Image Description: PPT members Linda Warman, Debra Green, Randy Francisco and Krystle Knight hold the PPT banner and chant at a Fair Fares rally, with text overlaid on the photo reading “We Won! Best Advocacy Campaign!”
PPT wins “Best Advocacy Campaign of the Year” in TransitCenter’s 2022 Frequency Awards
TransitCenter is a national foundation that works to improve public transit. Its annual “Frequencies” Awards recognize outstanding work by transit agencies, workers, and organizers to improve transit service. This year, Pittsburghers for Public Transit was awarded with the Frequency Award for “Best Advocacy Campaign,” around the low-income transit fare pilot program win. In today’s announcement of the award, TransitCenter said,
“this pilot program is a visionary way to reduce bureaucratic obstacles for accessing transit benefits, one which could become a model for the rest of the country.”
– TransitCenter
Celebrate this win with us on Friday 12/16 at our Year-End Victory Party!
Since 2018, transit riders have called for free and reduced fares in Allegheny County, and have led a countywide “Fair Fares” coalition alongside the food justice organizations Just Harvest and the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council to elevate this demand. The campaign for affordable fares included years of public testimony by riders around the need, rallies, research, petitions and more. This year, riders won a huge victory with the announcement of a year-long transit fare pilot, funded and evaluated by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS), which is providing free and half fares to 14,000 households who are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program (SNAP). The pilot will assess the viability of a permanent zero fare program for low-income transit riders, and the impact of providing the freedom to move on health outcomes, employment, food access, childcare access and other critical needs.
“We are honored by TransitCenter’s recognition of years of transit rider organizing to achieve transit justice, by lowering the cost barriers to access,”
– Laura Chu Wiens, Executive Director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit.
This low-income fare pilot in Allegheny County has national implications.
The Low Income Fare Pilot is a study with an eye toward policy and long-term implementation, not just research outcomes. Affordable public transit improves public health, and this pilot evaluates the ways in which transportation cost barriers are a root cause around issues of housing insecurity, underemployment and unemployment, food insecurity and health care underutilization. Using SNAP eligibility to qualify people for this program does away with onerous means-testing that has plagued the rollout of low-income fare programs across the country. And the piloting of zero fares– not merely reduced fares– keeps riders from having to ration their trips to fulfill basic needs.
PPT is optimistic that the outcomes of this pilot will demonstrate the value of a zero fare system for all SNAP households in Allegheny County, and provide an effective human services-based model for public transit funding for other cities to emulate.
image description: text reads “Riders win more affordable fares! Learn more at fairfaresnow.org” overtop an image of PPT member Josh Malloy leading a rally to launch the fair fares platform in February 2020
More affordable fares are coming to our transit system because transit riders took action – but we need to continue organizing to make sure these discounted fares are made permanent and available to all.
Take part in the pilot program and help make affordable fares permanent for all SNAP households in Allegheny County.
Now, we are organizing a group of advocates who want to learn more about getting involved in this discounted fare program and who will help us make it permanent. If you receive SNAP/EBT benefits, and if you want to get involved in the campaign, sign up above and our organizers will contact you about how to get involved.
On Tuesday, September 27th, 2022, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services announced a new pilot program to test more affordable fares for low-income transit riders.
This announcement is a huge win for transit riders and it is only possible because together we all have been advocating and organizing for years. We’ve always known that cheaper transit fares would make it easier to move through our city. We’ve known that cheaper fares would put money back in our pockets for our families. Now cheaper fares are happening because of our advocacy.
But our work is not done. We need to make sure that more affordable fares become a permanent part of our transit system in Allegheny County – and we need your help.
Check out this video that recaps the years of organizing that have contributed to this win:
See this news coverage of the Discount Fares Pilot:
Picture of a red bus at the Wood St Stop downtown, with passengers boarding. The text reads, “Ride the Bus? You can make it better.”
