Get your tickets today! Join riders and workers from across the state and country at the Transit for All Organizing Spring Training, March 20th and 21st in Pittsburgh, PA!

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Get ready for the 2026 National Transit Organizing Spring Training! Riders, workers and transit supporters from across Pennsylvania & the US will meet in Pittsburgh, PA March 20th and 21st and YOU are invited!

Transit can transform our communities – but it is up to us as organizers to build the grassroots movement to make it happen!

This March, you are invited to join Pittsburghers for Public Transit and advocates from across the country at the third annual Transit for All Organizing Spring Training. It’s going to be BIGGER AND BETTER. We will have workshops on telling a compelling transit story to elected leaders and using it to win your demands; transit worker organizing and building common cause with riders; taking transit service demands into a state funding fight; galvanizing municipal elected officials to support transit riders with land use and infrastructure demands… and more! This organizing training day will have workshops led by local advocates and advocates outside of Pittsburgh, and will have topics relevant to transit organizers at all levels and all regions.

We will host a pre-training day Transit Tour and Happy Hour on Fri, March 20th. The next day, March 21st, is spring training day, jam-packed with a morning plenary, workshop schedule, a mobile tour, and lots of community-building with comrades from across the country. Space is limited and pre-registration is required for Friday evening’s Transit Tour. A bus pass will be provided for your adventure with us! You do NOT need to attend the Transit Tour to join us at happy hour, where you’ll enjoy a complimentary beverage and hors d’oeuvres. On Saturday, you can expect continental breakfast, hot lunches and afternoon snacks.

Last day to register for Spring Training is Friday, 3/13/25.

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Transit for All PA Coalition Denounces State Budget that Fails to Address Mobility Needs for Pennsylvania Residents

Today transit riders, workers and advocates denounce the legislature’s abject failure to raise new revenue and pass a budget to meet the mobility needs of communities across all 67 counties in the Commonwealth. No budget is complete without addressing freedom of mobility, particularly for our older adults, people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations. Instead, this budget deal increases transportation spending by more than $100 million, none of which will be allocated towards public transit: this is an insult to the more than a million Pennsylvanians who take some form of transit to go to work, school, and medical appointments every day.

Confronted with the catastrophic costs of transit funding inaction on the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh area transit systems, the Governor, Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate had all agreed that public transit funding was a top priority in this year’s state budget negotiations. The Pennsylvania House passed five bipartisan bills that would have made meaningful progress towards funding transit. Instead, Senate Republican leadership derailed these bipartisan efforts, and SEPTA and Pittsburgh Regional Transit were forced to use their limited capital resources to fund transit operations, which delays critical accessibility and safety improvements. Almost immediately, SEPTA faced the consequences of this decision: the Federal Transportation Administration declared SEPTA’s 50-year-old Regional Rail cars an imminent fire hazard. And while legislators were dithering even on this inadequate action, 800,000 transit riders in the Philly area had to weather a month of service cuts and chaotic commutes.  

The forced transfer of capital funds to operations also did not address the mobility crisis facing smaller communities across the state. Within the next 18 months, the already austere transit system budgets in the Lehigh Valley, Lancaster, Westmoreland County, State College and more will hit their fiscal cliffs and begin cuts, harming Pennsylvania’s workers and vulnerable populations. Pennsylvania’s legislature and Governor have also entirely ignored the crisis facing our statewide shared-ride services, serving disabled and elderly populations in our most rural communities; in 2021, shared-ride programs operated at a $60 million loss in the 2020-21 fiscal year, the most recent year PennDOT’s report on the programs looked at. Costs have increased even as federal subsidies have waned, which means significant service cuts and fare increases are imminent for those with no other transportation options.

The Transit for All PA coalition has grown exponentially since the beginning of this year; we have built a movement of over 45,000 transit advocates who hail from all 253 legislative districts in Pennsylvania. We held more than 175 rallies, canvass events, and public meetings across the Commonwealth in the last 10 months, culminating in a 350 person rally and transit advocacy day in Harrisburg in June. And our coalition has proposed a commonsense transit funding solution – now the Transit for All PA legislative package championed by Senators Nikil Saval and Lindsey Williams, Representatives Jessica Benham and Aerion Abney (HB1523, HB1524, SB795, SB796) – that would raise sufficient, dedicated revenue to restore and expand mobility options for every community in Pennsylvania. 

The Pennsylvania budget has passed 135 days late; there are now only 230 days until our next state budget is due. Over the next 7 months, Transit for All PA will amplify the voices of transit riders across our Commonwealth in support of sustainable, expanded transit funding. The coalition’s message: our legislators must get back to their jobs so that PA workers can get to ours. Moreover, in 357 days, many of the leaders who negotiated today’s budget will be on the ballot, including Governor Shapiro. We intend to educate transit riders to hold the Governor and legislators accountable in their roles and at the ballot box, as we continue to work towards passing a budget that will finally move all Pennsylvanians.

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The budget is passed, but our fight for transit continues. Tell your elected officials that public transit moves their constituents and they must step up as champions:

PPT’s new Organizing Fellowship in the South Hilltop Communities is building new leaders to grow our movement and win better transit service. Every few weeks we’re publishing interviews with our fellows with our takeaways. Here’s our first publication in the series!

