Bethel Park is towards the southern end of the county, and there will be a few routes that would serve here. Bethel Park is home to South Hills Village Mall which has some popularity with multiple routes serving here. With that said, Bethel Park will receive the 55 designation. The routes are as follows:
- 55: Bethel Church Road
- S551: Bethel Park
- W551: Banksville
55: Bethel Church Road
The 55: Bethel Church Road is a connector that runs through the center of Bethel Park to get to shopping resources. The 55: Bethel Church Road will start at Bethel Church Road at Ft. Couch Road. The 55: Bethel Church Road will serve Bethel Church Road to Library Road where it will turn south to connect with a Shop & Save, Giant Eagle, and Walmart. Further south will be an Aldi, and CVS. The 55: Bethel Church Road will use South Park Shops to loop, and return.
On the return, the 55: Bethel Church Road will use Library Road and run north. Once it reaches Bethel Church Road, it will turn, and serve through the center of Bethel Park until reaching Ft. Couch Road. From there, the route will terminate and loop.
Since many people have access to an automobile, this route may not be popular for a while. However, once people trusts that this route will remain, then more people are likely to use the route when it is convenient for them.
S551: Bethel Park
The S551: Bethel Park will be simple and to the point. The S551: Bethel Park will replace the RED Line in its entirety. Since this is an LRT line, this shouldn’t count when reducing the number of primary routes as this route will run mostly underground while in Downtown. As this is not a colored route, anyone boarding the S551: Bethel Park must pay their fare, even if they are in the current free zone. This is because, there is no way to tell if someone actually paid if they intended on going beyond First Avenue. With that in mind, the Blue: Downtown will be the free route that uses subway stations.
W551: Banksville
The W551: Banksville will replace the 36: Banksville in its entirety. This will be simple and to the point. With nearly no adjustments needing to be made, riders should get familiar with the new route designation considering I have been trying to match names as best as possible. The W551: Banksville is as you can see is no different.