Fall 2022
Pittsburghers for Public Transit is a grassroots nonprofit organization of public transit riders, workers, and residents who defend and expand public transit.
We are seeking a full-time community organizer to start in Winter 2022. The community organizer will work out of our Garfield office, but may work part-time remotely. The primary responsibilities will be to mobilize grassroots action for more equitable, affordable and sustainable transit service. The organizer will directly engage riders, bus operators and residents in community campaigns for expanded transit funding at the state and federal level, for fair fares, and for affordable housing and equitable development that puts people first. Relationship-building, leadership development and community engagement will happen through in-person, phone and digital means. The Organizer will report to the Director.
PPT has a very small paid staff team, and close collaboration is required between all four staff positions. This is not an entry-level position; we strongly prefer applicants with experience in community or labor organizing. Primary duties and responsibilities of the community organizer include, but are not limited to, the following:
Lead PPT base-building and leadership development
Bottom-line the member-driven organizing committee, and recruit, train and support new members
Develop and conduct member outreach plan
Build strong relationships and develop a leadership pipeline for PPT member engagement
Mobilize members to take action and track participation
Facilitate and lead canvassing days, phone banks, community meetings, events, and demonstrations
Create and distribute fliers and other outreach material
Manage and update the database of contacts and action history for each campaign
Assist in management of PPT interns, members and volunteers.
Assist with campaign planning and implementation, informed by transit riders and workers
Assist with strategic planning
Research transit needs, land use projects and policies that affect public transit riders and workers along with the community
Assist with coalition building, by identifying and collaborating with allied partners
Support fundraising efforts and events
Participate in digital content creation and use social media and online organizing tools to support virtual-to in-person engagement and leadership development.
Assist in setting up digital infrastructure for meeting registration, online petitions, and contact management. Assist in preparing call lists and online access for volunteer phone banking and email outreach.
Develop social media posts to drive engagement to PPT’s website, PPT meetings, and volunteer opportunities.
Assist with writing of PPT blogs on campaign position
Represent PPT in coalitions, meetings and events, and in communication with members of the media
Qualifications:
Organized, responsible, and independent self-starter with the ability to identify new opportunities, while effectively using existing resources
A minimum of 2-3 years of experience in grassroots community organizing or labor organizing
Proven ability to work as part of a team and to handle fast paced situations
Strong and effective communication skills (public speaking, writing, etc.)
Values self-improvement, open to giving and receiving feedback
Passionate about public transit, labor, environmental justice, and equity.
Believes in the power of collective action to bring about systemic change.
Experience working in an environment where commitment to justice based on race, ethnic origin, gender, age, sexual orientation and physical ability is an important institutional value.
Willingness to work a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends.
Willingness to travel throughout Allegheny County, and occasionally throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Computer proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Drive, and a willingness to develop additional skills as needed. Familiarity with EveryAction, Callhub, Not Another Mail Merge, social media platforms, and graphic design skills are a plus.
Although PPT is a public transit advocacy organization, we often work in neighborhoods and with residents who have limited or no access to public transit, and so we prefer for applicants to have access to a reliable means of transportation.
Please send a resume and cover letter to Laura Chu Wiens, Executive Director, PPT via email at laura@pittsburghforpublictransit.org. To ensure prompt attention make sure to put “PPT Community Organizer” in the subject line.
Pittsburghers for Public Transit is an equal opportunity employer. Women, people of color, and members of other under-represented groups are highly encouraged to apply.
Salary is $50,000 a year, and includes high quality, fully-paid family health care, bus pass, 401k retirement contributions, and generous paid leave time. PPT is committed to an access-focused culture centered around disability justice principles, and believes in a workplace culture with a healthy work-life balance.
Image Description: An older woman wearing black glasses, a surgical mask and a flowery dress, holding a black handbag is walking away from a red Port Authority bus with its door open with a passenger boarding.