In October, PPT launched a new organizing fellowship in the South Hilltop. With generous help from multiple organizations including the Hilltop Alliance, Brashear Association, Ms. Charlene Saner and Councilman Anthony Coghill’s office, PPT recruited 7 fellows from across the South Hilltop area to explore public transit access, infrastructure, financial barriers, and equitable development.

Examples of these topics include:

• Canvassing in your community to meet riders and build your base,
• Learning about bus shelter and sidewalk expansion and improvement,
• Winning improved service through Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT’s) Bus Line redesign process,
• Enrolling South Hilltop residents into the half-fare program, Allegheny Go, and advocating for a fully free program,
• Zoning/land use relationship connecting access to housing and quality transit.

So far, we have met our 7 amazing fellows in two classroom sessions. The first was an introduction to past and present PPT campaigns with special guest Teaira Collins speaking to winning weekend service on the 93, followed by a brief training on powermapping. Our second classroom session covered transit service, exploring what visionary service could look like with buses that run frequently, are accessible to all riders in the county, and run late and on weekends when we need it. We were able to compare maps of service past and present with former Program Manager of Service Planning and Schedules, Fred Mergner. We talked about the connections that people wish were easier to get to by transit from the Hilltop, including to grocery stores, church service in the Hill District, and family in Hazelwood.

Interview with our first fellow

Key Takeaways from the Hilltop Fellowship so far:

• Our newly launched fellowship in the South Hilltop aims to build transit rider power and find ways to advocate for safer, more accessible, and more reliable transit
• Our fellows identified the disconnect between PRT’s planning of service with riders’ lived experiences
• Effective rider advocacy requires overcoming feelings of powerlessness to change civic infrastructure

PPT: What are one or two things you feel like you’ve learned from the fellowship so far?

Fellow: I’ve learned more just about some of the struggles and the fights just to maintain and provide the service. Learning about the campaigns and the actions that have been taken, I didn’t really realize how many people have been involved. It’s like what we saw in the video today – neighbors just really coming together and fighting for their service. 

I grew up riding buses. Even now relying on the car a bit more, I think I have lost some of the perspective of transit issues. But I will say for myself, I would use transit more if it was more available. I honestly don’t like feeling like I have to drive a car everywhere.

It can be convenient, but it’s also a hassle, having a car. Maintaining it, getting the gas. I mean, I’d rather sit on a bus and read a book.

If I could drive a car less – and I understand a lot of people don’t have that option – but If we could get back to where we had more service I would be able to use [transit] every day. 

PPT: Earlier you said, you used to ride the bus a lot more. How has your ability to get to the places that you need to get to changed in the past few years completely? 

Fellow: Like I was saying earlier, one of the buses that I used all the time ran every 10 minutes and I’m not sure what it is now but now it’s maybe every 17-18. I was still riding it and it was definitely more like 20 minutes, which isn’t huge but that is double the time. When you’re trying to get to work or any little thing that happens if it’s late, then you’re late.

The service used to be so constant and it ran early and late. The routes were more plentiful and the service was just more frequent. It’s a lot harder now because it’s not going everywhere it used to go. It’s just taking more time, and stops have been eliminated. You used to walk a certain distance that’s even greater now. I’m fairly healthy, but I just had a medical incident recently. Another two blocks and  I’m not making it. That was one that I wasn’t even thinking about earlier, but all the stops that have been eliminated just makes it harder for people, especially if you’re limited in your ability or in any way.

PPT: What do you think PRT is missing or underestimating when they are planning reliable and safe service in the South Hilltop?

Fellow: I honestly wonder if they’re really thinking of the actual human beings that are using the service, how they’re using it. Are they thinking of actual people or just this broad idea of bus service or transit service?

I’m not sure they’re thinking about this mom with her young child that she has to get to daycare and then she has to get to work and then when she comes home, she’s stopping at the store and how that looks and where she needs. I don’t think they’re looking at the human aspect with the time frames.

I’m newer to this area but I do get the sense, the Hilltop is kind of a forgotten area a little bit. I live in Bon Air, which I know it’s very car centric. We have a bus that comes through the neighborhood and a T-stop. The bus that comes through the neighborhood is limited service – it doesn’t go downtown. The T-stop is down the hill down steps. So it’s one thing if you can get down there, but coming back up… oh my gosh.

I don’t know exactly how much ridership is within the neighborhood, but I do see people using the service. I think that was talked about being eliminated, the 54D. So I feel like we maybe are not a high priority compared to some other areas. 

PPT: If you and your neighbors wanted to come together to advocate for better transit, what do you think is an important first step and what would people need to get started to feel like they can speak up too an agency like PRT?

Fellow: I don’t know, I think it would probably be good to get out and talk to neighbors, just to gauge and see if people are happy with how it is. What are things that people would like to see happen? And then maybe, you know, if we could get a group of people together and then go figure out the next step.

Once we have a group of people and some thoughts of what the needs are then figure out who we go to from there.

PPT: You’re doing this already. You’re here!

Fellow: I’d like to actually go and meet people and talk, like to people waiting for the bus.

PPT: Foreshadowing what we have planned already! We’re gonna be doing some canvassing later. In thinking about getting folks involved, what do you feel is actually the biggest barrier to that? 

Fellow: I think for me prior to coming to this it was just not knowing where to go, who to talk to about it. I think other people may just not know what to do. A lot of us feel powerless – this is a big bureaucracy and we’re just little people and is anybody going to listen? Does anybody really care what we have to say? So we need to find that empowerment and some direction on knowing where you can be heard. 

