PPT builds Transit justice every day, every month, every year—and 2025 was no exception.

So what does justice look like for transit riders and for transit workers? 

Transit justice begins and ends with all of us at the table—in Pittsburgh City Hall, in PRT’s boardroom, in Harrisburg, and in Washington. 

Transit justice is about riders and workers setting the table– making the table large enough to hold all of us and our dreams- and not merely accepting the crumbs.

In 2026, more of you were at the table and set the agenda than ever before:

• You testified at PRT’s service hearings and addressed the PRT Board of Directors around the Bus Line Redesign 1.0 and our transit service quality. 
• You spoke up for affordable housing and bus shelters and passing a budget for free transit for all downtown City workers at Pittsburgh City Council and City Planning. 
• Over 15 of you from the Mon Valley, the Southern Hilltop communities and transit workers committed to a months-long organizing fellowship, where through intensive study and practice have refined your expertise on the needs and opportunities around transit in your communities.
• As part of the weekly research committee meetings or the statewide Transit for All PA calls, you developed our policy demand for service and state funding, putting pen to paper to make a plan for more transit, not less. 
• You met with dozens of City and state legislators telling your transit story, putting forward transit funding solutions and demanding more transit, not less.
• Joined the inaugural Organizing Committee training series, building critical campaign-winning skills in our community.
• You hosted the largest national gathering of transit advocates for a conference on transit skills-building 

This year, transit was the defining issue in the state budget fight: state legislators have said never heard more about an issue—ever—than they did this year about transit. 

That is because of you. 

The Transit for All PA policy package for service growth and expansion—the legislative proposal that you and hundreds of your peers across the state developed and ratified—is the only transit legislation being considered by legislators for the next two years.

Your work has won us all a seat at a table. A table big enough for everyone, and a table big enough to hold our dreams. 

That’s the transit justice we delivered in 2025.

2025’s Tangible Transit Organizing Wins

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win.” – Assata Shakur

We’re not just committed to grassroots organizing, we are committed to winning what our communities need and deserve. Here are some of the wins you racked up in 2025:

• Averted the most imminent, catastrophic transit cuts in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia’s history through months of rallying, public testimony, participatory research on state transit funding policy, legislative visits, letter writing and more. 
• Protected transit access for shoppers & workers at the Waterfront mall (and had the most ruckus press conference this town has ever seen with a bus stop marching band parade)!
• Won free transit passes for all 750 downtown City of Pittsburgh employees through PRT’s new bulk transit discount program, the PRTner pass.
• Conducted bus shelter audits and crowdsourced rider data to help the City identify and install new bus shelters, so riders have a dignified and safe place to wait. These shelters were made possible by the funds that you won in the 2025 City of Pittsburgh Budget- the first ever transit amenities line item in Pittsburgh history.

2025 by the Numbers

There’s no way around it: in 2025, PPT has grown bigger, bolder, and faster than ever before. 

To give you a sense of this growth, staff measure the size of our Movement by the number of people in a contact database—in other words, folks who have agreed to be organized around our issues. 

Thanks to the organizing prowess of PPT’s local and statewide members, our database contacts have grown an absolutely stunning 72% since December of 2024. That’s just over 32,500 people who joined the fight in 2025. Check out this (awe-inspiring!) graph that charts contact growth over the past year: 

Image Description: a graph of red bars showing the growth of PPT & Transit for All PA! supporters: from just over 10,000 in Dec. 2024, to around 45,000 in Dec. 2026.

If that data isn’t juicy enough for you, take a look at these other stats showing this massive growth: 

• 350,000+: letters Pennsylvanians sent to their state legislators in support of robust, sustainable transit funding
• 32,500+: new contacts added to the contact database in 2025
• 350: Pennsylvanians who traveled to Harrisburg for a rally and lobby day supporting state transit funding (legislative partners told staff that this was the biggest rally they’ve ever seen at the Capitol!) 
• 50: PA Senate districts with Transit for All PA supporters (yes, that means supporters in every single legislative district in Pennsylvania!) 
• 100+: attendees at PPT’s 2025 National Transit Advocacy Spring Training (want to join in for Spring Training in 2026?)
• 1500+: members of PPT, thanks to the new, more inclusive membership definition
• 317: PPT members who contributed to our Year-End Member Drive to build new constellations of power
• 41: members who started a monthly recurring dues-paying membership, sustaining transit organizing for the long haul

Most of all, our victory is in our clarity of purpose across so many differences. Our victory is in our smart, committed, caring community. Because the damn fascists are doing everything they can to divide us—by race, geography, by our abilities, by our income, by our nationalities. They wouldn’t try so hard if they weren’t so afraid of us, of how powerful we are together. 