We condemn the irresponsible decision by the Port Authority of Allegheny County to stop enforcing mask-wearing on public transit, following the Florida court ruling yesterday regarding the CDC mandate. The decision by PAAC comes as COVID-19 cases are rising in Allegheny County and nationwide due to a new and more transmissible strain of Omicron. Transit agencies including Chicago’s CTA and Portland’s TriMet (…and NYC’s MTA, San Fran’s Muni, BART and SFMTA, Denver RTD, Caltrain, AC Transit, Seattle’s King County Metro and Sound Transit, and Kitsap Transit…) have elected to continue local requirements and enforcement for mask-wearing despite this latest challenge to federal CDC directives. PPT is calling on the Port Authority to immediately pass and enforce its own transit rider and worker mask requirements, because the agency has an obligation and has stated its intention to make its facilities safe for all users.
Requiring masks for all riders and workers is critical to ensuring that public transit is safe and accessible. Mask-wearing has been shown to be effective only when it is universally adopted, and not solely by those who elect “to wear masks for their own comfort and safety.” Many people with disabilities, including those who are immunocompromised, rely on public transit to access essential services. Without a mask requirement and enforcement, these riders must compromise their health in order to go to the doctor, to buy fresh food, to visit with family and more. Children under 5 years old are still unable to access the vaccine.
“The decision to stop enforcing mask usage on buses doesn’t consider people like me, who are immuno-compromised. This latest COVID-19 variant is more transmissible than any other we’ve seen, and people are still getting sick and dying from the virus. Port Authority’s choice makes me afraid to ride,” says bus rider and PPT Board Chair, Verna Johnson
This decision acts in stark opposition to the agency’s goals around the worker vaccine mandate, which stressed their commitment “to promot[ing] the health, wellness and safety of Port Authority’s workforce… and the riding public.” (from Port Authority’s Jan 10, 2022 news release) The Port Authority’s catastrophic rollout of the transit worker vaccine mandate has caused weeks of unsafe, overcrowded buses and transit riders left waiting at the stop, as hundreds of experienced transit workers were put on disciplinary leave. The rollback of the mask mandate will likely lead to even worse transit service: in the UK, the lifting of mask requirements in public spaces recently led to a significant increase in illnesses among airline employees and the abrupt cancellations of hundreds of flights.
Pittsburghers for Public Transit will be holding a rally downtown at 1 pm this Friday, April 22nd to highlight how transit service is linked to survival for both individuals and our broader community, to demand service improvements, and to insist on increased safety for transit riders and workers.
Image Description: Ms. Debra Green holds the microphone at a downtown rally surrounded by people standing and sitting in wheelchairs with signs reading “BRT for the Mon Valley”, “No Cuts to 61A”, “Bus Lines are Lifelines.”
A new $565,500 grant to the Port Authority marks the next phase in residents’ successful campaign to extend the East Busway
Transit riders, residents, businesses, and elected officials in the Mon Valley have been working hard to extend the East Busway’s benefits into their communities. After years of organizing to uplift the demand for better transit, we are celebrating the recent Federal Transportation Administration’s $565,500 planning grant award to Port Authority, to evaluate the local development and transit ridership benefits of a busway extension into the communities of Braddock, North Braddock, and East Pittsburgh. This grant award is timely: the 2021 bipartisan federal infrastructure bill will make funding available to realize capital transportation investments, particularly those that will stimulate and revitalize underinvested communities.
Over the last several years, the boroughs of Braddock, East Pittsburgh, and North Braddock (BEN) collaborated on a shared comprehensive plan which centered the importance of an extended East Busway transit-priority corridor into the Mon Valley. During this planning process, these communities identified opportunities to support higher density, mixed income development, and critical amenities around potential new transit stations, in order to welcome new residents, support local businesses, and grow their municipal tax base. The BEN Communities have continued their collaboration through joint participation in the Allegheny Together Program, funded through Allegheny County to provide planning and technical assistance for greater reinvestment into walkable business districts and corridors.