PPT: Great. We’ll end there, but do you have anything else you want to say?

Fellow: The one thing here where you talked about safety. It ties into all the other things. When the service is more sporadic or when the stops are further apart, I think that’s a safety issue. The hours that the bus starts and stops –  if you miss that last 10 o’clock bus, where there used to be one at, you know, midnight, then you’re stranded somewhere at night. I think just reliable service, frequent service, and easy to get to stop that are lit at night are important for safety.

PPT’s recent Organizing Fellowship in the Mon Valley shows that when advocates skill up, they can organize their communities and win!

This year, Pittsburghers for Public Transit launched it’s first fellowship program for transit advocates in Mon Valley communities, led by staff and PPT Board facilitators. Why now, and why focus on these areas? PPT members voted as a part of our 2025 strategic plan to place additional time and resource into supporting transit riders in Mon Valley communities by sharing our learned experiences in working to win improvements to transit infrastructure (finding ways to get our sidewalks repairs, extended, restore bus shelters, and preserve stops) by educating elected officials and department leaders in the City of Pittsburgh on how they can make using transit an easier and more dignified experience. Through this program, we aimed to equip transit riders with ways to educate and activate municipal leaders to support robust policies that foster more connected communities.

PPT has worked along residents in the Mon Valley to stop service reduction on routes that are some of the highest for commuters in the state of Pennsylvania and riders have turned out to community meetings, rallies, and have made strides to not only stop changes to routes that would slash service, but make gains for weekend service and projects that would make traveling between communities and the City of Pittsburgh faster. Unfortunately, many places have not seen significant economic investments for residents over time. As a result, riders often travel far to access full-service grocery options, pharmacies, medical facilities, recreation centers, and more. Transit is more than the bus, but an essential lifeline. 

Fellows met weekly for 4 months to learn about community organizing and transit advocacy

For this program, fellows focused most of their time in Homestead, McKeesport, Duquesne, and Rankin, where they reside. Each week, we dove into a specific aspect of transit access in relation to PPT campaigns through both in-person and virtual discussions. During our in-person days in the field, we compiled a list of bus stops with high ridership numbers that would be eligible for a bus shelter. We also conducted a citizens’ audit of stops in each borough, speaking with people waiting to gather their transit service needs. Related to service, we rode the well-loved 59 Mon Valley route and chatted with riders waiting at the bus stop in North Versailles about their travel destinations and how the service frequency affected their experience. Fellows meet with a representative from the Steel Valley COG to explore how local-level policies influence street design and planning by elected officials. Additionally, we discuss the potential for equitable transit-oriented development on county-owned land in collaboration with Pittsburgh Regional Transit staff. Fellows learned about fare equity and the Allegheny Go program. We monitored the county’s enrollment progress, identifying opportunities to boost enrollment through discussions of benefits and facilitating on-the-spot enrollments. 

During our short time, our fellows and facilitators cover tremendous ground in learning about how we can make the kinds of connections we want to see for more people-focused, transit-grounded decision-making to create thriving places and spaces.

Our Mon Valley Organizing Fellowship set us up for victory on the Waterfront Bus Stop campaign – join our next Organizing Fellowship to win better transit in your community! 

When we organize, we win! – and our Mon Valley Organizing Fellowship proved that. Almost immediately after our Fellowship ended, it was announced that the property owners at the Waterfront wanted to remove the two bus stops in front of the Giant Eagle and Target. This move was a disgrace to transit riders. These two stops are some of the most used stops in the Mon Valley – serving more than 2500 riders every week! 

Organizers from the Mon Valley Organizing Fellowship snapped into action and began circulating a petition to keep the stops at the Waterfront. Their work in the fellowship helped establish a network to get the word out about opportunities to fight for improved transit. In less than a week our petition had collected 1400 signatures, and won the endorsement of US Congressperson Summer Lee! Our Organizing Fellows made the news speaking up for the bus stop. And within a week more, it was announced that County Executive Sara Innamorato had reached a deal with local leaders and the property owners to keep these bus stops!

You can be part of this Organizing Fellowship success story! Join us at our Press Conference Parade on October 20th to declare that transit riders have power. We’re here to stay at the Waterfront – and all throughout Allegheny County! RSVP here

We’ll be launching new PPT Organizing Fellowships in communities around our County (and state!) in 2026, so be sure to stay tuned for the next opportunity to sign up!

Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Board Meeting is scheduled for Friday, 9/26 at 9:30 am, and we want to make sure they hear our voices loud and clear. Register with us by Tuesday, 9/23 and we will make sure you’re signed up and prepared to speak online or in-person at the PRT Board Meeting.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) and ACCESS riders and workers are feeling temporary relief that the proposed catastrophic service cuts and fares increases are no longer scheduled for 2026. But no transit funding solution (or any budget!) has yet passed in Harrisburg, and PRT bus service continues to be unreliable and insufficient to meet our needs.

And so, while we continue to organize for NEW transit funding out of Harrisburg that serves all PA, we are calling on Pittsburgh Regional Transit to take action now to improve schedules and transit service, and to build a system worth fighting for. 

In developing your testimony for the PRT Board meeting, we urge you to share the following:

• Who are you, and why are you organizing for better transit. 