In 2025 we built a new constellation of power here at PPT. We’ve won many things, but more victories can and must be on our horizon in 2026. 

In sum: cheers to you, to us, and to our collective liberation.

Image Description: a bus stop titled “Pressely St.” decorated with a red starburst, and pictures of 3 PPT members holding rally signs and smiling. Black and red text reads “Happy Birthday, Bus Stop: Unveiling our first NEW bus shelter for Transit Equity Day”.

Join PPT and the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure for a Bus Shelter Celebration on Feb. 4th, Transit Equity Day, and the 2-year anniversary of the launch of PPT’s Shelter Campaign. We will be celebrating the launch of the first new bus shelter created as a result of our organizing and partnership with the City of Pittsburgh! 

We will meet at the new shelter at the Cedar Ave and Pressley St inbound bus stop, on the City’s northside, sharing warm beverages, sweet treats, and reflections of the work we’ve done and the road yet ahead. There will be special speakers and opportunities to learn  about PPT’s upcoming infrastructure initiatives.

A Look Back at our Bus Shelter Campaign

Image Description: a yellow, black, and red timeline graphic showing the progression of PPT’s Bus Shelter Campaign, from the first bus shelter audits in Spring 2024 to Transit Equity Day 2026.

When we last updated you, dear PPT members, we were launching our own 2025 Bus Stop Summer. This came after our first bus shelter victory – the allocation of funds for transit amenities in Pittsburgh’s 2025 Capital Budget, and the City of Pittsburgh’s 2025 Transit Stop Improvement Program launch. 

On a hot 90-degree day in July, four different teams of PPT members set out on a one-day Bus Stop Audit Blitz to help the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) gather information on the conditions of bus stops. The goal was to identify enough stops to rehome several “orphaned” bus shelters living at inactive bus stops throughout the city. 

29 high-rider stops across 14 neighborhoods in the city of Pittsburgh were visited. 10 of those stops were deemed eligible for bus shelters by PPT members who were trained according to Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Bus Stop and Street Design Guidelines and DOMI’s criteria. This information was shared with the City to aid in their work.

Where we are now

DOMI’s 2025 Transit Stop Improvement Program allowed for the repaving of sidewalk pads at 6 high ridership bus stops and the subsequent installation of shelters at those stops. You can now wait for the bus in the shade and protection of shelters at the following bus stops:

• Broadway Avenue at Hampshire Avenue (inbound)
• Broadway Avenue at Hampshire Avenue (outbound)
• Hamilton Avenue at Oakwood Street
• Cedar Avenue at Pressley Street
• Brighton Road and Woods Run Avenue
• Sandusky Street and E. General Robinson 

As a part of this program, DOMI created an Engage page where transit riders can read the detailed criteria of what constitutes a bus stop eligible for a shelter, as well as recommend stops that need sidewalk improvements. The biggest takeaway from PPT’s bus stop audits has been that sidewalk conditions in the city are poor to fair at best, which prevents the easy installation of bus shelters, benches, and other amenities.

The success of PPT’s collaboration with DOMI has not only been in the Transit Stop Improvement Program, but also in the city of Pittsburgh thinking of bus stops in a bigger way; viewing them for the role they play in neighborhood connectivity at all levels of mobility, starting with safe sidewalk infrastructure.

You can always share with PPT which bus stops you think need a shelter through our This Stop Needs a Shelter form. We share this information with our friends at DOMI.

Join PPT and DOMI for a Bus Shelter Celebration on Feb. 4th, Transit Equity Day, and the 2-year anniversary of the launch of PPT’s Shelter Campaign. We will be at the new shelter at the Cedar Ave and Pressley St inbound bus stop, on the City’s northside, sharing warm beverages, sweet treats, and reflections of the work we’ve done and the road yet ahead. There will be special speakers and opportunities to learn about PPT’s upcoming infrastructure initiatives. 

Together, Transit Riders & Workers Are Building New Constellations of Power! PPT Members celebrated our year in style.

After a long year of successful organizing, PPT Members were ready to have a good time at our Victory Party & Year-End Celebration in Friday 12/12!