At the same time, PPT hired 16 community leaders from the Mon Valley to survey nearly 600 residents on our Beyond the East Busway campaign to identify key destinations that should be better served by transit, and to make recommendations about which alignment of an East Busway extension would best meet transit rider needs. PPT organizing fellows surveyed a broad range of people living and working in the Mon Valley, including parents, single mothers, older adults, people with disabilities and students. The Port Authority’s decision to focus on this corridor in their long range NEXTransit Plan (Corridor E) and for this FTA planning grant reflects vocal transit rider advocacy and explicit support by the elected leadership in Rankin, Braddock, and East Pittsburgh in the grant application process.
This investment in planning is long overdue.
There is an extremely high and growing percentage of transit commuters in this region. In fact, four of the municipalities with the highest transit usage in all of Pennsylvania are within these corridors: #3 is Rankin (35.5%), #5 is East Pittsburgh (31.6%), #8 is Swissvale (24.9%), and #10 is Braddock (24.4%). In addition, five of the ten routes with the highest ridership increases for Port Authority from FY2019 to FY2020 were in the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs (P68 Braddock Hills Flyer, 52L Homeville Limited, 69 Trafford, P67 Monroeville Flyer and 55 Glassport), demonstrating that even during a pandemic, transit is a critical lifeline for riders of these routes. Despite this, transit access is poor for most of these communities: from Braddock to downtown, a bus trip averages 60 minutes even when using the high speed Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway. Due to cumbersome last-mile challenges, a passenger may spend 20 minutes using the busway, but must travel an additional 40 minutes before they enter the borough. A car trip, by contrast, takes 20 minutes from start to finish.
“With support from Allegheny County Economic Development, efforts are in place to revitalize Braddock Ave’s business district, which has always serviced multiple communities. Coupled with the Mon Metro Chamber of Commerce, this region of the Mon Valley is positioning itself for economic growth. A thoughtfully planned transportation system will function as a conduit to support all of our communities. This is our lifeline to jobs, business creation, and economic development,” says Tina Doose, founder and board chair of the Mon Metro Chamber of Commerce.
The FTA-supported Moving the Mon Valley project will specifically study the positive impacts of two potential busway extension scenarios, to provide a detailed understanding of how improved access to high-quality transit service will help Mon Valley communities achieve their equity, access, and economic development goals. Recognizing, through this study, the transformative potential of public transportation is an important step along the way to building the high quality transit service the Mon Valley deserves. We look forward to supporting the Port Authority’s study by elevating the voices of Mon Valley riders and encouraging strong collaboration with community leaders and transit riders in Swissvale, Rankin, Braddock, North Braddock, East Pittsburgh, and beyond.
Join residents of the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs on March 28th, 6-7:30pm to plan the next steps in this campaign to win better service beyond the East Busway
Pittsburghers for Public Transit, a project of The Thomas Merton Center, is a grassroots organization of public transit riders, workers, and residents who defend and expand public transit.
We are seeking a full-time community organizer to start in Summer 2021! The community organizer will work out of our Garfield office, but may work part-time remotely. The primary responsibilities will be to mobilize grassroots action for more equitable, affordable and sustainable transit service. The organizer will directly engage riders, bus operators and residents in community campaigns for expanded transit funding at the state and federal level, for fair fares, and for affordable housing and equitable development that puts people first. The Organizer will report to the Director.
All applications received by June 30th, 2021, will be guaranteed to be reviewed. However, we will continue to keep the position open until it is filled. We will be conducting interviews on a rolling basis as applications are received.