• All the work that you have done- this year, over decades, to win state funding so that we can have the transit service that we deserve. We know that just over the last 9 months, over 30,000 people have taken action with us in every single legislative district in the Commonwealth, to win a budget that funds transit for all PA. That includes multiple rallies in Pittsburgh, Philly and Lancaster, an ALL-DAY lobby day in Harrisburg, public testimony to PRT about the impact of the cuts, over 400,000 emails sent to legislators, postcard campaigns, op-eds, canvassing riders, phonebanking, petitioning with transit workers, and developing funding research and advocacy videos with us. We want Pittsburgh Regional Transit leaders to hear how you have played a key role in this fight, despite working a full time job, or raising children, or managing a disability, or however else you could have chosen to spend your time. 

• That Pittsburgh Regional Transit needs to ACT NOW to make our transit service better – more reliable, more available and more comprehensible. While we no longer have to fear the immediate threat of more service cuts and fare increases, transit service (and communication about stop changes) continues to be poor. You should share stories about your recent experience with transit service or communication about stop changes. We regularly hear about buses that are chronically late or that don’t show up, overcrowding on routes, schedules that don’t match up for a transfer, service cuts that have made a route unusable. PRT continues to make decisions about service changes everyday that affect the availability and usefulness of the system- we need them to use that power to build a system that works for us. 

Pittsburgh Regional Transit Board members and leadership need to know that even though the service cuts are on pause, their work is only just beginning. Riders deserve better transit than what we have today, and PRT has the power to deliver it – through better scheduling, by reinvesting funding that they have been squirreling away from cuts into more service, by having clear signage and communication to operators when bus stops are relocated.

Through all of our actions, we’ve shown that we’re committed to our transit system; now we need PRT to prove that they are committed to us.

Congratulations to the new PPT Board Members, elected by our general membership to lead us 2025-2027!

Pittsburghers for Public Transit is a democratic, grassroots, member-led union of transit riders and workers.

Each Spring into Summer, our members participate in a democratic process to determine a new group of leaders who will join our organization’s highest decision-making body: our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors is responsible for guiding the direction of PPT’s campaigns and organizational development. The democratic, participatory process that our members choose our leaders is at the heart of our organizing. It keeps a core team of enthusiastic and committed members at the helm.

To review our election process

• During May and June, PPT members nominate fellow members to run for the Board. If the nomination is accepted, the nominee is placed on the ballot with other nominees.
• At our July Monthly Meeting all nominees have a moment to introduce themselves and make their case for why they should be elected to join the Board of Directors.
• The ballot stays open from our July Monthly Meeting to our Summary Party in August. During this time all PPT Members in good standing have a chance to submit their ballot.
• Votes are all tallied and winners are announced to serve a 2-year term!

And now….drumroll please…with all of that grassroots democratic process and participation behind us, PPT is excited to welcome this amazing community of new and returning Board Members!

• Teaira Collins (she/her)
• Tom Conroy (he/him)
• Alisa Grishman (she/her)
• Gabriel McMorland (she/her)
• Paul O’Hanlon (he/him)
• Paul Vereb (he/him)
• Abhishek Viswanathan (he/him)

These leaders will all serve from 2025 to 2027! Read a little more about these leaders below!

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Teaira Collins (she/her)

First elected to lead 2023-25. Reelected to lead 2025-2027.

Teaira Collins is a lifelong transit rider, a Hazelwood community leader, a mother and foster mother, and now a grandmother to six grandchildren. Ms. Teaira met Laura Chu Wiens while at Port Authority testifying for improved transit service in Hazelwood, and has since become a leader in PPT’s Our Money, Our Solutions campaign for weekend service on the 93 and the extension of the 75. Ms. Teaira spoke at the City Council Capital Budget hearing press conference about the Mon-Oakland Connector alongside Barb Warwick, and on behalf of PPT during the Poor People’s Campaign Jubilee Caravan. She recently traveled to Atlanta on behalf of PPT on a delegation to connect with other Human Rights organizers across North America, and raise the important connections between public transit, housing, healthcare and food access. She is very active in the community, volunteering with The Mission Continues to help veterans and with the Hazelwood Family Support Center to uplift young mothers. Ms. Teaira also runs her own non-profit to advocate for those like her son Judah and other families with children who have Down Syndrome, and fundraises for the National Kidney Foundation to help research related to her daughter’s health. 

Ms. Teaira’s motivated to fight for more and better transit service alongside the need for more funding, and has been leading annual lobby and visits to legislators in Harrisburg to educate them on the impact and need for transit funding. She is dedicated to continue organizing for a free low-income fare program because it is needed now more than ever for all communities. Ms. Teaira Collins has been:

• A Hazelwood leader in PPT’s Our Money, Our Solutions campaign to create a resident-based mobility alternative to the Mon-Oakland Connector. She was integral in winning weekend service on the 93 for Hazelwood residents during that campaign.
• A PPT organizing fellow for the FairFares campaign and helped sign up dozens of riders for the pilot program
• A Volunteer and community advocate for The Mission Continues, Hazelwood Family Support Center, PPS PTA, and for people with Down Syndrome and Kidney Disease.
• A Member of the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council Board of Directors

Tom Conroy (he/him)

First elected to lead 2025-2027.

