EHI led public engagement for Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Bus Line Refresh, a targeted update to PRT’s bus network and one of the top priorities of the agency’s 25-year long-range plan, completed in 2021. Contracted under Michael Baker International, EHI developed and executed the public participation plan that educated riders about the network changes and gave them real opportunities to shape it at every stage of plan development.

This wasn’t engagement from behind a desk. Our team took the conversation to where riders already were — bus stops, libraries, community events, and neighborhoods across Allegheny County. Through pop-up input tents, public meetings, online surveys, focus groups, and stakeholder outreach, supported by social media, radio, TV, and print campaigns, EHI made sure every community had a way to be heard with multiple methods and techniques built in to ensure equity and inclusivity at every step.

The Numbers Tell A Story

Across four phases of engagement, EHI facilitated 54 pop-ups, 7 public meetings, 42 stakeholder meetings, and 5 focus groups, and attended 19 community meetings which equalled more than 100 engagement touchpoints in total. The results: over 17,000 surveys completed, more than 6,700 comments collected, and 62,000+ visits to the project website.

Each phase built on the last. Phase one gathered input on the current system: what’s working, what isn’t, and where riders need to go but can’t. Phase two kept the public and stakeholders informed as the redesign took shape. Phase three put Draft Network 1.0 in front of the public and collected feedback on the proposed changes. That feedback did something rare: it changed the project. After more than 16,000 comments across the first three phases, PRT made a deliberate call — rather than a wholesale overhaul, the network would keep what’s working, strengthen frequency and reliability on high-demand corridors, and improve evening, weekend, and cross-county connections. The project became the Bus Line Refresh: a more targeted, rider-informed update. Phase four, the final engagement round, ran from January through May 2026 and drew nearly 4,500 additional comments on the second draft network — input that shaped the final draft network before the plan moved to formal public comment and Board consideration.

What made this engagement effort work is that rider input didn’t sit in a binder — it shaped the network. Comments on route connections, walk distances, stop accessibility, frequency, and topography fed directly into the planning process, ensuring the updated system reflects how people actually live and move across the region.

Thousands of riders showed up, spoke up, and drew on maps — and the network is better for it. That’s what EHI does: turn community voices into the blueprint for what comes next.