2025 was a year of highs and lows. PPT Members and transit riders & workers across the state celebrated massive growth with the statewide Transit for All PA! campaign. More than 45,000 riders and workers (from every single State House Voting District in Pennsylvania) mobilized to uplift public transit in the state budget negotiations like never before. Riders fought back 45% service cuts in Philly, 35% cuts in Pittsburgh, and laid the groundwork for a statewide movement that will expand public transit service in every corner of PA.

PPT Members also celebrated wins at home too, with successful organizing drives to protect and improve our bus stops, win free transit for every City Worker downtown, and level up our organizing skills together at trainings that brought together organizers from all across the city, county, state and country.

The PPT Family mourns the loss of freedom fighter, Paul O’Hanlon, February 9, 1954 – November 30, 2025. Paul was a co-founder of PPT back in 20211 who was serving a term on our board when he passed this Fall. Paul was a lifelong organizer in the intersecting struggles of disability, housing and transportation justice. Read more about Paull on PPT’s blog.

PPT Members are ready to take all of this energy into our fight in 2026. Join as a dues-paying PPT Member today during our year-end membership drive.

Check out this year-in-review video from PPT Member Joe Coniff to show all that we’ve been up to in 2025:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pittsburghers 4 Public Transit (@pgh4publictransit)

AND OF COURSE, HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS! See the full album here on Flickr.

Take part in the Year-End Membership drive TODAY and help Build New Constellations of Power:

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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Rest in power, Paul O’Hanlon. February 9, 1954 – November 30, 2025

Our Pittsburghers for Public Transit family mourns the recent passing of our Board member and founder, Paul O’Hanlon. 

Paul was a powerful organizer for human rights, with a clear understanding of how our movements for disability justice, transit justice, housing justice and voting rights are connected and necessary. He was courageous, smart, committed and supportive, and he has mentored so many in bringing their power to the light. 

We will miss Paul deeply, and we offer PPT’s love and community to his family in this difficult time. 

Rest in power, Paul. Your memory will fuel our fight with love and inspiration, forever.

• Paul’s obituary
• RSVP to Paul’s Memorial Service on 1/10 [flyer here]
• Leave a video memorial message for Paul – to be shared during his memorial service
• Leave a written memorial message for Paul – to be shared on this page
• Photos from Paul’s 2012 civil disobedience & arrest with the Transit Twelve calling for increased public transit access for all

Pittsburghers for Public Transit was founded with the fire of Paul O’Hanlon and the community that he inspired. Over the years he helped this movement grow with his ideas, humor, and an unwaivering sense of justice. He joined us in the protests, and he joined us at the parties. He taught us how to fight and love. His spirit will live in our organizing forever. Rest in power, Paul.

The PPT family is invited to leave your words of remembrance here, or record a video of yourself sharing your words of remembrance and upload it here. All written and video remembrances will be added to this page. Please note that we are also putting together a video presentation for the public memorial honoring Paul’s work in the field. Excerpts from our recordings will be used!

Read remembrances from PPT Members:

Dean Mougianis

It’s a cloudy Pittsburgh day in 2011 and I am on a bicycle in the back alleys of the strip district. I’m panting and wheezing, pedaling as fast as I can, dodging potholes that I hope won’t upend me. Partly, this is because I’m running late, trying to get to a protest of Governor Tom Corbett’s education cuts. But mostly, it’s because I am trying my damnedest to keep up with Paul O’Hanlon, who is making his motorized wheelchair bounce and rattle atop the broken pavement at a dizzying speed. We were both at a meeting of Occupy Pittsburgh, and I had decided I should accompany Paul on the trip. You know, look after him a bit. Silly me. He’s leaving me far behind and it’s all I can do to try to match his pace.

I think that’s all any of us could ever do. Try our feeble best to keep up with him.

I first met Paul on election day in 2008, in the “escalation room” of Election Protection – lawyers who volunteer their services to safeguard our vote. I was there as the dispatcher for “Video the Vote” a group trying to do the same thing with video cameras. (This was before everybody had cellphone cameras in their pockets.) There were a few dozen attorneys around a big conference table at a downtown law firm. They took calls from an 800 number. If the call seemed like it represented serious skullduggery, then it was escalated to a smaller group of more expert lawyers. Alpha lawyers you might say. Paul was without doubt an alpha lawyer, and so there he was – ready to battle electoral evil.

Mercifully, there was less skullduggery than anticipated that election. That left a lot of down time to sit and talk and get to know the person working next to you. The Paul I got to know that day was passionate, whip-smart, warm and sincere. The kind of person who leaves an impression on you – a serious Atticus Finch vibe.