Tom Conroy has both a strong Union background and an entrepreneurial spirit. Tom was a bus operator for PRT for 19 years, the last six years of his employment as the union Boardman at Collier garage which gave him a seat on the board of ATU local 85. He was also the shop steward at a small union medical supply company for Teamsters local 249 for a year in the mid-1970’s. He helped my wife manage a successful hair salon from 1980 until she retired in 2022. They both took many classes and seminars on not only the technical side of our profession as barber/stylists but also classes on communication and people skills.Tom Conroy was involved with PPT when it formed. He attended the rallies to bring back service to South Baldwin, helped at a neighborhood workshop to organize those residents to fight for restored service. He’s travelled to Harrisburg several times with PPT and Local 85 to protest and rally for funding, and testified at PRT board hearings and attended a city hearing for affordable housing. He’s recently attended marches to support our immigrant community and to fight back the MAGA agenda. He completed the Organizing Fellowship with PPT this past winter/spring, and intends to remain a member of the organizing committee. Tom was also a past member of the ACLU (now signing back up!), and is becoming active in the newly formed block watch in his community. 

Alisa Grishman

First elected to lead 2025-2027.

Alisa has been a member of PPT for many years now, and has participated in many campaigns including the Fair Fares Campaign and Transit For All PA! She has served on the Board of Directors for four non-profits, so brings a lot of experience from that sector as well. She hopes to continue PPT’s efforts to be inclusive and equitable in all that it does.

Alisa led the effort to make PRT revise its views on allowing open strollers on buses, leading to their creation of their first official policy on priority boarding for people with disabilities. She participated in multiple Harrisburg trips with Transit For All PA! to secure funding for the continued working of public transit in the state. Alisa has spoken at PRT Board meetings, amongst other events, to help pass the Fair Fares program.  She is the founder of Access Mob Pittsburgh, a disability justice organization that seeks to improve the lives of people with disabilities through positive advocacy such as education and economic incentives.  Alisa co-hosted the Week Without Driving with PPT, BikePGH, and AARP to bring awareness to the 30% of people who don’t drive and advocate for better sidewalk, road, and transit accessibility.

Gabriel McMorland (she/her)

Gabriel served on PPT’s Board while Director of The Thomas Merton Center, PPT’s Fiscal Sponsor 2017-22. Then she was first elected to lead 2023-25, and reelected 2025-2027.

Gabriel is a white trans woman, who is also blind and transit-dependent. She has been active with PPT since 2015, and was previously on the Coordinating Committee from 2017-2022. Gabriel was very involved with the Don’t Criminalize Transit Riders campaign and early service campaigns, and on the current campaign around scooters and sidewalks. She was the Community Organizer at The Thomas Merton Center from 2014-2017, and TMC’s Executive Director from 2017-2023, doing work that ranged across racial justice, ecological defense, labor solidarity, immigrant rights, and other moves towards liberation. She is also a musician, and played bass in the live performance of Wheels on the Bus at PPT’s end-of-year celebration. 

Gabriel invests time and leadership into PPT because she needs PPT to succeed. She has seen many times how PPT includes the sidewalks, curb cuts, and crosswalks as part of the overall transit system, and how PPT has centered people with disabilities to ensure that everyone’s needs are served. She believes that the outcomes of PPT’s work are practical, tangible, and truly affect peoples’ lives: PPT enacts its radical values of racial justice and worker justice, and makes them real through organizing. Gabriel’s vision for PPT is to ensure that organizing and leadership development continue to be at the heart of PPT’s work. 

Paul O’Hanlon (he/him)

First elected to lead 2021-23. Re-elected 2023-25 and 2025-27.

My name is Paul O’Hanlon, I’m a retired lawyer.  From 2001 to 2014, I worked for a disability rights law firm, and before that I was the Senior Housing Attorney and Housing Unit Chief with Neighborhood Legal Services Association in Pittsburgh.

I caught the “transit bug” in 1991.  At that time Port Authority began the long process of becoming accessible to passengers in wheelchairs.  Since that time I’ve been involved in advocating for the best, most accessible, area-wide and affordable public transit.  

I have been involved in a number of advocacy issues in Allegheny County, particularly around housing, accessible public transportation, and voter engagement.

Paul Vereb (he/him)

First elected to lead 2025-2027.

Paul is a retired transit maintenance supervisor who stressed safety and efficiency while employed at PRT and he understands the importance of keeping transit affordable and reliable. Paul realizes the need of effective transit for people who rely on our system, and the personal and communal affect any changes could have on our region. He also brings a worker’s perspective to the table. Although Paul’s retired, he’s a firm believer in riders and transit worker’s rights, safety, and the pursuit of a thriving system.

Paul recently participated in the PPT Fellowship program which included a rally/press conference concerning the Bus Line Redesign. He’s rallied in Harrisburgh with ATU Local 85 and spoken to Representatives and Senators in support of sufficient funding for transit. He partcipated in the spring training, giving an important and often overlooked worker’s perspective. He circulated a petition to save our routes, jobs, and service, while visiting the garages during Transit Worker Appreciation Day, garnering nearly 100 petition signers to fund transit. 

Abhishek Viswanathan

First elected to lead 2025-2027.

Abhishek is a lifelong transit rider (in various cities and countries) and he’s invested in making Pittsburgh’s transit system accessible, equitable, and exciting to use. He have been working with PPT for several years in various capacities, always ensuring that transit riders and workers are the main priority. His background is in data science and I have used my skills to create maps and tools for riders to better understand the impact of changes to the transit system. Abhishek also introduces his students to local transit datasets so they can work with data that is grounded in services that thousands of people (including many of them) use daily. 

