Pittsburgh Regional Transit reluctantly OKs budget with severe cuts

Neither Pittsburgh Regional Transit nor its 11-member board were happy with the annual budget under consideration Friday because it calls for a 35% cut in service, layoffs of 38% of staff, a 25-cent fare increase to $3 and the elimination of service after 11 p.m. beginning in February.

But faced with a legal requirement to adopt a balanced budget by June 30 or risk the loss of federal grants, the board voted 8-2 with one abstention to approve the spending package and vowed to continue lobbying the state Legislature for additional funding so the cuts aren’t needed. The Legislature is supposed to approve the state budget by June 30, too, but it regularly misses that deadline because there are no consequences.

If the General Assembly eventually adopts a new budget with an increase in the state subsidy for transit, Chairwoman Jennifer Liptak said PRT can call a special board meeting to amend its budget to reduce or eliminate the proposed cuts.

 Before the vote, board member Tia McClenney and others stressed that approving the spending plan did not ensure the changes will take place. The agency heard from more than 3,000 people at public hearings and through online comments about the proposed cuts, the vast majority of them strongly against the changes.

“We definitely hear you,” she told riders, “and we are continuing the fight.”

Transit agencies across the state are facing similar challenges because the state’s 10-year transportation bill expired two years ago and emergency federal funding awarded during the pandemic has run out. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that services five counties around Philadelphia approved a similar service-cutting budget Thursday with its cuts set to start in September.

Senate Republicans, in particular, have been reluctant to approve more public transit funds because 87% of the money goes to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Transit agencies and advocacy group Transit for All PA counter that transit supports the high economic activity in the urban areas that generates taxes for programs in rural areas and general spending that includes products from rural areas.

With no guarantee of additional funding and facing a $117 million deficit for the new fiscal year, PRT prepared a budget to provide a reliable level of service over the next 10 years rather than cut a little at a time until money runs out. SEPTA went with a five-year plan.  

In her remarks before the board vote, CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman stressed that the agency is against the cuts, but without additional state funding it has no choice. The agency has reserve funds of more than $460 million it could use to maintain current service for now and make cuts later, but the 10-year plan will allow it to stretch the same level of service over a longer period of time.

“This is the meeting none of us wanted to come to,” Kelleman said. “For some folks, [these cuts] make life difficult. For others, it makes life impossible.

“This is a step, but not the final step. We aren’t done with this conversation, and we are not done with this fight.”

Board members Bobbi Fan and state Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, voted against the $539.3 million operating budget and $187.9 million capital budget, and state Rep. Aerion Abney, D-North Side, abstained because of the lack of definitive funding from Harrisburg. Fan and Williams said they are waiting for a five-year plan from PRT staff and may have voted in favor of the budget if their votes were needed for approval.

Williams and Abney each have introduced a package of bills in the Senate and House, respectively, developed by Transit for All PA that would generate more than $500 million a year for transit through increases in state fees for renting and leasing automobiles and a surcharge on fees for riders using shared services like Uber and Lyft.

After the meeting, Kelleman said Friday was one of her hardest days as a transit professional.

“It’s certainly is not where we want to be, but we have to be realistic,” she said. “We know what we have the money to pay for.”

Kelleman told the board it can make changes as late as September for the cuts scheduled for February, which also include eliminating 41 bus routes, stopping extra service for events such as Steelers football games and next year’s National Football League draft, and leaving 19 communities with no service at all. Even if no additional money is appropriated and the budget isn’t amended, the board will have to take additional separate votes to approve the service cuts and fare increase.