As I indicated, our paths crossed again in the muddy confines of the Occupy Pittsburgh encampment. Well, actually, just before. He was there at a planning meeting, laying out the legal case for taking over the public space of Mellon Green downtown. When it came to Occupy, Paul seemed to be everywhere. Dispensing legal information, yes. But more importantly, movement wisdom. Paul had seen a lot advocating for disability rights, housing rights, education rights, etc and learned from every bit of it.

It was in the area of public transit where I came to know, and appreciate, Paul the most. He was part of the founding group of Pittsburghers for Public Transit. That same year of 2011 transit in Pittsburgh was facing a 40% cut. Cuts had been foisted on the public for years and this one would be devastating. Paul understood, along with others, that the public needed to be aware of a trend that was happening in darkness. And thus the Transit Twelve was born – a dozen activists who sat mid-road and stopped traffic in downtown Pittsburgh to raise awareness of the damage those cuts would do.

The Twelve were arrested for their civil disobedience and carted off to be arraigned of course. Well, eleven of them. The police did not know what do to with the erudite and self-assured attorney in the wheelchair. They couldn’t just toss him in a squad car. The picture you see above is of Paul next to a police officer – a Paul miffed because he isn’t being arrested along with the others. The story I heard is that shortly after this picture was taken, Paul got impatient and just motored over in his chair to the public safety building, driving himself to his own arrest. I haven’t been able to confirm the story’s veracity – but it’s true to the Paul that I knew. That’s exactly the kind of thing he would have done.

Paul was on Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s coordinating committee (the precursor to the board of directors) for years. I watched him consistently guide legal and organizing policy with his careful and wise counsel. He was everything a great movement lawyer should be – thorough, precise, compassionate. And with all that brainpower, with all that experience, I never once saw him be condescending or less than completely open to the contribution of others. As is true with such a long list of issues – transit in Pittsburgh would be severely diminished without the efforts of Paul O’Hanlon.

Earlier this year, Paul had a medical setback that sent him to the hospital. The condition made it difficult for him to speak and even breathe. When I went to visit, he wanted so badly to hear about what everyone was doing in the movement space. And he had a take on all of it, spoken in his same measured and complete way, even though he struggled with every word. Because he labored so hard to speak, it was all I could do to stop myself from trying to finish his sentences. Paul, though, was going to say it the way he felt it should be said – no matter what that took.

Amazingly he bounced back from it. There he was out in the world again, buzzing around in his chair, making sure he didn’t miss anything. Sadly, so very sadly, that was short-lived. Last week illness and infection caught up to him. As quick and as mobile as he was, mortality still caught up to him – in the way it will overtake all of us. He passed away last weekend. This passing hits me hard, as it hits dozens, maybe hundreds, of others.

I’m going to conclude with a quote I think Paul would have approved of. It’s from Mother Jones, who said:

“Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living”

I will miss you – my comrade, my friend.

Alisa Grishman

When I was 14 years old, my dad had a conference in Denmark, and I tagged along. It wasn’t safe to let naive little me wander the streets of Copenhagen by myself, though. Thankfully Lori Levin brought her husband, Paul O’Hanlon, and their 10-month-old son Sam along with her. My dad somehow conspired with them that I thought that I was being Daddy’s Helper by pushing Paul around town in his manual wheelchair and playing with Sam in various playgrounds, when really Paul was babysitting me.

A few years later when I’d moved to Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon, I ran into Paul. He remembered me and we exchanged some pleasantries, and then I didn’t really see him again for about a decade.

In 2015, however, all of that changed. I’d become more and more disabled myself at that point, and after meeting my dearest, beloved friend Richard Meritzer, he brought me to my very first City-County Task Force on Disabilities and introduced me to such powerful voices as Jeff Parker, who I miss dearly. There with everyone else… was Paul. And Paul welcomed me with open arms.

The following year, I’d already started up Access Mob Pittsburgh and I was eager to prove myself and get involved in absofuckinglutely everything. Paul came to me and told me about his big project he’d been working on for many years, Pittsburgh Ballots for Patients, and asked if I would be interested in helping out. That was the first year I was in charge of volunteers for Ballots for Patients, and I’ve done so every two years since then. We had at our height (before UPMC decided to be helpful and provide some of their own aides) upwards of 70 volunteers in nine area hospitals collecting emergency absentee ballots from hospitalized patients who couldn’t go to the polls. This has been some of my proudest work.