Abhishek also has experience with labor, environment, and anti-carceral-tech organizing in Pittsburgh. His vision for PPT is to bring more riders and students into the fold, amplify rider and operator voices through data storytelling, and use our broad base to push for increased accessibility and affordability. He also hopes that through intersectional organizing, PPT can connect with other social justice organizations to build a city that we can all thrive in.

Some key campaigns in which Abhishek has played a vital role include

• Securing equitable infrastructure, particularly for improved bus shelters
• Evaluating the Bus Line Redesign to ensure it works for All 
• Developing the Riders Vision for Public Transit 
• Developing a Transit Fellowship in the South Hilltop 
• Banning Facial Recognition and other surveillance at CMU

It’s been a huge year for our movement for transit justice. Celebrate our wins, plan our next moves, and (most importantly) have fun with neighbors and friends!

Wednesday, August 13, 5:30pm-8:30pm
Olympia Park Shelter House
1010 Virginia Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15211
Pay What You Can – No One Turned Away For Lack of Funds!

The event will be a casual indoor/outdoor, mid-year celebration of the transit victories by PPT members in 2025! This is our movement’s biggest, most important year to date–we’ve massively scaled up our statewide campaign, deepened the ties in our local community, and won some big wins. It’s time to kick back, relax, and enjoy each other’s company for a night!

This is a free event, but your optional paid contribution will help us feed the crowd, hire a DJ, and (of course) continue our work to win expanded, equitable transit service for everyone!

What to expect: 

The picnic will be on August 13 at the indoor facility at Olympia Park in Mount Washington, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. It is a casual and fun family friendly event, with indoor and outdoor activities for kids and adults. Olympia Park has a playground and we will provide art supplies and games. We’ll also have activities indoors that include party games, fun campaign strategy activities, a DJ with great tunes, and dancing. Attendees should not feel obligated to attend the entire event.

Food:

Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options will be available, along with water and non-alcoholic drinks. While the food is complimentary with registration, please RSVP so that we can have a count of how many people to expect.

Getting there:

The party will be held at the City’s “Olympia Park Indoor Shelter House”. Address: 1010 Virginia Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15211. The 40 Mount Washington-Duquesne Heights bus stop is a quarter mile, or about 5 minute walk. The Duquesne Incline is a 10-15 minute walk or roll. Entrance for parking is on Virginia Ave, turn into the park across from Olympia Street. There are reserved handicap parking spots closer to the shelter, and there is other parking available on Hallock St. If you need help with transportation, you can try to find another PPT Member who can help by posting in the PPT Facebook Group

Volunteer!

This is a community event, and we need volunteers to help make it a success! Can you help us by signing up for a volunteer shift? There are lots of different roles available, and don’t worry–you’ll still be able to eat dinner, dance, and hang out if you take on a shift.

Accessibility: 

The distance from the 40 Mount Washington Bus stop the Olympia Park facility is about a quarter mile on a slight grade. Take care when using a manual mobility device. Some games and activities will take place outside of the building in grass. The bathrooms are indoors and have an accessible stall, but do not have an access button. There will be a DJ playing music inside the facility, which could be loud, but we will do our best to play it at a volume that is comfortable for all attendees. Attendees should be ready for variable mid-August weather and lighting. There will be interpretation in both ASL and Spanish, upon request.

COVID procedures:

Our event will be indoors with areas to socialize outdoors and areas surrounding it. The health and safety of our members is important to us. Masks are not required, but will be provided to everyone. We encourage everyone to take an at-home COVID rapid test before arriving. Please stay home if you are feeling sick or have come into contact with someone who has COVID-19.

Join us for a statewide all-hands call to learn what’s happening with the PA budget, and how we can win Transit for All PA! Tuesday, 7/29, 5:30-7 on Zoom

We know that public transit is a lifeline for everyone in Pennsylvania, no matter if they live in small towns, big cities, suburbs, or rural areas. But funding for transit is in peril in all 67 counties of our state.

Legislators have once again missed the state budget deadline of June 30th, so it’s time to put the pressure on. We’re running a campaign telling Harrisburg: no budget without transit! We need a budget that prevents transit system collapse across the state.

Join our meeting to connect with transit advocates across the state, and learn:

• What’s happened in Harrisburg so far regarding the transit budget
• How our movement has grown, adapted, and driven this fight
• What’s next for our movement, and how we can win expanded, equitable transit for all 67 counties

The fight for transit that truly meets our needs–whether we live in Pittsburgh or Pottstown, Altoona or Allentown–is far from over. Though we’re past the deadline, we expect PA to pass a budget soon, and we know we’re in for a long fight for transit restoration and expansion. Join our statewide all-call for an update on where our fight goes from here!

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Accessibility

• This event meets ADA standards
• ASL interpretation
• Live captioning
• Audio descriptions for video
• Notes from the organizer: This virtual event will offer live captioning, alongside ASL interpretation.
• Have accessibility questions? Reply to your registration email to confirm your requirements or request more information.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit and ACCESS Riders are facing catastrophic service cuts and fare increases starting Feb 2026, and our state legislature has still not passed a budget that includes transit funding.

And so, while we continue to put pressure on our state legislature to do their job, we are demanding the following actions from Pittsburgh Regional Transit now: 

• DELAY THE SERVICE CUTS. Pittsburgh Regional Transit has the ability to use some of their reserves to delay the proposed February 2026 service cuts until October 2026. Although using PRT’s limited reserve funding is not a long-term or sustainable solution, it is currently necessary to give the agency, PA legislators and riders the time to ensure that the Governor’s budget proposal for transit passes, and to give us the ability to fight for more transit funding next year. The harms of the proposed 35% fixed route transit and 62% ACCESS service cuts will be catastrophic to our communities and very hard or impossible to reverse. 