PPT has a very small paid staff team, and close collaboration is required between all three staff positions. Primary duties and responsibilities of the community organizer include, but are not limited to, the following:
Lead PPT base-building and leadership development
Bottom-line the member-driven organizing committee, and recruit, train and support new members
Develop and conduct member outreach plan
Build strong relationships and develop a leadership pipeline for PPT member engagement
Mobilize members to take action and track participation
Facilitate and lead canvassing days, phone banks, community meetings, events, and demonstrations
Create and distribute fliers and other outreach material
Manage and update the database of contacts and action history for each campaign
Assist with campaign planning and implementation, informed by transit riders and workers
Assist with strategic planning
Research transit needs, land use projects and policies that affect public transit riders and workers along with the community
Assist with coalition building, by identifying and collaborating with allied partners
Communicate with members of the media
Support fundraising efforts and events
Represent PPT in coalitions, meetings and events, and in communication with members of the media
Qualifications:
Organized, responsible, and independent self-starter with the ability to identify new opportunities, while effectively using existing resources
At least 2-3 years of experience in grassroots community organizing or labor organizing
Proven ability to work as part of a team and to handle fast paced situations
Strong and effective communication skills (public speaking, writing, etc.)
Values self-improvement, open to giving and receiving feedback
Passionate about public transit, labor, environmental justice, and equity.
Believes in the power of collective action to bring about systemic change
Experience working in an environment where commitment to justice based on race, ethnic origin, gender, age, sexual orientation and physical ability is an important institutional value
Willingness to work flexible schedule, including nights and weekends
Willingness to travel throughout Allegheny County, and occasionally throughout the state of Pennsylvania
Computer proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Drive, and a willingness to develop additional skills as needed.
Although PPT is a public transit advocacy organization, we often work in neighborhoods and with residents who have limited or no access to public transit, and so it is important for applicants to have a reliable means of transportation.
Please send a resume and cover letter to Laura Chu Wiens, Executive Director, PPT via email at laura@pittsburghforpublictransit.org. To ensure prompt attention make sure to put “PPT Community Organizer” in the subject line.
The Thomas Merton Center, PPT’s fiscal sponsor, is an equal opportunity employer. Women, people of color, and members of other under-represented groups are highly encouraged to apply.
Salary is $46,000 a year, and includes high quality health care, bus pass, and very generous paid leave time.
We’re in Transit towards Transformation! This year, we handed out more than 2,000 cloth masks to transit riders; we held a statewide Town Hall with PA Senator Bob Casey and more than 300 riders calling for $32 billion in transit funding relief; we won permanent weekend service improvements on the 22, 39, and 93 (among others) and doubled the frequency of the 59 bus! We showed how we can mobilize against unused car-housing (vacant parking garages) and have those resources be allocated towards affordable housing and transit passes at the East Liberty Giant Eagle redevelopment.
Volunteers will get a free t-shirt designed by PPT Coordinating Committee Member, Christina Acuna Castillo!
We’re holding a series of phonebanks that you can participate in from the comfort of your home to connect with PPT’s amazing membership and encourage folks to contribute, as they are able. Volunteers will also get one of our awesome new t-shirts, designed by PPT Coordinating Committee member Christina Acuna Castillo!
Let’s keep up the momentum. Your involvement can help PPT reach our goal of recruiting 250 supporters and raising $12,000.
Comments Submitted to the Transportation and Climate Initiative from Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Philly Transit Rider’s Union 10/30/20
Dear Governors and Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) Leaders:
Transit rider member organizations have participated in the TCI MOU discussions for several years, and have constituencies that include frontline communities in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh region. We, Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) and the Philly Transit Riders Union (Philly TRU), hope to strengthen the equity language in the MOU, to both ensure that those with the most at stake have a strong voice at the table to determine how the TCI resources are allocated, and to ensure that they will receive a clear and measurable benefit from the cap-and-invest proceeds.
We recognize and appreciate the steps taken to include a minimum investment for “overburdened and underserved” communities, and the need to have state-level equity advisory bodies to oversee implementation. We also appreciate the acknowledgement that complementary policies to the TCI must be deployed, as market-based schemes do not themselves address carbon emissions due to transportation, and may, in fact, increase emissions and create worse outcomes in communities already heavily burdened by power plants.
