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Biking from Southside to Northside - for a novice?

1. 

   CairoCon
   

   newbie
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   Hi - I asked this on citydata and was recommended to come here; I'm making a move to Pittsburgh for work on the Northside just across from downtown. Trying to figure out a good neighborhood where I have the option to bike or walk to work.

   I'd love to live on the Southside but am not sure how feasible it is to regularly commute to the Northside via bike paths/downtown. I am very much a novice so am looking for a relatively easy commute by bike. Also the option to walk in winter since I'm not equipped for riding in winter weather.

   Other neighborhoods I'm looking at are downtown, Northside and Strip District - not too concerned about commuting from these areas. But I'd really like to live on the southside if possible.

   Any thoughts on whether a regular commute from Southside to Northside sounds reasonable? And any advice on routes to take?

   Thanks in advance!

2. 

   Mick
   

   bossanova
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   Southside to Northside?

   Easy and fun. In a few months you might be able to do it all by trail. Depending on where on teh SS and NS, probably flat and likely only 2 or 3 miles

   The only problem I see at all, is that if you want to take the bus, you have to tranfer downtown.

   Mick

3. 

   NCBT
   

   frequenter
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   No, you can catch the 54c North Ave. Ride it to the south side,,=you go trough oakland the bus ride takes a while, but you can get alot of places with just these two buses and you can usually can take a bike on the bus. You can sometimes take a bike. Though, if you want some fun on the way to the south side, ride a 500 to oakland and ride to the south side from there, great way to learn a city, take a different route occasionally.
   In the winter the bike trails from the N.S.><South Side are by the rivers, it gets real cold by the rivers...

4. 

   StuInMcCandless
   

   bossanova
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   Lots of ways to go through Downtown, depending on how comfortable you are with traffic. My bike commute involves going through NSide and Downtown, to destination on Second Ave across from SSide. (It'd differ from yours merely by adding one bridge crossing.)

   I like crossing the Allegheny on the Fort Duquesne Bridge, rolling through Point State Park, Liberty, Stanwix, Fourth Ave, Grant St, Jail Trail.

   Return: Jail Trail, Fort Pitt Blvd, Commonwealth Place, through PtStPk, back across FtDuqBr to NSide.

   As to buses, at the moment it's $2/ride or $75/mo, though that'll change Jan. 1. Routes 51BDG will get you from SSide to Fourth Ave by Stanwix pretty quickly, bypassing a lot of the busy part of Downtown.

   Figure on about 3 out of 4 buses have racks. It gets better every year as they retire or retrofit old rackless buses. Very often helpful, but just enough w/o to be irritating.

   Where on NSide are you traveling to?

5. 

   HiddenVariable
   

   frequenter
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   i second stu on fort duquesne bridge as the ideal option from the north shore. however, once i get out of the park, i always go up boulevard of the allies. the five or so blocks from the point to grant are very wide, relatively low traffic, and much of the way have no cars in the far right lane, so you can have it all to yourself.

   additionally, as nate said, it will soon be an option to do the entire ride via trails, once the mon wharf trail connects the jail trail to the point.

   once you cross the mon, biking in the southside is pretty stress-free. a trail runs the length of it, and there are tons of side streets that offer almost ideal biking conditions. the only downside is the crazy number of stop signs.

   to summarize: this is one of the easier commutes in the city, if you don't mind going 2-3 miles each way.

6. 

   Mick
   

   bossanova
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   Taking the 54C from the Southide to the Northside is possible, sure, but you'd spend 50 minutes on the bus to go 2-3 miles. Slower and less reliable than a moderate walking pace.

   To me, it seems a shame they don't make the 54C a full circle by going through the West Emd (as well as the restok fo the route).

   Mick

7. 

   Mick
   

   bossanova
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   Taking the 54C from the Southide to the Northside is possible, sure, but you'd spend 50 minutes on the bus to go 2-3 miles. Slower and less reliable than a moderate walking pace.

   To me, it seems a shame they don't make the 54C a full circle by going through the West Emd (as well as the restok fo the route).

   Mick

8. 

   druid13
   

   freewheeler
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   I can also say using the Hot Metal Bridge to Jail Trail to any number of routes (Point State Park is good) through town Ft Duq Bridge is a good route. Once over there the trail by Confluence is a good ride.

9. 

   erok
   

   Staff
   

   
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   Posted 8 months ago
   

   northside to southside is def easy and fun...and flat. cars go fairly slow on the roads through downtown, so in my opinion feels relatively safe.

   i'd stay off of e carson st tho, if you cross the smithfield st bridge (recommended)

   the upstream side is a shared sidewalk, and when you cross south, you can dip down into station square to the trail, or go through the gas station, then onto mckean st, which is a really low traffic road.

10. 

    erok
    

    Staff
    

    
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    Posted 8 months ago
    

    sorry, that probably makes no sense to you right now. the thing to be aware of is to try to work out a route that doesn't involve E Carson st. it's very easy to do. my commute involves crossing the length of the southside from the birmingham bridge to 4th st, and i only ride E Carson for half a block, when i exit the bridge

11. 

    CairoCon
    

    newbie
    

    
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    Posted 8 months ago
    

    Hey everyone - thanks so much, this is such great advice! Glad I learned about the board. To answer the question I'm going to be just north of the river (basically next to PNC park).

    I checked out the bus route and think that is probably going to be too long (for getting to work at least). But it sounds like there's lots of route options especially once the trails are complete.

    Thanks again for the great advice; really appreciate it!

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