• STOP FARE INCREASES. There seems to be some push from the state legislature to increase transit fare costs even if state funding comes through. Pittsburgh Regional Transit currently has the 10th highest fares in the country, and increasing from $2.75 to $3 fares would make our transit more expensive than the MTA in New York City. The cost of living is already going through the roof for working and low-income people, and this would be an additional hardship. We also know that increasing fares decreases ridership, and so any revenue benefit from increased fare costs will likely be offset by having fewer riders. 

• MAKE ALLEGHENY GO A ZERO FARE PROGRAM. Now is the time for transit cost relief for low-income families. For the last 8 years, we have been clear that we are organizing for a fully zero fare low-income fare program that is funded by the County Department of Human Services (DHS). The County Executive and DHS have publicly supported this goal. The permanent low-income fare program we won last year, Allegheny Go, is currently only a half-fare program. Now is the time to transition Allegheny Go from a half-fare to fully zero fare program (particularly if fares are proposed to be raised further), and utilizing DHS funding will help us do this even if we do not win additional funding from Harrisburg. We are calling on PRT to provide the cost estimate and implementation plan for the County Department of Human Services to transition Allegheny Go to a fully zero fare program. 

RSVP to join us and give testimonhy on 7/25. Read on Below to Understand the Latest and For Talking Points for the PRT Board Meeting. 

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What’s Going On with the State Budget and Proposed PRT Cuts

Pittsburgh Regional Transit projects that in coming years their expenses will be higher than their income, because the level of state funding for transit has not increased in over a decade. They- like other transit agencies across the state including Philadelphia’s SEPTA system and Allentown’s LANTA system– are projecting the need for big service cuts next year to account for that. The service cuts PRT are proposing to implement starting February next year are huge and terrible- 35% service cuts to fixed route transit (the complete elimination of 40 bus lines and the Silver line), 62% cuts to ACCESS services (severely limiting where people can take ACCESS to and from), no transit after 11 pm, and significant fare increases to $3.00 for fixed route transit and increases of between 14-24% for ACCESS fares.

Our Pennsylvania state legislators were supposed to pass a budget by the deadline of June 30th. However, they have missed their deadline and to date have not passed a budget. 

There is a proposal that Pennsylvania legislators are considering based on Governor Shapiro’s budget proposal. The Governor’s proposal would increase the allocation of the existing sales tax to transit by 1.75% – and while that is better than nothing, it would only provide Pittsburgh Regional Transit $40 million of the anticipated $100 million they need next year to maintain existing levels of service. We also know that existing levels of service are themselves not meeting our needs. 

So although the Governor’s proposal is important to pass right now – as a band aid solution – we (as Transit for All PA!) will continue to organize for a bigger, dedicated pot of money in the coming year that allows PRT (and all PA transit agencies) to not just maintain existing levels of service but restore the 20% of service that has been cut over the last 5 years of the pandemic.

Our organizing is working! Pennsylvania legislators have been hearing our demands loud and clear that they cannot pass a budget without transit funding, AND that maintaining our transit service status quo is not enough. That is why there are proposals at the negotiating table – including our Transit for All PA funding package – that would enable agencies all around the Commonwealth to restore and expand transit to fully meet our needs.

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Need help writing your testimony for the PRT Board? Use these talking points below to help uplift the demands listed at the start of this blog:

• Talk about the impacts of the proposed Pittsburgh Regional Transit fixed bus/rail service cuts and ACCESS cuts to you/your community. You can find a summary here (scroll to bottom to see eliminated bus lines. It is useful to say how your life would be impacted even if the cuts were temporary.

• Talk about all the advocacy you have done to fight for state funding – signing petitions, meeting with legislators, rallying in Harrisburg, canvassing/petitioning, phonebanking riders in other communities, speaking up at the PRT service hearings, or developing transit funding solutions and transit communications in the PPT research or comms committees. We want to highlight how we are doing our part, and will continue to fight for funding, but PRT needs to do theirs by providing PA legislators and riders with more time to negotiate a full transit funding solution. 

• Talk about the impacts of proposed fare increases on you/your community. Share stories about the high cost of living and the high cost of transit fares, and why we both need to prevent further fare increases AND transition Allegheny GO into a fare free program for low-income riders. Talk about the benefit of that to you and your communities.

Ten Years Later: Penn Plaza Refugees Speak Out and Demand Action on Affordable Housing

It’s been ten years since the mass displacement of hundreds of residents of the Penn Plaza apartment buildings in East Liberty, at the intersection of Penn and Negley. The site where Penn Plaza stood held over 300 affordable apartments where families had lived for more than 40 years… While a Whole Foods and a massive parking garage now occupy the same site that used to hold hundreds of affordable apartments, the struggle continues to fight displacement and keep Pittsburgh home for all.

Pittsburgh’s Housing Justice movement has had some serious wins that have been propelled by the resident-led movement to fight the Penn Plaza evictions. On this 10-year anniversary of the evictions, past residents, neighbors, and supporters are getting together to honor the Penn Plaza story, reflect on lessons, and uplift housing justice demands.

