuter Parking

The large majority of PRT's park-and-ride lots have no parking fee at all — an instant savings over paying to park downtown every day.

Easy Access To Pittsburgh Events
Easy Access To Games & The North Shore

Skip expensive event-day parking for Steelers games, Pirates games, concerts, or a night at Rivers Casino by parking once and riding in from a nearby lot.

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Park & Rides

PRT - Pittsburgh Regional Transit, formerly known at The Port Authority Transit (PAT) has over the years made many cuts to the number of bus lines and routes, but continues to maintain and offer a robust network of park and rides.

With nearly all Park & Rides being free and a robust number of them, for commuters who also have access to a car, this is a great option.  Many park and rides offer direct access to Pittsburgh robust network of bus ways that let transit skip the traffic.   

Click below to explore our interactive park and ride guide which will let you map and locate every park and ride in Pittsbrugh based upon geography and view them on Google maps.

Park & Ride Guide
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The T Pittsburgh's Rail Transit

If you're relocating to Pittsburgh, you wouldn't be alone in confusing the T with a subway system.  Like a subway, it does go underground in the downtown limits - it even travels to the North Shore and Heinz field using an tunnel that goes under the river, but it's largely an above ground system that replaced Pittsburgh's more robust trolley lines.

Interesting fact:  The reason train tracks are their width is because when the railroad system was invented, people usually traveled by horse and buggy with 2 horses.  The width was decided because it was about the width of 2 horses behinds.  The T, on the other hand, elected to use custom sized tracks that have made the cost of new rail cars and track quite costly.  

Click below to explore our full featured and interactive guide to riding the T.  Explore areas with T access, including park and rides, or view homes for sale in Pittsburgh near the T-Line.

Guide To Riding The T
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The Incline

When Pittsburgh was a booming steel town and our river were lined with steel mills, the surrounding areas near the city was steep, mountainous hills.  The need for housing for all the workers necessitated building homes on the hills (The South Side Slopes is a great example as it Mount Washington).  Because roads were still few, they built inclines to make it easy for people to get from up the hill down to the flats.

Today, only 2 inclines still exist with remnants of some still around to be found.  Both are in Mount Washington.  The Monongahela Incline is operated by the PRT at the far end of Grandview Ave in Mt Washington just off Shilo Street.  It goes down to Station Square and a T Platform letting Mount Washington Residents have an easy commute, though the T does run on the far side of Mount Washington with access points along Warrington Ave.

The Duquesne Incline is operated by a non-profit as part of a preservation project and is mainly a tourist destination, but there is a PRT stop at its bottom for easy commute into town for people living on the other side of Mount Washington.

Incline Guide
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Pittsburgh Bike Lane & Trails Guide

Many locals hate them because they reduced traffic lanes and turned many roads into one way streets, but a robust network of bike lanes and trails are here to stay.  

Even if you don't use them for commuting (because who wants swamp ass when they arrive at work?), their recreational value is priceless with trails running along the rivers and connecting everywhere from the North Shore to Shadyside.

Plus discover all the amazing bike lanes and trails in the suburbs.  The Greater Pittsburgh Region is one of the best in the county for bicycle enthusiasts and recreational commuters.

Bike Lane Guide
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Bus Transit

PRT (Pittsburgh Regional Transit, formerly known as PAT - Port Authority Transit) runs a robust network of bus routes throughout the city and into the suburbs, with neighboring Butler and Washington Counties having their own express busses into town or connections to PRT routes.

Several bus ways create a convenience by letting buses take tunnels, bridges, and their own dedicated roads to have express routes into downtown while avoiding the congestion of commuters in their cars.  Many Pittsburgh home buyers seek out homes with easy access to bus stops that use the busway or park-and-rides off the busway. 

Pittsburgh Bus Guide
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Greater Pittsburgh Communities

Local or relocating, discover everything you need to know about local communities and neighborhoods in the Greater Pittsburgh area.  From housing market reports to school ratings and local ammenities, our area guides have you covered in finding your next place to call home from the South Hill to the West Hills.

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YOUR QUESTIONS

Frequently Asked Questions About Pittsburgh Park & Ride Lots

Most are. Of the 44 park-and-ride lots covered in this directory, 39 have no parking fee at all. A handful of high-demand lots do charge, including South Hills Village Station ($2/day or $22/month) and the paid garages at First Avenue Station and North Side Station (W. General Robinson) downtown.

No. Pittsburgh Regional Transit's (PRT) park-and-ride lots are for commuter parking only. Overnight, residential, long-term, and recreational parking are all prohibited, and vehicles left in non-designated areas can be ticketed or towed.

No permit is required to park at most lots — you can pull in, park, and walk to the platform or bus stop. You will need a ConnectCard or the Ready2Ride app to pay your fare once you board the T or a bus.

South Hills Village Station in Bethel Park is the largest, with 2,173 spaces feeding Red and Blue Line T service. Wilkinsburg Station on the East Busway is the largest busway lot, with 734 spaces.

PRT police patrol park-and-ride lots regularly, and most facilities have lighting and paved, striped parking areas. As with any commuter lot, it's smart to lock your car, keep valuables out of sight, and report anything suspicious to PRT police or 911.

Every T light rail station has some level of nearby parking, but “park-and-ride” specifically refers to the dedicated commuter lots — some attached to T stations, others serving the East Busway, West Busway, or a suburban bus route with no rail service at all.

Yes — the University Boulevard and Thorn Run park-and-ride lots in Moon Township both connect to Pittsburgh International Airport via the 28X Airport Flyer and G3 Moon Flyer routes, making them a popular alternative to paying for long-term airport parking.

It can. Many Pittsburgh-area buyers specifically search for homes within a short drive of a park-and-ride lot to cut their commute time and gas costs, which keeps neighborhoods like Dormont, Mt. Lebanon, Castle Shannon, and Bethel Park along the busway and T corridors consistently in demand.