It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Pittsburgh, and that means thousands of area residents will be headed downtown for the parade. Thousands will also make their way to the South Side for a bit of celebrating.
The revelry usually leads to near-gridlock conditions on East Carson Street, but the city hopes a new shuttle bus will help relieve the pressure.
Three buses will run from noon to 4 a.m. along Carson Street every 15 minutes between the Southside works and the city’s Second Avenue lot at the 10th Street Bridge.
“So instead of parking in the (South Side) Historic District people can park in either that Second Avenue Lot or they could park in the South Side works where there are 2,400 spots in the parking garages and then hop on a shuttle into the Historic District,” said Kim Collins, South Side Chamber of Commerce President.
Temporary taxi stands will also be set up along Carson Street in an effort to get people in and out of the entertainment district.
The city and the Chamber of Commerce are using the high profile celebration as a way to test out the concept.
“The Chamber has made suggestions that we would like to see them do another test on a Friday or Saturday evening … a real test on an actual regular weekend,” said Collins, who wants to see how well the shuttle will do in getting people out of the South Side after the bars close.