PPT has been a signatory and collaborator in the Green for All Policy Design letter for an Equitable Clean Transportation Program, the TCI equity toolkit and subsequent letter submitted in response to the draft MOU in March 2020. We support and echo the Green For All recommendations submitted on 10/23 around the equity commitments, and would like to further elaborate on a few specific points.
Our comments regarding the equity commitments for the MOU are as follows:
1. Proceeds must put into a ‘lock box’ not to be raided for general funds. This is a high priority, because TCI runs the risk of becoming a regressive tax on low-income and Black and Brown communities if substantial resources are not protected and set aside to be directed by frontline communities. A TCI MOU approved by the governor by executive order could be modified or overturned by the legislature or subsequent governors. TCI without substantial resources allocated to “underserved and overburdened communities” is worse than no TCI at all.
2. The term “overburdened and underserved” should identify a specific and defined community across all the participating states. That might be a term in line with Title VI law, or “Environmental Justice” communities. This definition should encompass BIPOC residents, people with disabilities, low-income residents, older adults, and communities who experience poor air quality due to transportation, power plants, or other manufacturing emissions.
3. The percentage of dedicated investment dollars should be increased beyond the 35%, and the allotment should be determined relative to the percentage of overburdened and underserved communities in the state. We understand that PA is looking at the “underserved and overburdened” communities as those defined as EJ communities, which represent about a third of the state. Under that framework, the 35% represents merely an equal share of the proceeds, not a larger or more equitable share to help repair historic and current wrongs. Many other states apparently have an even higher percentage of EJ communities, which would be poorly served by a less-than-equal share of the revenue. We are calling for the carve out for “overburdened and underserved communities” to be a minimum of 150% of the state percentage of those communities. For example: if “overburdened and underserved” communities (defined according to Title VI or EJ standards) represent 35% of the state, then 52.5% of the TCI proceeds should be allocated for that constituency.
4. A significant percentage of TCI funds that are not part of the equity allotment should be dedicated to funding the expansion of public transit. Funding frequent, affordable, high quality public transit is a critical investment for addressing transportation emissions at the same time that it increases equity in our transportation systems.
Regarding the Community Advisory Body:
1. We believe that those who are targeted for the equity allotment should be the ones at the table to allocate resources and to design metrics to assess their efficacy. These Community Advisory Bodies must have the majority of seats filled with representative residents from disproportionately affected communities, who both live in that community and represent the demographics which define them as such. Representatives for the Community Advisory Body should additionally be chosen through an independent selection process, in concert with community-based organizations, and established as independent, non-political authorities.
a. The role of the Community Advisory Committee should include defining metrics for equitable outcomes, (including air quality monitoring and data tracking, changes to household income, public health impacts and increased jobs/services access). They should also advise on the RFP process and proposal evaluation criteria, and ensure communities are robustly engaged in all proposed infrastructure investments and programs.
2. Community Advisory Members should be paid for their time, local expertise, and reimbursed for travel. Moreover, community organizations should receive capacity grants for community outreach and education on the TCI program and develop their own proposals, including technical assistance. Funds for both of these should not be derived from the equity allotment, but be in addition.
Complementary policies we recommend:
1. At a minimum, TCI must do no harm to frontline communities already suffering from the emissions from electricity generation. We are deeply concerned about the disproportionate attention given to electrification as a remedy for transportation emissions, which will necessarily result in greater impacts on power-generation communities, and believe that it is unjust to secure resources for some underserved and overburdened communities at the expense of others. States must, in the MOU, commit to enacting, during the adoption of the TCI program and not at a later date, a complementary policy (such as California’s AB 617) that would guarantee significant emission reductions in disproportionately polluted communities.
Workforce development goals:
We uplift the calls for workplace development and job training, especially for workers affected by the transition to cleaner vehicles and for communities who are under-employed. There should be provisions for ensuring that these jobs pay prevailing wage and commit to union-neutrality.The TCI program should include supplier diversity goals to encourage proposals from women and minority-owned businesses.
