Riders Speak Out Against Transit Cuts

The Port Authority is proposing massive transit cuts to offset a $64 million deficit in its operating budget for the coming fiscal year, starting July 1.

The proposed cuts include eliminating Saturday and Sunday T service at the South Hills Village T station. Weekday service would also be reduced.

According to the 2010 census, nearly seven percent of residents use public transportation to get to and from work.

If the cuts do take place, the changes are scheduled to begin on Sept. 2, 2012.

Hundreds of Allegheny county residents—many of them people with disabilities or commuters—testified Wednesday against the plan to cut overal service by 35 percent and eliminate 40 of the agency's 102 routes.

Eric Lindey said looming cuts to Allegheny County public transportation will devastate more than 3,000 clients of Milestone Centers Inc., a Wilkinsburg-based nonprofit that provides services for people with mental disabilities. 

"It's services, medical appointments, the grocery store," said Lindey, director of the center's intellectual and developmental disability services. "They depend on ACCESS (Paratransit) to get around, and this will only disenfranchise them more than they already are. Towns in eastern Allegheny will be decimated by this." 

Testimony continued all day Wednesday before the authority's Board of Directors at the David E. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. Comments also may be submitted until 4 p.m. March 9 through the Port Authority website or mailed to Port Authority Fare & Service Proposals, Heinz 57 Center, 345 Sixth Avenue, Floor 3, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2527.

The plan would end all public bus service in some communities, including Moon, Coraopolis and Sewickley. In addition, the proposal would limit the authority's ACCESS service for the handicapped to the minimum requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. 

More than 1,300 ACCESS riders could lose service under the plan, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

"It's a huge issue," Lindey said. "(Our clients) are concerned. They're upset. This is beyond a transportation issue."  

Facing a $64 million projected deficit, the authority plans to scale back or eliminate its routes in a move that will affect as many as 45,000 riders from around the region. The proposed reductions are the largest in the Port Authority's 47-year history. 

Agency officials have acknowledged the cuts would be "devastating," but they maintain the action is necessary to offset reductions in state aid that has comprised more than of the authority's revenue as well as increased fuel and employee retirement costs.

Green Tree borough manager W. David Montz, in testimony Wednesday, said his community in recent years has invested more than $400,000 in transportation infrastructure, including the installation of new sidewalks and a Park-n-Ride lot with 182 permitted lots. 

"This will not only affect Green Tree, but the entire regional economy," Montz said. "Everyday you hear that the Parkway is backed up from Green Tree to the tunnels. What's next? From Robinson to the tunnels?" 

Bus fare on multiple routes, including the cost of purchasing a weekly, monthly or annual transit pass, will increase under the proposed plan. Also, the Collier Garage across Route 50 from would close.

The authority's board is scheduled to meet April 27 to finalize the reduction plan and fare increases. In November 2010, the board authorized a 35 percent reduction cut, but then-Gov. Ed Rendell authorized $45 million in emergency aid, reducing the cuts to 15 percent.

Trevor Smith, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, said city bus routes enabled him to take on an internship before graduation. 

"So much of my education comes from outside the classroom, through the Port Authority and public transit," he said. "I use the bus to get to my internship, to training, to meetings.

"There are all of these opportunities that I wouldn't have without the Port Authority."

What are your thoughts on the proposed Port Authority cuts? Do you ride the T? Tell us in the comments.

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