"A rare case of Cleveland envy is helping to fuel the latest proposal for improving transit service between Downtown [Pittsburgh] and Oakland," begins a recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

What local officials in that town to the east covet in our own beloved town is the RTA HealthLine, which uses energy-efficient bus rapid transit vehicles to connect Public Square with University Circle and beyond.

Writing for the Post-Gazette, Jon Schmitz says, "Local officials who visited that city's HealthLine, a 6.8-mile bus route with many of the attributes of a light-rail line, want to build a similar system here."

His research pointed out that Cleveland's HealthLine trimmed a formerly 30-minute ride to 18 minutes, while boosting ridership and fueling some $4 billion in investment along the Euclid Avenue Corridor.

While Pittsburgh officials were skeptical that the BRTs would be a suitable (and far more affordable) alternative to light rail, they left Cleveland as supporters.

"This had the feel and the comfort of light rail," Allegheny County's development director Dennis Davin said in the article.

"We see this as a major regional economic development and real estate project," said Ken Zapinski, senior vice president for transportation and infrastructure for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

"This is really an urban revitalization project that happens to have buses involved," said Court Gould, executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh.
 
Read the rest here.