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You came to the right place. You should swing by the bike pgh office in lawrenceville and pick their brain and procure a free bike map. These forums are also great expect some good replies, unfortunately I do not know that area.

Big hearty welcome!

I'm hesitant to suggest an area to look for housing since I don't know the apartment market at all. But there are a lot of apartments along Greentree Road easily accessible to Foster, and it's still easy to get into town for fun and frolic. I'd almost suggest getting something short term up there until you get the lay of the land (which here, is challenging).

North side would be a tough commute to Foster, bike or transit. West end bridge and circle are challenging passages for the hardy. South Side wouldn't be too bad, at least one person on here does that, but there is a strong chance you will be shown very expensive rathole apartments.

There are some nice areas in Crafton and even Carnegie, but they are intermingled with sketchy areas too. Living anywhere with access to the West Busway is excellent for getting into downtown.

Where are you coming from?

edmonds59,

Thanks. I hear you on the commute from Northside, the West End bridge area does look a little treacherous.

I have some friends that live a little outside Pittsburgh that are convinced I'll love the Southside area, they are not bike commuters however. Would Mt. Washington pose a similar commute? It looks like that may put me a little closer. I'm trying to look for places that are little more "urban", and where I'll be able to walk/bike to stores, nightlife, etc.

I'm living in Buffalo, NY right now. From what I hear Pittsburgh, and Buffalo are pretty similar except for the size, economy, and hills... I live 2 minutes outside of the downtown, still very much in the city center. So I am a little bummed that I'm moving to Pittsburgh to work in the 'burbs.

If your friends think southside is a great fit for you, you probably won't want a place in Crafton or Carnegie. They're great places, but probably better suited to where youll qant to be in 5 years. so, lets figure out where you want to live, and we can figure out a route to Foster Plaza. the west end circle is doable, not great, but better than it was a few years ago. west carson scheduled for improvements starting next year. youll have to get used to hills if you decide on mt. washington. my vote would be for lawrenceville. its urban, trendy and likely more affordable than south side for what you get. it will add about two FLAT miles to yout.commute. lawrenceville runs pretty much from 31st to 50th streeets

Sorry, can't edit from my phone.....

And between the Allegheny river and Penn avenue.

To all you locals, yes I know these are not the formal boundaries of larryville.....just giving an outsider an idea of where in a general sense.

Welcome, Cody. You have found a great local resource on this board and a great group of people in its posters.....

Mt. Washington is definitely do-able, I can think of a route right off the top of my head to Foster Plaza that would be fine, as long as you don't mind a huge descent and a huge climb, both ways. Two times a day. There is a little neighborhood up there, easy access to town and S. Side.

Lawrenceville would be cool too, no idea about the housing stock. You would still have to do the West End circle, but reverse to rush hour, and not as rough as the bridge and circle.

Cody,

I do the multi-modal trip from Penn Hills to Carnegie and I usually really enjoy the trip. I ride the bus to get me past the places I either dont want to ride (i.e. big huge honking hills) or dont feel safe riding (i.e busy narrow dark streets)

I get on the bus between penn hills and east liberty then ride to just shy of the west end bridge. Get back on a bus and ride to top of noblestown (just after the foster plaza entrance) and ride the rest of the way to work.

Busses - They say that all the busses have racks. I found out this morning after 2 TWO!! busses in a row had either no rack or a broken one that "port athourity" is latin for "filthy no good rotten liars!" still on the whole you have any trouble with going multi modal.

oh and Welcome!! come on out to the flock rides when the weather gets warmer.

to Edmonds point, a huge descent going to work and huge climb coming home is just about a perfect bike commute.

to Edmonds point, a huge descent going to work and huge climb coming home is just about a perfect bike commute.

indeed, but edmonds's point was that it would be a huge descent and a huge climb each way.

welcome! to another former (well, soon-to-be, anyway) buffalonian. i think you'll like it here. once you get used to the hills, the cycling here is much better than in the buffalo area (in my opinion, at least).

the overall vibe is pretty similar: low cost of living, recovering rust belt city with lots of unexpected culture, and a very strong desire to drink and watch football and hockey.

if i may ask, what part of the area do/did you live? and what sort of neighborhood would you like to find something comparable to in pittsburgh?

I'd suggest visiting the Southside on a Friday or Saturday night before deciding to live there. Maybe it's for you, maybe it's not. I avoid the place like the plague, at least on weekend nights.

I second the idea of checking the Southside out prior to moving there. Not to mention the prices are insane.

HiddenVariable,

I live in Allentown, and love it. I'd like to find something similar in Pittsburgh. I guess I'm looking for the hip (but mature, and down to earth), artsy, eclectic neighborhood with lots of good food, and friendly bars. You guys have one of those?

regent square, mexican war streets (northside), bloomfield, the right parts of shadyside, maybe lawrenceville (a little hipster for my tastes) all come to mind right away. I'm sure others could be more help since i haven't been out drinking in over a decade.

south side is totally brotastic and obnoxious on the weekends and at night.

cburch is about right. i would probably recommend lawrenceville, especially with your commute (saves you a hill). decent rent, lots of new and interesting bars and restaurants, and probably about the right age for you, the way it seems.

i've lived in shadyside for the last eight years, and i would probably choose allentown if i lived in buffalo. it's a bit older and more well-to-do than lawrenceville, but i like it.

bloomfield/friendship is another good place to move into these days.

the downside of the last two places is that you would have a fairly significant hill to climb on your way home. plenty of people do that, though.

Two terms have come up that I am adding to my lexicon immediately; brotastic, Buffalonian. +2.

