Listening to feedback and moving resources to support core riders, this is what transit equity is all about.
In a massive win that riders have been fighting for since the start of COVID-19, the Port Authority announced on Thursday that it would redistribute service from low ridership lines to better serve riders in high-ridership communities!
This is a huge victory that riders in heavily transit-reliant communities have been calling for since the start of the new COVID capacity limits on buses (10 riders per 35-foot bus, 15 riders per 45-foot bus, and 25 passengers per 60-foot articulated bus or a light rail car). These capacity limits are important safety measures, but without increasing service frequency they leave riders in the most transit-reliant communities at the curb – while buses in low-ridership communities run empty.
The Port Authority’s decision also lays the groundwork for Port Authority to pilot an emergency low-income fare program, which riders have also been calling for since the start of the pandemic. High ridership transit routes during COVID-19 are serving predominantly low-income communities, in many cases without access to alternative means of transportation.
The people who are riding transit during this pandemic are the Port Authority’s core riders. Pittsburghers for Public Transit applauds the Port Authority for supporting these core riders and building greater transit equity.
COVID has threatened transit riders and our transit system like never before. To get both back on their feet, Port Authority must implement an emergency low-income fare now!
Join PPT to release a new report authored by our members that lays out the case for why Port Authority can’t afford to wait on piloting a low-income fare program. This is exactly the action that riders need during this economic depression, and what Port Authority needs as its ridership hits historic lows. COVID Fare Relief Now!
Rally & Release of New Report Tuesday, 9/22, 11:15-12:15 Wilkinsburg Busway Station, at South Ave & Hay St.
Masks & Social Distance Required. Event will also be live-streamed with Closed Captioning via this Google Hangout Link: meet.google.com/zzh-fbnz-qwnFor a ride or for any access needs, call PPT at 412-626-7353
#TrustRidersFundTransit is on October 6th is organized by Transit Riders of the US Together (TRUST), an emerging coalition of Transit Rider Unions from across the country
On October 6th, transit riders across the country will call on Congress and their local agencies to #TrustRidersFundTransit! This day to action will pressure elected officials to pass $32B in relief for public transit agencies and give riders a real say in determining how these dollars are used.
Local advocates in 10 cities across the country will tie these national demands to local campaigns to decriminalize public transit, improve rider engagement, and increase service. Check this blog to find out how to get involved with #TrustRidersFundTransit on October 6th
And tweet with the following hashtags to tell your elected officials and local agency to trust riders and fund transit! #TrustRidersFundTransit #RideWithUs #TransitIsEssential
The Port Authority Board of Directors has a public engagement problem.
The Port Authority’s Board of Directors is the Agency’s highest decision-making body. They meet monthly (with the exception of August) to make major decisions about the agency’s finances, governance, performance oversight, technology, planning, and stakeholder engagement. (…yes, pretty much everything that happens at Port Authority must be set in motion by the Board of Directors.)
The Board meetings are open opportunities for the public to give input and feedback to the board. This is a vital component of operations for any public agency: the public must be part of the conversation about the decisions these public servants are making.
However, without PPT’s work bringing riders to the Board of Director’s table, would you want to take a guess at how many people have given public comment to the board in 2020? The answer is 2.
Without PPT’s efforts, Port Authority’s Board of Directors would have only heard from 2 people in 2020, the year that has devastated transit riders and the transit system (one a paid staff member of a local community group and the other a retired Port Authority Employee). This is unacceptable for a Public Transit Authority that carried over 200,000 riders/day before the pandemic, and nearly 75,000 riders/day since COVID.
The Port Authority needs to alter its approach on how it conducts its Board meetings if it wants to measure up to peer agencies and its own claimed value of public engagement. Following a big mobilization of riders that PPT organized to speak to the board about the effects of COVID-19 on transit, PPT worked with riders to build this list of recommendations for Port Authority’s decision-making. Many of these practices are in use by other public agencies in Allegheny County. Riders are experts in transit, and can contribute to building a transit system that is truly responsive to everyone’s needs.
PPT Recommendations for Improving Port Authority’s Board Engagement Policies // Drafted June-September 2020
Promotion & Accessibility
Information about the upcoming meetings and the details for registration to speak should be shared monthly via the Port Authority social media outlets. This information should also be advertised on transit vehicles. This should include accessibility information and contact info for requesting accommodations.
There is currently no information on the online registration pages providing contact information or steps to request accommodations. A contact number, access provisions, and a space for attendees to specify other access needs.
Port Authority should have closed captioning on the video, and the ability to have ASL video interpretation and audio interpretation in other languages. This should be explicitly publicized on all media advertising Board meetings along with contact information to request additional accommodations.
Avenues other than Board meetings should be available for riders to contact the Board members.
Best Practice: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency that operates Muni has a phone number and mailing address listed on the website to contact the office of the Board of Directors. In addition, the public can contact the Board via an email address provided on the website regarding items expected to be on the Board’s agenda.