There are so many other projects we worked on together as well. He got me involved with the Committee for Accessible Transportation, and we fought HARD to make them allow paratransit vehicles to pull over in bus lanes. We advocated loudly about the need to make the Department of Permits, Licensing, and Inspection prioritize accessible entrances when businesses were making ADA-related infrastructure improvements, to the point that we got a hearing with City Council and the City’s legal team to plea our case.

I cannot say that I agreed with Paul on everything. He could be super pig-headed and obstinate, especially at the end. We had an on-going dispute about whether or not it’s OK to force riders without mobility devices to get up for those who do (it absolutely isn’t – invisible disabilities are still real disabilities).

What I can say, though, is that I would not be the amazing human I am without Paul. And for that I will hold him close in my heart for the rest of my life. Thank you, Paul, for everything you’ve taught me, and for the strength you’ve given me. I promise to keep Ballots for Patients going, and to continue your legacy of advocacy in this City. I love you forever.

Cassandra Masters

Paul was one of the first people I met in 2019 when I worked for ACCESS paratransit. I learned from him trillions of things about disability justice and the abysmal transit access across the city and country for people with disabilities over the years.

Paul’s advocacy radicalized me in so many ways (and we didn’t even know each other that well!). I specifically remember talking with him about how sidewalk curb cuts, while essential, *cannot* be the only accessibility win we fight for–neighbors deserve curb cuts AND we have to dream bigger. I think about it every time I see a new curb cut. He leaves behind a remarkable legacy. Rest in power, Paul.

Andrew Hussein

Alas I can’t exactly remember when I 1st met Paul, it’s been a wild and rough last few years. What I can say is I definitely remember Paul being very insightful, inspirational and a fierce fighter and both Pittsburgh and the PPT Community are a little bleaker with this great loss! The remembrance at the top of the PPT Blog says it well, May you rest in power, friend!

Laura Chu Wiens

Paul was the best kind of stubborn, clear minded about the obstacles to surviving, to participating, to thriving in this world, and he refused to let them stand. At the outset of his role with PPT, he blocked Fifth and Wood Street downtown to demand action and state funding for transit along with 11 other PPT members – and took an arrest for this civil disobedience. Or rather, he would have, but Pittsburgh police didn’t have a van that could accommodate his wheelchair and so turned him loose. Paul offered to roll to the jail himself, and they still refused. And so Paul went home on the bus, but as his spouse Lori describes it, he was so agitated that the others were in jail without him that he turned around, caught the next bus, and went right to the jail so that he could be together with the others in solidarity. 

While this is an example of his courage, his activism was steady, strategic and long-term. Paul organized alongside community members up and down the Mon Valley to prevent the cuts to the 61 A,B,C buses in 2017, he was part of the braintrust of members that developed PPT’s Fair Fares platform in 2019. He called on PPT to join him in a lawsuit to compel ridehailing companies to provide accessible vehicles under the ADA in 2020. He guided our work for accessible stops and shelters, and around affordable housing, and against the proliferation of private transportation tech. He was a mentor and a friend, and I am grateful to have had him to guide my organizing growth.

Any one of these organizing efforts would be impressive enough in its own right- but PPT was only one very small part of the legacy that he leaves behind. From founding Ballots for Patients, whose work continues through the leadership of Alisa Grishman and Access Mob, to organizing tenants and advocating for more expansive use of Section 8 homeownership opportunities, to participating in a commission for Wilkinsburg’s home rule charter, to laying the groundwork for so much of the disability rights gains in Southwest PA over the last half century, Paul O’Hanlon was somehow both the mildest and fiercest force to be reckoned with. He is survived by his spouse Lori and son Sam, and by all of us- we will continue the movement in his memory.

Ken Regal

Thankful for our friendship with Paul over many decades beginning when we were housemates in a (usually) cooperative house in the early 1980’s and continuing in work together for voting rights and other social justice issues. Paul was truly a hero who made our community a better place for everyone to live and thrive.

Donna Gates

My favorite story about Paul is when he presented an award to Port Authority management for adding buses with wheelchair lifts. At the time, the lifts rarely worked and Paul was trying to draw attention to the fact. So, he and others met Port Authority management downtown to present an award to them at a bus stop. Press was there. When an accessible bus pulled up for them to get on, the lift did not wotk. Port Authority managers were embarassed and assured everyone these would be fixed. Paul viewed the ability to ride a bus as a blow for freedom to be able to go where he wanted to go. These buses work now.

