For nearly seven hours Tuesday, Pittsburgh Regional transit heard from dozens of riders and transit advocates about the serious problems they would face if the agency follows through with service cuts of 45%, a 62% reduction in the area served by Access paratransit and a 25-cent increase in the basic fare to $3.
It was the first day of the public comment meetings at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh that are federally required when a transit agency makes major changes. The stories are just what PRT officials wanted to hear as they try to build a case for Senate Republicans in Harrisburg to approve the first increase in transit subsidy funds in 12 years and eliminate the agency’s projected $117 million deficit.
But the biggest news of the day came at a rally outside by riders during the afternoon break, when state Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, announced she will sponsor legislation to provide reliable transit funding. She said the legislation will mirror the proposal from Transit for All PA, a riders advocacy group in which local group Pittsburghers for Public Transit is a main player.
The sponsorship memo for bills jointly proposed by Williams and Sen. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia, call for increasing the fee for renting a car in the state from $2 a day to $6.50, raising the fee for leasing a car from 3% to 5% and establishing a 6% surcharge for rides with services such as Lyft and Uber.
Transit for All PA has estimated those changes would raise more than $500 million a year for transit and allow agencies to restore service to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, plus 10% more for agencies in rural areas.
Williams said Senate staff is in the process of writing the language for the bills, which she called a “reasonable” approach to handling the funding problem. She credited Transit for All PA for strong research that went into a white paper explaining the proposed changes and the funds they could generate.
The bills are designed to “not only save public transit but [also] allow it to thrive,” said Williams, who said she has heard from “hundreds” of constituents concerned about the proposed cuts.
“It is an investment in every one of us,” she said.
In a news release, Saval, chairman of the Philadelphia delegation, said the lack of state action has brought transit to “the brink of disaster.”
“Mobility is crucial to a community’s social and economic well-being and to a region’s health and vitality,” he said. “The Transit for All PA Funding Package will create sustainable investments in our transit system, fortifying transit agencies to meet the challenges they face right now while simultaneously building a future in which they are able to fully meet the needs of the people who depend on them.”
Senate Republicans have been reluctant to approve more funding for transit because members from rural areas say 87% of the money goes to PRT and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that serves five counties around Philadelphia.
During her remarks at the rally organized by Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Williams said she sat through the morning hearing where testimony showed the proposed cuts would “devastate our community” by disconnecting workers from their jobs and people with disabilities from access to many of their life activities. She recently was appointed to the PRT board to replace retired Sen. Jim Brewster.
Other public officials during the rally stepped up to stress the importance of transit to people’s lives and the state’s economy, both by connecting riders with work and through the money agencies pour into system in employee salaries and the purchase of supplies and services.
“It’s a life source for all of us,” said state Rep. Lindsey Powell, D-Lawrenceville, calling on her Harrisburg colleagues to realize the need and increase funding. “We trimmed the fat. We trimmed the muscle. Now they want us to trim the bone.”
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato called the proposed cuts “draconian” and noted that PRT has made substantial changes in the way it does business and with union contracts to control costs.
“Now, we need Harrisburg to step up,” she said. “[Transit] is the backbone of our economy. This region will come to a standstill if we lose our transit.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey labeled the cuts “a consequence we can’t afford” because transit touches so many aspects of the community, including education and public safety.
“Who cannot want to fund mass transit?” he asked. “Don’t take our lifeline. Invest in our people.”
Lucas Piatt, a principal in developer Piatt Cos., said transit is a key to the success of the company’s variety of projects that concentrate on what he called “people-centered place making.”
“You can’t build great places without transit,” he said. “Access matters. Those are the people that keep our communities operating.”
During the public hearing, those recurring themes – effect on the economy and connections to work and life’s necessities – came from social service agencies, people with disabilities and even students from City Charter High School, who used the event as an educational field trip.
Roxanne Huber, an executive with Teen Outreach, said transit is a key aspect of life with the disadvantaged youths the program deals with because it “makes the world accessible.”
“If transit is cut, people are going to lose their jobs,” she said.
Wyndell Williams of West Mifflin said the elimination of 41 bus routes, which will leave 19 municipalities and three Pittsburgh neighborhoods with no service, will make it difficult for him to get to work in Lincoln Place and shop at The Waterfront in Homestead.
“You’re leaving complete bus deserts,” he said. “[Legislators] need to get off their butts and find a solution.”
That solution can’t wait, said William Young of Sheridan.
“The time for talk and empty promises is over,” he said. “We need more public transit, not less.”
Marie Nepolitano, a councilwoman in Leetsdale, said transit is extremely important for residents of the tiny community at the extreme end of county and the 2,000 workers at Leetsdale Industrial Park. Redevelopment of the former Bethlehem Steel Corp. fabricating plant that closed in the 1980s has been a key to stabilizing the community, but elimination of the Route 14 bus would cause severe problems, she said.
“This is a key reason people moved to Leetsdale and stay in Leetsdale,” she said. “It will devastate the community and eliminate the reason for many people living in our town.”
The proposed changes will make it difficult for Sonia Kail to travel from her home in Mt. Lebanon to Bridgeville.
“This will make a major impact on my life,” she said. “We need these buses in the South Hills. I don’t understand how you can do this to us.”
Shrinking the service area for Access, which provides curb service for elderly people and people with disabilities, will isolate people who need service the most, several clients said.
Brian Hatgelakas, a visually impaired man who lives in Bethel Park, said the proposed cuts would “erase the independence I learned as a kid, basically erase a life.”
“Eliminating service will only force people out of the state,” he said. “I’m begging you, please, please, please get Harrisburg to do its job.”
Dr. Josie Badger, who uses a wheelchair and helps others with physical challenges find employment, said public transit is “the only way” many of them can get to work.
“We need to guarantee that all people have the right to work,” she said. “When we see cuts of this nature, we know these [jobs] are pipe dreams. We can’t go backwards.”
Richard Walter said elimination of the Silver Line on the light rail system would make it difficult to get to dialysis three days a week.
“If you don’t have transportation, how are you supposed to get around?” he asked. “How am I supposed to get to dialysis?”
The proposed cuts could create serious problems for many of the 600 students at City Charter, Assistant Principal Angela Welch said. Welch said she uses transit to get to work and her mother uses paratransit service.
“I’m worried about the 600 kids who use the bus to get to school,” she said. “At this point, it is a serious concern for the future of our school.”
Chris Sandvig, executive director of advocacy group Mobilify Southwestern Pennsylvania, said the financial crisis shouldn’t have been a surprise since the state’s transportation funding package expired two years ago. State officials knew that when they passed it in 2014. He was involved in that battle for funding, too.
“This one scares me more,” he said, adding that the widespread nature of the proposed cuts would have a profound effect on many people’s lives. “Would your kids want to live in a place like that? Would you?”
The format of the hearing is for the public to make statements to PRT board members and staff, but there is no discussion, and they do not respond to questions. After some people finished particularly emotional comments, CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman went out of her way to come down from the dais and console them or get into a discussion about their concerns.
That kind of reaction shows the agency and riders are on the same side of the battle, something Sandvig said wasn’t always the case in the past. He cited other differences from the last fight for transportation funding.
“It’s different in that until just today [with Williams’ proposed bills], it doesn’t seem like anyone in Harrisburg was taking it seriously,” he said. “We are unified at the city, county and local level in a way that I have never seen before.
“We as a community need to support that.”
Additional hearings will be held by PRT from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. May 6 at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland and June 12 at the Downtown convention center. The agency will accept written comments until June 18.
The state budget is scheduled to be approved by June 30.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.