Ensuring that the TCI Investments are Equitable and Effective:
1. The Participating Jurisdictions will annually review and report the impacts of each Participating Jurisdiction’s individual program, including with respect to equity. Annual reports will specify how TCI program proceeds are spent by each Participating Jurisdiction and include lists of projects and programs supported by TCI proceeds and the levels of investment received by each. We would especially call for a critical eye towards investments in electric-charging stations, for them to be weighed against investments in transit-supportive infrastructure like bus rapid transit corridors in terms of equity, efficacy in reducing transportation emissions and number of residents served.
Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to on-going conversations around TCI.
Image Description: Silhouette of Rosa Parks with roses in background, text reading “Transit for People, Not for Profit! Equity, Dignity and the Freedom to Move.” Artist Credit: Christina Acuna Castillo
They’re back at it again: trying to use public dollars to build luxury transportation for wealthy developers.
After a disastrous first attempt at a final public meeting for the Mon Oakland Connector project, the City’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, the Universities and the foundations that own Hazelwood Green are holding a second meeting on Thursday, October 29th, 6-8pm.
Residents who live in Hazelwood, Greenfield, the Run, Oakland, and Squirrel Hill, and any taxpayers in the City of Pittsburgh who understand the importance of equity and efficiency in public investments needs to join.
We are asking stakeholders (City residents, organizational representatives, Mon-Oakland corridor neighborhood residents, transit riders, CMU and Pitt students, renters and homeowners) to speak up during the public meeting Q&A portion or in the zoom chat. We ask that you introduce yourself and share why you are a stakeholder, then lay out your concerns or the needs that you see should be uplifted instead of the MOC shuttle roadway.
Instead of investing millions in the Mon Oakland Connector roadway, the City, Universities, and Foundation Partners should invest in a true community-generated transportation plan.
The project will cost about $25 million that that the city will pay to build the road through the park, then the foundation and university partners will pay an additional $16+ million to operate a short-term shuttle.
Instead of sinking millions of dollars into this ineffective project, these entities should fund the community’s Our Money, Our Solutions proposal to extend the 75 bus service into Hazelwood.
1. The MOC shuttle fails as a transportation project.
The Mon-Oakland Shuttle is projected to carry 180 passengers a day, primarily to two destinations– Carnegie Mellon University and Hazelwood Green, at an extraordinary cost per trip. The Mon-Oakland Connector will also be obsolete almost at its start: The shuttle’s full daily ridership capacity of 180 riders will hardly mitigate the proposed travel demand to Hazelwood Green, which is anticipated to be 20,413 trips by 2028, and 61,000 trips by 2060. That means no relief for Hazelwood, Greenfield and Oakland residents on the increased congestion and air quality issues that will only worsen as Hazelwood Green builds out.
And City residents don’t just need to travel between Hazelwood Green and CMU! By contrast, extending the 75 bus service would create new, direct connections from Hazelwood to the Southside (read: food, jobs), to the whole of Oakland (read: healthcare, jobs), Shadyside, East Liberty, Bakery Square, Morningside and Aspinwall.
The travel time on the 75 between Hazelwood and Oakland would be just as fast as the proposed shuttle. It could be implemented tomorrow. It would serve thousands of residents rather than a few hundred. And because the service would be run by Port Authority, it would be sustainable, affordable, publicly-run and fully accessible. Almono Partners could even pay for the 75 buses to be electric buses, and it would STILL be cheaper than funding the Mon-Oakland shuttle “pilot” phase.
2. Projects like this cause gentrification and displacement.
Yesterday, The City’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI)’s Director Karina Ricks compared the Mon-Oakland Connector to the Atlanta Beltline and Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago. These projects and similar trigger gentrification and displacement in low-income neighborhoods and in neighborhoods with a majority of people of color.
3. The MOC is the single-most expensive transportation corridor investment that the City is making, while the City is experiencing a record $100 million dollar budget shortfall.