Amanda Clark

Paul had such a kind and giving heart. He onboarded me to Ballots for Patients, back before mail-in voting was a thing. He helped me with my illegally-held security deposit. I didn’t know him well, and won’t claim to, but he touched many hearts, and I was one of them, and I will always be grateful for that, and will always miss his presence in our lives now. I pray for peace and comfort to his family and friends, and I pray his spirit lives on in the rest of us.

Ron Gaydos

Whether knowing Paul at the Pittsburgh Quaker Community house on Homewood Ave, to seeing him assertively enter buses on his way around town, to standing up for people in his legal work, I’ve always admired him and looked forward to seeing him every time.

Dustin Gibson

Paul embraced me and the ideas that I had as a young activist. He showed up to everything he could. He supported while still offering suggestions based on his experience and critique. I can imagine he did that with countless people. Paul was clear about the connections between systems of oppression and worked to forge solidarity between different struggles. I appreciate how he worked to weave together different groups of people essentially fighting for the same things.

Anyone in the PPT community is welcome to leave your words of remembrance below, and they’ll be added to this page:

Here are some prompts to guide your message:

• “My favorite story about Paul O’Hanlon is . . . “
• “I would like to thank/acknowledge Paul for the work he did with . . . “
• “The thing that always struck me about Paul is the way he . . . “
• “I will always remember Paul for . . . “

Image Description: a red PRT bus under a dark overpass at night, with its headlights on and ramp extended. To the right is white text reading “We need service that serves us: PRT’s annual service report fails to acknowledge ridership, reliability crises”, decorated with a red starburst.

We deserve a transit system worth fighting for. PRT’s ridership recovery post-COVID lags far behind its peers, and buses frequently don’t show up as scheduled. 

Pittsburgh riders have proved they’re ready to go to bat for PRT. Now PRT needs to grow ridership and to improve service reliability—and implementing the Bus Line Redesign now isn’t the answer.

Last month, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) published its 2025 annual service report, laying out data about ridership levels, operating costs per rider, and transit service reliability. From the tone of the report, one might assume that our transit system is doing fine, with any service reliability or ridership hiccups due to unique issues like construction, worker shortfalls or commuter changes post-pandemic. 

However, this report actually shows that Pittsburgh Regional Transit is doing worse on ridership recovery and service reliability compared to transit agencies across the country. The 2025 annual service report disclosed that PRT ridership has plateaued and declined this year from last, for the second year in a row. 

PRT ridership is now only about 60% of pre-COVID levels, a national anomaly. 

On average, US transit systems have recovered 85% of 2019 ridership, and are continuing to climb every year. Some agencies have even surpassed pre-pandemic ridership by making targeted service improvements, and/or advancing new fare programs like their employer passes or low-income and zero fare programs. Notably, over the past two years, PRT has conspicuously removed all comparative data with other peer transit systems, which was a staple of the report in years prior. 

PRT service reliability has also plateaued, with an average of only 66% of buses arriving on time. We’ve said many times, and will continue to say, that this is because of unrealistic written schedules and not due to transit worker shortcomings. 

On top of this, schedules show far fewer bus stop arrival times (“time points”) on the printed schedule than in years prior, so the evaluation of whether buses are “on-time” is happening only at a handful of stops on any given route. The lack of time points—and PRT’s minimal accountability to this metric—make it additionally hard for riders to anticipate arrival times for the majority of bus stops, and to plan transfers between routes. 

PRT’s service reports have failed to register the gravity of our ridership and reliability crisis, excusing them as the result of various one-off issues. There is no reason identified in the 2025 report for our low, plateauing on-time-performance average this year, and therefore no presumed mechanism for improving it. (Last year, the 2024 PRT annual service report did note the short-turning of 71 buses and the 61D in Oakland as a major contributor to our region’s precipitous transit ridership drop and bus crowding, but  then proceeded to do nothing about it.)

Despite this, thousands of riders proved this year that they are willing to stand up and fight for PRT.  We need our efforts to be matched with efforts from PRT. They must improve its service to ensure that we have a system worth fighting for. 

Riders need action from PRT, but implementing the Busline Redesign Draft 2.0 is not the solution to our ridership and reliability crisis.

We agree that change is needed. It’s vital that Pittsburgh Regional Transit make changes to address their concurrent ridership, service reliability and funding crises. However, implementing the Busline Redesign before fixing the basics will only make these problems worse.