Join us on July 28th, 6-8pm, starting in Enright Park in East Liberty for a rally and march through East Liberty. We will hear from residents who were evicted from Penn Plaza and remember the many who have died during (and because of) the displacement. We will walk down Penn Ave, stopping at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater where a black-led arts organization is under threat of displacement and other locations important to the Penn Plaza story. We will end at the corner of Penn Ave and Shady Ave where advocates were able to win affordable units that can house Section 8 voucher-holders, and demand that City Council pass an Inclusionary Zoning policy and make other important changes to ensure that other families will not experience the harms that the Penn Plaza refugees have lived through.

The Story of Penn Plaza

In 2015, hundreds of residents, many of them seniors, received a letter from LG Realty that they would be required to move within ninety days. It was clear that the company had planned this for years and would be forcing hundreds of long-time residents from their homes with short notice. Most of the residents had lived in East Liberty for decades and had built community and networks of support there. With the accelerating gentrification happening in the neighborhood, they could not find housing nearby.

This sparked community outrage and hundreds mobilized to defend their homes, communities, and neighbors, culminating in the Penn Plaza Support and Action Coalition, of which PPT played a key role. 

LG Realty failed to meet even the minimum requirements of the Memorandum of Agreement with the residents before the sale took place. They turned off heat in the bitter cold winter months, started removing windows and asbestos tiling while residents were still living in the property, and sought to create an inhospitable and hostile environment. Most of the residents ended up in unstable housing situations, displaced to areas far outside the city with limited to no transit options, and were left with immense trauma from their forced removal. 

Penn Plaza is the largest mass displacement in recent Pittsburgh history, but it is far from the only one. In 2009, on a site right down the street from Penn Plaza, the 519 unit East Mall public housing was cleared to make way for the Target. During that decade, East Liberty street vendors and local businesses were also cleared in favor of luxury retail brands, tech offices, and national chains.  Despite the lessons of the early 2000s, the displacement of low-income families has only continued to accelerate. Census data shows that 7,000 people of color left the City of Pittsburgh in just the four years between 2014 and 2018.

The Penn Plaza struggle has become synonymous with the harms of gentrification and the consequences of a lack of a just housing policy in Pittsburgh. It brought the housing struggle front and center and forced the city to contend with the fight for housing justice as a fight that will not be silenced and cannot be ignored. 

The Penn Plaza Fight and Affordable Housing’s Relationship to Transit

Transit riders across the city are being pushed out of the City and away from access to good transit because of the lack of affordable housing. This is bad for transit riders and our transit system.

The East Liberty Transit Center, a key stop on the MLK East Busway, is located less than a half mile from the former Penn Plaza site. The Penn Plaza residents, many of whom were core transit riders, were forced to find housing in communities that have worse transit access – like Verona, North Versailles, and Penn Hills. This means it is even harder for these people to get to jobs, healthcare, food, schools, childcare and the social connections that are the foundation of a healthy, thriving life. And it means that out transit agency loses riders (which results in lower funding from the state, which results in transit cuts and fare hikes, which again lowers ridership…and the downward spiral continues!)

PPT continues to fight for dense and plentiful affordable housing in neighborhoods that have the best access to transit, grocery stores, jobs, and education because it helps transit riders and it helps our transit system. When we prioritze the needs of our most marginalized communities, and support our public systems, we benefit everyone.

Organizing for Solutions

Since 2015, PIttsburghers for Public Transit, along with partners in the Pittsburgh Housing Justice Table, have been organizing for solutions to ensure that low-income transit riders can afford to live in the communities that they call home- and where transit access is accessible and robust. In 2017, we hired Penn Plaza leader Crystal Rivera-Jennings as our Housing and Transit Organizer. She developed and led a survey of displaced transit riders, asking about the impacts of displacement on costs, time, and access to critical needs, and showing that the combination of housing insecurity and transit inaccessibility caused riders to increase job commute cost and commute times to work, and to participate less frequently in social and community events. 

In 2019, PPT organized for and won affordable housing and free transit passes for the future residents at the Giant Eagle Shakespeare site in East Liberty alongside partners Just Harvest, Pittsburgh United and the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council. In 2021, we included demands around affordable housing and transit through equitable transit-oriented development and citywide inclusionary zoning in the Pittsburgh 100 Day Transit Platform for incoming Mayor Ed Gainey. These proposals were ultimately included in Mayor Ed Gainey’s transition plan, in which Pittsburghers for Public Transit played a key role. PPT is currently developing equitable transit-oriented development policy recommendations for the City of Pittsburgh as a member of the City’s Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee.

In 2025, PPT organized dozens of riders alongside members of other partner orgs like 412 Justice, 1Hood, The Human Rights City Alliance, Pittsburgh United and Lawrenceville United to win a positive recommendation from the City of Pittsburgh Planning Commission for citywide inclusionary zoning. Citywide Inclusionary Zoning would require new developments of 20 units of more to set aside a minimum of 10% of those units as affordable units (which could also be paid for with housing choice vouchers). This policy has been recommended as part of the solution to the affordable housing crisis for the last 10 years, with the first report calling for its implementation coinciding with the Penn Plaza mass eviction in 2015. 

>>Read Neighborhood Community Development Fund Director Mark Masterson’s op-ed about the need to implement Citywide Inclusionary Zoning NOW.

TAKE ACTION! Join us on Monday 7/28 at 6pm as we take the fight to the streets to hear from Penn Plaza refugees and recognize the trauma of their mass displacement, and fight to ensure the passage of real solutions to stop gentrification and displacement.