The City does not have the resources to address critical resident needs during a on-going public health and economic emergency, let alone fund a luxury microtransit pilot project.
4. The City’s public process for the Mon-Oakland Connector has been abysmal.
‘There is certainly much on the table for input,’ [Ricks] said. ‘This is the opportunity the neighborhood has to weigh in.'”
Weighing in on “landscaping and lighting” is not what public engagement looks like. For the last five years, residents in Four Mile Run and Hazelwood have raised concerns and questions about the need, the harm and the benefits about running an autonomous shuttle, building a $23 million dollar bike trail, then building a roadway for a manned CMU to Hazelwood Green shuttle through Schenley Park. For more about the City’s evolving project descriptions, and community opposition, check out this WESA piece from March.
5. Building the shuttle roadway through Schenley Park and Sylvan Avenue will diminish our limited City green space and recreational areas, and will likely reduce the efficacy of the Four Mile Run flood remediation effort.
The project calls for the clear cutting of 900 trees, mostly in the Panther Hollow portion of Schenley Park. There has been no published analysis of how adding the non-permeable surface of the shuttle roadway would affect the desperately needed floodwater relief in the corridor. The Mon-Oakland Connector roadway will also substantially diminish the size of the soccer field in Junction Hollow.
6. Running shuttles along the Junction Hollow commuter bike path and next to the playing field puts users at risk.
Many cyclists consider the Mon-Oakland Connector a degradation of the existing connection between Downtown, Oakland and Southside because the MOC will require cyclists to share the commuter path with motorized vehicles.
There are, however, important pedestrian and trail improvements that residents have fought for and won over the course of the last five years, including the pedestrian tunnel to Panther Hollow Lake, and addressing the dangerous “Chute” connection (the Eliza Furnace trail along Second Ave from Swinburne St. to Saline St). These improvements should not be held hostage to the shuttle roadway. Finally, we need to ensure that members of the Hazelwood/Four Mile Run/Panther Hollow/Greenfield community get to stay to enjoy these improvements, and that they are not pushed out to make way for them.
We are Calling You to Action!
We are asking stakeholders (City residents, organizational representatives, Mon-Oakland corridor neighborhood residents, transit riders, CMU and Pitt students, renters and homeowners) to speak up during the public meeting Q&A portion or in the zoom chat. We ask that you introduce yourself and share why you are a stakeholder, then lay out your concerns or the needs that you see should be uplifted instead of the MOC shuttle roadway.
This new report lays out how collecting full fares during the pandemic is disproportionately harming Allegheny County’s low-income and Black residents, and preventing these residents from accessing basic needs including groceries, healthcare and jobs. Emergency fare relief is in line with measures being taken by other public utility providers, to ensure that connections to critical services are not cut off in the midst of an unprecedented economic and public health crisis.
Port Authority has stated that they are interested in a long-term low-income fare program. There is no better time to pilot its implementation. Transit agencies are facing an existential ridership crisis, with no clear pathway to recovering the 65-70% of pre-COVID-19 ridership that has stopped taking transit. Allowing SNAP-eligible riders to show their EBT/ACCESS cards to board could provide an immediate ridership boost without incurring increased operating costs.
19 local and state political leaders followed suit with a letter to Port Authority calling for fare relief for low-income riders, and Allegheny County Council passed a Will of Council advocating for the measure.
Black residents and low-income residents represent a disproportionately high percentage of transit ridership during COVID-19.
Transit routes serving Black neighborhoods have seen steep ridership losses from the reinstatement of full fares.
Port Authority Transit ridership is at an all-time low (down 65-70%), and an emergency low-income fare program could allow PAAC to quickly regain 9% of its ridership.
Unique revenue sources that could cover the estimated annual fare revenue loss of $4M-$8M include: The $141M in CARES Act Funding received by the Port Authority, Cares Act Funding received by the County and/or State, philanthropic partner support for emergency COVID relief efforts.