When you ask PRT why we are lagging so far behind our peers, they will say that the Bus Line Redesign will solve our issues. But that is avoiding the core of the problem – service reliability has been far below its goals for years, and our ridership has declined while others have bounced back. Many agencies have successfully recovered ridership since the pandemic, but not by upending their existing bus network. 

Moreover, we are deeply concerned that implementing a “cost-neutral” bus network redesign will lock in the 20% service cuts that we’ve endured these last 5 years—and may not even be fully implemented, given the lack of any sustainable state funding solution.

We’ll have a more in-depth blog published in the next few weeks that gets deeper into the issues we see with the Bus Line Redesign. 

Instead of a complete redesign, transit riders and workers and our region need PRT to put forward goals and a vision for increasing ridership, increasing access to transit, restoring service, and for improving service reliability. 

As a starting point, Pittsburgh Regional Transit should set goals around ridership recovery, report monthly on their progress, and leverage all the tools at their disposal to grow ridership. In particular, PRT should be capitalizing on the fare programs Allegheny Go (which gives them 100% of fare revenue for every trip!) and the PRTner pass. We have also been calling on PRT and the County to fund free fare days using resources from the Regional Asset District or the County’s Clean Air Fund. Imagine if PRT supported new riders to take the system for one day with transit ambassadors, without the cost or process burden of learning the fare payment system!

Around service reliability, Pittsburgh Regional Transit needs to implement best practices around scheduling. Namely, they need to ensure that service frequencies and times are:

• Consistent between schedule changes
• Realistic for transit operators to drive
• Legibly communicated to everyday people
• Accurate across the printed timetable, apps, and bus stops

The lag and decline of our ridership recovery has likely been due to a combination of self-inflicted wounds: years of unreliable service, PRT’s thrice yearly schedule changes that regularly upend dozens of routes, misaligned communications about stop and service changes, the on-going bus stop eliminations, and the ongoing service cuts. Because these are the results of PRT’s existing practices, these same tools are also available for them to fix our ridership woes, now.

Thousands of riders have shown they are willing to support our agency. Now it’s time for PRT to give riders a system that our region can be proud of.

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:

Image Description: an illustrated Pittsburgh skyline at night, in deep purple and blue with yellow lights. The night sky is deep purple with a lighter purple illustration of Pittsburgh’s three rivers. Above the skyline is handwritten light yellow text reading “PPT’s 2025 Year End Member Drive: Building new constellations of power”, decorated with yellow and light yellow stars.

Here at PPT, we’re building new constellations of power. We’ve faced bigger threats to our system, and grown our movement more, than ever before.

There’s never been a better time to join the fight for better transit for all. Will you support transit justice for you and your neighbors with a membership donation to PPT?

PPT’s Year End Member Drive is here!

Membership dues help PPT pay for direct actions, advocacy, and everything else needed to fight for affordable, reliable, dignified transit across our region. Our annual Year-End membership drive is our most important fundraiser of the year.

But this year, there’s a special twist:

Every contribution to our 2025 Year End Membership Drive will be matched up to $20,000 by a local foundation.

If you donate $5, it’ll magically become $10. $500 will become $1,000!

In a year of such fantastic growth, your donation has never been more important—and now it will go even further! Can you help us make our dreams a reality by donating to become a member?

PPT members build their skills to win campaigns. Why is PPT membership so powerful? Read member Kristen’s story.

Everything changed this summer, when I found out that the Waterfront mall wanted to remove bus stops from its stores. I had just finished PPT’s transit organizing fellowship for Mon Valley residents, so I knew just how many people rely on transit to get their groceries there. I had to do something. I told PPT about the cuts, and they asked me to speak about them on the news.

Here’s the thing: I do not like public speaking. But this was important, so I stepped out of my comfort zone and did an on-camera interview with WPXI. After my interview aired, over 1,400 people signed a petition to stop the cuts–and 5 days later, the Waterfront announced that it would keep bus stops on the property!

It is such a good feeling knowing that I made a difference! PPT helped me step out of my comfort zone, and then we actually won our campaign. When I think about everything we’ve accomplished–whoa! I’m so proud of myself, and I’m so proud of us. PPT helped me make our transit system better for everyone. They showed me that when we fight together, we build our power–and we win! We can’t do it without you. Can you join me in this fight?

In Solidarity, 
Kristen Greene

Donate now to become a dues-paying PPT member and strengthen our movement!

