Greyhound pulls in at Eleventh Street and Liberty Avenue downtown, across from Amtrak. From the modern, efficient Pittsburgh International Airport (tel 412/472-3500), fifteen miles west, Airlines Transportation (tel 412/321-4990) runs hourly shuttles downtown (daily 7am10pm; $14 one-way, $24 round-trip) and to Oakland ($15 one-way, $26 round-trip). Almost as quick and significantly cheaper, the excellent local bus #28X runs roughly every 20min between the airport and Oakland via Robinson town center and downtown (daily 5ammidnight; $2). Pittsburgh's main visitor center is downtown on Liberty Avenue, adjacent to the Gateway Center (MonFri 9am4.45pm, Sat & Sun 9am2.45pm; tel 412/281-7711 or 1-800/366-0093, www.visitpittsburgh.com ), with subsidiary branches at the airport (MonSat 8am8pm, Sun noon8pm), Station Square (daily 10am5pm) and in the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center (daily 10am5pm). The main post office is at Seventh and Grant (MonFri 7am6pm, Sat 7am2.30pm; tel 412/642-4472; zip code 15230).

Though Pittsburgh is a city of distinct districts, transportation between them is simple. Buses through town ($1.60), the Monongahela trolley incline to Mount Washington (daily until around midnight; $1.60) and a small "T" subway system (free downtown, $1 to cross the river to Station Square, $1.60 or $2 farther into South Hills) are all run by PAT (tel 412/442-2000), which has a downtown service center at 534 Smithfield St (Mon & Thurs 9am6pm, Tues, Wed & Fri 9am5pm) where you can pick up timetables. Twenty-five cent transfers, which must be bought simultaneously with your fare if needed, allow you to connect with any of the system's vehicles within three hours. For taxis , call Yellow Cab (tel 412/665-8100).