24-hour bus service coming to Oakland

Say goodbye to 3 a.m. Uber rides from distant neighborhoods back to your on-campus residence — Port Authority is looking to provide 24-hour bus service to Oakland.

Under the current schedule, most buses that pass through Oakland, such as the 61 and 71 lines, terminate service at 2 a.m. and start up again at 5 a.m.

The proposed new plan, announced by Port Authority CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman after a Thursday teleconference, comes in light of a study by the American Public Transportation Association that indicated the need for late-night transit service for late-shift workers.

“Our No. 1 objective would be to get 24-hour routes reestablished to serve workers who need that service,” Kelleman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It would be five or six routes around the area to connect through Downtown.”

Oakland, along with other major Pittsburgh neighborhoods like the Strip District, Bloomfield and Shadyside, would ideally see this 24-hour service by next year. Since state funding for local transit needs to be renewed in 2023, Port Authority wants to establish a regular ridership prior.