Image Description: white text on a dark purple background reads “PPT’s Year End Transit Justice Victory Party”, with the PPT logo below. The graphic is illustrated with yellow star-shaped lights strung across the top of the frame

We’ve accomplished so much this year, all in service of new transit rider and worker power. Party down with us as we celebrate and build our visions for next year!

From Pittsburgh to Harrisburg and all across PA, 2025 has been a year of stunning growth for our movement for Transit Justice. It’s time to celebrate the love-filled community that makes it all possible—with yummy food, music, dancing, and the best company around.

Tickets to this party are offered on a sliding scale pricing basis. We suggest a $20 donation, but no one will be turned around for lack of funds.

What to expect

What, When, & Where

Friday, December 12, 2025, 6:00-9:00 PM
Hosanna House’s Wallace Event Center
807 Wallace Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15221

We’ll be inside at the Wallace Event Center at Wilkinsburg’s Hosanna House. We’ll have a DJ playing music, space to dance, and tables and chairs serving dinner for all those who reserve a ticket. We’ll have a brief speaking program where PPT members talk about our wins from the year, and what it means to build power with this community.

Attendees should not feel obligated to attend the entire event, so feel free to arrive and leave at times that work best for you.

Food

We will be providing a catered meal from Aladdin’s to all those who pre-register for this event. We will clearly label all major allergens on the food.

Our menu will be:

• Falafel (GF, Vegan, contains nuts), Tabouli (vegan), Hummus (GF, vegan), Baba Ghannouj (GF, vegan), Loubie Bzeit (GF, vegan)
• Hot rolled pitas with a choice of Chicken Shawarma, Chicken Curry, Aladdin’s Beef Kabob, Arayiss (Beef), or Cauliflower (vegan, contains nuts)
• Fresh salad (GF, vegan, may contain nuts)

Guests are welcome to bring a dessert to share if they wish! We just ask that they label ingredients or major allergens of anything they bring to share, so that folks can assess what is safe to eat for them.

Accessibility

The space is on the second floor, with an elevator running between floors. All spaces are accessible, including restrooms near the event space. There is consistent lighting throughout the space, which may be turned down a bit for dancing and speeches. There will likely be some loud portions of the evening, as we dance to music and have lively conversations with our neighbors.

We will be providing childcare at this event. Please indicate on your ticket form if you would like childcare for someone in your party.

Getting there

Please enter the building through the Wallace Ave. entrance, and head up to the second floor.

There is a bus stop right in front of the main entrance, serving the 67, 69, 79, P17, and P67 buses. There is also a stop 3 blocks away, which serves the 71D, 86, and P71. The venue is about a mile away from the Wilkinsburg East Busway stop.

There will be street parking available, as well as 3 parking lots at Wallace and Mill St., Wallace and Center St., and Mill St. and North Ave. All of these lots are within a block of the venue.

Volunteering

If you’re interested in volunteering, check the box at the end of the RSVP form, and an organizer will reach out to you to confirm details.

This is a community event, and we need help to make it a success! We have several volunteer shifts available for those interested in helping out. Don’t worry, you’ll still get a chance to eat, drink, and relax if you volunteer!

Volunteers may help out with:

• Set up crew: meet at the PPT office in Shadyside before the event to help pack and transport materials to the venue. Requires a vehicle and some ability to lift/move supplies using stairs.
• Check-in and welcome table: reference a spreadsheet to check guests in; record information of unregistered guests; take donations via cash/card
• Strategic plan table: explain our draft 2026 Strategic Plan to guests, and help them vote on the draft
• Food station: help guests place their desserts on the table, replace cups/utensils, check on other volunteers and bartender to make sure they’ve eaten
• Floater: check in with childcare professionals to see if they need a break; assist with miscellaneous needed tasks, such as cleaning up spills and assisting PPT staff
• Wayfinding: on standby to meet PPT members at nearby bus stops if they need someone to show them to the venue
• Photographer: take fun, engaging pictures of people at our event! Requires some mobility to move around the event space.
• Clean up crew: take down decorations, collect trash, and pack up vehicles after the party concludes

RSVP to Join Us

PPT’s new Organizing Fellowship in the South Hilltop Communities is building new leaders to grow our movement and win better transit service.

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.

Every few weeks we’re publishing interviews with our fellows with our takeaways, which we’ll add here. See all our reportbacks below!

• Reportback on Sessions 1-2