South Hills Junction will be a vital connection point under ACT. South Hills Junction’s designation will be 51. A number of routes will serve here, and this will be the end point to many of the routes. This might bother some people who would have take the PRT? route to Downtown, but riders will have a number of routes connecting to Downtown from South Hills Junction including S1: South Busway, S2: South Busway – Bethel Park, and S3: South Corridor. The routes are as follows:
- 51: Bon Air
- 510S: Brookline
- 511E: SHJ – Oakland
- 511S: Mt Washington
- 512S: Bailey
- 513S: Knoxville
- 514S: Churchview Avenue
- S511: Arlington
51: Bon Air
The 51: Bon Air will be designed in such a way as it would eliminate the need for the 54D: Northside – Oakland – South Side‘s D Branch in the south. This route will connect with the 54D‘s portion to Bon Air, and connect to South Hills Junction. Those needing to go to South Side, or Oakland can transfer to the 511E: SHJ – Oakland. This is a simple and direct to the point alternative than having an entire complete bus route just to connect Bon Air.
510S: Brookline
The 510S: Brookline will operate as the 39: Brookline with one exception. The 510S: Brookline will not enter Downtown, and instead terminate at South Hills Junction. This route is still important, especially to the people in Brookline, but the need to board a Primary route in South Hills Junction might be an inconvenience to some. However, I will imagine that riders will get used to it, and adjust.
511E: SHJ – Oakland
The 511E: SHJ – Oakland will replace the southern portion of the 54C: Northside – Oakland – South Side. Other then the much shorter name, the 511E: SHJ – Oakland will provide those in South Hills Junction and option for getting into Oakland. The northern portion of the PRT route will be handled by another route.
511S: Mt Washington
The 511S: Mt Washington will replace the 40: Mt Washington with exception of Downtown service. If someone living in Mt Washington or Duquesne Heights needs to go to Downtown, they can either use the 5: Mon Incline, or 7: Duquesne Incline to get to W. Carson Street where they could take a bus to get to Downtown. The other option which might be more realistic for most riders will be to ride to South Hills Junction, and then board a primary route to go into Downtown.
512S: Bailey
The 512S: Bailey will operate as the 43: Bailey with the expected exception of terminating in South Hills Junction rather than going all of the way into Downtown. As mentioned, anyone needing to go to Downtown from South Hills Junction will board an LRT, or primary route serving South Hills Junction.
513S: Knoxville
The 513S: Knoxville will serve for the western portion of the 44: Knoxville between South Hills Junction and Knoxville. Since there are no alternate routes with ACT, the Weekday extension will be a separate route to serve those communities.
514S: Churchview Avenue
The 514S: Churchview Avenue, will serve the weekday service for the 44: Knoxville between South Hills Junction, and Churchview Apartments. Since the 514S: Churchview Avenue does not serve Downtown, riders will need to use one of the primary routes that serves South Hills Junction.
S511: Arlington
The S511: Arlington will operate in the exact same way as the 48: Arlington serving Arlington Avenue to get to E. Carson Street. This route will also be relatively slow when compare to the LRT, or S3: South Corridor.