+1 "brotastic"

its the only polite way i can think of to describe the clusterfuck that is e carson after 7 pm.

cody you will find a ton of western ny folks in pittsburgh (don't let ANYONE tell you its upstate!) you will miss wegman's i promise you that, but the hills are fucking fantastic! i can't live anyplace flat ever again.

I work in foster plaza!

I live in the southside slopes and commute up to greentree as often as I can.

the worst part will be travelling through the West End Circle, where state route 51 and West Carson Street meet with the West End Bridge. I head through there at 6AM and have no issues.

There are two routes up to Foster Plaza from the westend: Greentree Road and Noblestown Road.

Each has very low traffic heading towards Greentree in the morning, though Greentree Road is steeper.

Here's the Noblestown Route from the Southside: http://g.co/maps/wstrx

Here's the Greentree Route from the Southside: http://g.co/maps/u4t66

Each of these routes enter Foster Plaza from southern entrance at Mansfield. You could enter from the northern end at Noblestown, but the road grade on that side is not fun in the morning.

If you miss Wegmans, you can always go to the giant Eagle mega-store out towards Robinson.

i've been there. its ok. but its still no wegmans.

+1, as the kids say.

Hello Cody, another Buffalonian here, originally South Bflo (South Park-Abbott-Hopkins-Bailey area) then West Falls / East Aurora for many years. There 20ish years, here 30ish years. Yeah, they're more alike than different. More slop than snow here in the winter, though. Then it freezes and you get frozen slop. Frankly, I prefer snow.

Great advice so far. Foster Plaza is one of those places that's darn near impossible to get to by anything other than an automobile. It's up on top of a huge hill, like a lot of suburban developments. The climb off of Noblestown is ball-busting. The climb off of Mansfield (from Greentree) is merely miserable, more an issue of traffic than climbing, though it's anything but flat.

Buses: 99% of the buses have racks. 14 of 700 do not, and a bunch of those go bye-bye after 10/31 (two days!!) when their inspection stickers run out. If you are not familiar with using the racks, check out this video, starring yours truly.

I would say that before you move to South Side, try riding on it at about 2am Saturday morning/friday night.

I honestly felt safer on the pitch black jail trail than on E Carson.

South side is okay during the day, but if you do any night riding or don't drink, you might find it boring, or obnoxious.

Wow. Thanks for the all the responses.

Looks like South Side may be coming off the list, or at least dropping to the bottom.

Once you learn to love the hills, a lot of choices open up. While I don't have any direct experience with it, the non-touristy side of Mt Washington may be of interest. Part of the problem of working anywhere south, or living south and working not-south, is getting past MtWash. Lots of shitty options. West End Circle JUST got a complete re-do a year ago. Once you learn how it works, and feel ballsy enough to deal with crossing it, and taking the lane in serious traffic, it gets easier, but it is not for beginners.

Velominati Rule #4 is "It's all about the bike," and in your case, you need gears, lots of them, if you're going to get up into F.P. with any regularity. My preference would be the Noblestown approach, since you would only have one climb, not two, but they both suck.

A bit more about the bus situation. Transit in Pennsylvania, not just Pittsburgh, is under fire by the politicians and media. The system is designed reasonably well, but has plenty routine hiccups and a generally non-responsive customer service system. There is the constant threat of service cuts; this has been going on for decades. As affects you, there used to be a bus that went right up into F.P., but that got cut a year or so ago. Don't count on it ever coming back. This rant, written over a year ago, has the long story, if you care.

Once you learn to love the hills, a lot of choices open up. While I don't have any direct experience with it, the non-touristy side of Mt Washington may be of interest. Part of the problem of working anywhere south, or living south and working not-south, is getting past MtWash. Lots of shitty options (long story here). West End Circle JUST got a complete re-do a year ago. Once you learn how it works, and feel ballsy enough to deal with crossing it, and taking the lane in serious traffic, it gets easier, but it is not for beginners.

Velominati Rule #4 is "It's all about the bike," and in your case, you need gears, lots of them, if you're going to get up into F.P. with any regularity. My preference would be the Noblestown approach, since you would only have one climb, not two, but they both suck.

A bit more about the bus situation. Transit in Pennsylvania, not just Pittsburgh, is under fire by the politicians and media. The system is designed reasonably well, but has plenty of routine hiccups and a generally non-responsive customer service system. There is the constant threat of service cuts; this has been going on for decades. As affects you, there used to be a bus that went right up into F.P., but that got cut a year or so ago. Don't count on it ever coming back. This rant, written over a year ago, has the long story, if you care.

EDIT: The two buses that might help you are the 31, which goes out Noblestown, and the 38 (may also be labeled 38C), which goes out Greentree Road. If you want a system map, go here.

Mt Washington is alright, I lived up there for a couple of years. The incline makes it not such a bad place.

Contrary to popular belief you do not need gears to go up hills, though you may prefer them, and there is nothing wrong with that if so. Bicycles existed for quite some time before gear systems were invented, and people didn't walk up every hill they encountered. I used to commute once or twice a week by bike from my home in Bloomfield to the Robinson area, up Noblestown and then up Stubenville Pike on a track bike. It is 100% doable, I am not superman and am not a competitive road rider.

I second the single gear notion. And if you find it hard to cope, try using clips. It's much easier being able to pull up on the pedals.

The southside is actually a pretty cool place, I definitely wouldn't discard it out of hand without taking a look. It's one of the more interesting neighborhoods in the city and there are a ton of cool shops, bars, restaurants, etc. you can walk to. Yes, there are drunk college kids especially on the weekends - maybe that doesn't bug you as much as it apparently bugs some people here, and regardless there are plenty of places to live that aren't right in the area with all the bars.