Scheduling & Attendance
At least one Board Meeting per quarter should be held after regular work hours to enable robust public participation.
There should only be one form for signing up to attend and to give testimony. It should be displayed prominently on the Port Authority’s homepage. Registrants should also receive a confirmation email so that they are certain that they have signed up correctly by the deadline.
Best Practice: Due to COVID, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is posting Webex link and call-in information on the website for virtual meetings along with the agenda for the Board Committee and Board meetings. Public comments can be made via telephone or email prior to meeting. The registration link for attending provides an option for either attending the meeting or providing a testimony.
The public should be able to register to attend and to speak through the Port Authority customer service line. The Port Authority customer service could simply fill out the online registration form on the behalf of the caller.
Best practice: Due to COVID, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is allowing the public to register via an online form and phone to provide pre-recorded comments. Once registered MTA provides details about how and when to record the comments. Thirty minutes of comments are played at the beginning of meetings. All comments are delivered to the MTA Board.
Public Comment & Participation
Shorten and/or eliminate the pre-registration requirement for public comment. Currently, the only way for the public to speak their comment to the board is to register to speak via a unique link on the Port Authority’s website 5-business days in advance of the Board Meeting, and then attend that meeting the 4th Friday of the month at 9:30am to await the public comment period at the end of the meeting. This is a very high burden for public agencies both locally and nationally and must be changed to allow greater public participation.
Best Practice: Pittsburgh City Council allows citizens 3-minutes of public comment if they register ahead of the meeting, or 1-minutes of comment to anyone in attendance as time allows.
Best Practice: Public can make comments at the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) Board meetings by signing up prior to the start of the meeting as long as the items are on that day’s agenda for final action. Written comments not related to specific agenda items can be placed in a general comments tray available in the Boardroom.
People should be able to submit written testimony and video in advance of the meeting, which will be read to the Board and recorded in the notes.
Best practice: Due to COVID, Sound Transit is asking public comments to be sent via email. Comments received up to one hour before the meeting will be provided to Board members electronically during the meeting. Comments received after that deadline will be provided to Board members after the meeting.
Best Practice: The SEPTA board has coordinated with the Philly Transit Riders Union to allow the Union to submit video testimony prior to the meeting that is then played for the board and recorded in the meeting notes. (Click to 28:10 of this Periscope video to see how this worked at their Operations Budget Hearings earlier this year)
Public comment should be allowed at the beginning of Board Meetings & Board Committee meetings to allow for consideration of the issues being put before the Board.
Best Practice: RTA Board of Trustee Meetings have public comments on agenda items prior to various committees providing their reports. At present, public comments happen through phone-in with no need for prior registration.
Stakeholders should also be able to provide comments and ask clarifying questions at the Board Meetings and Board Committee Meetings.
Best Practice: RTA Board of Trustees meetings allow the public to ask questions or make comments on non-agenda items at the end of the meeting. At present, comments happen through phone-in with no need for prior registration.
If there is a petition with a significant number of signatures, the Port Authority Board should hold a public hearing specifically about the petition.
Rules and tips for giving public comments should be posted on the same page that you register, including information about the amount of permitted testimony time for individuals versus organizations. The Port Authority’s current Board Presentation Policy needs to be updated, as it includes dead links, and old, inaccurate information.
Best practice: Sound Transit has Rules and Tips for public comments on the same page where information on public comments during Board meetings is provided.
The Port Authority should remove the restriction that their current Board Presentation Policy places on the number of members from an organization who are allowed to address the board during a single meeting. A citizen may be a member of an organization, but they may not be speaking on the organization’s behalf.
The Board should keep track of its progress towards addressing rider questions, comments, and concerns. This information should be publicly available and regularly reviewed by the Board.
Board seats should be filled by people who are regular riders of the Port Authority system, some Board members should be entirely transit reliant.
Best Practice: NJ Transit in 2018 updated its bylaws to expand the number of Board members from 8 to 13 to allow for a public member who must be an NJ Transit train, bus or light rail rider and four public members with transportation policy experience.
Best Practice: New York State Senate passed legislation requiring transit authorities to seat at least two members who are entirely transit relient. The Assembly is considering similar legislation.
Best Practice: The Metropolitan Council (which oversees Metro Transit in Minneapolis-St.Paul) has a Transportation Accessibility Advisory Committee. At least half of the committee members must be certified as being eligible for ADA paratransit and be active users of public transportation in the metro area.
There should be a number of rider-elected seats on the Board to ensure that rider interests and perspectives are included in decision-making at our public transit agency.
Best Practices: Just like on the Boards of Credit Unions, Co-Ops, and other private companies who have their Boards elected by its stakeholders, Port Authority must allow its “customers” a say in its leadership.
There should be an annual published audit of transit usage by each Port Authority Board member, using the data from their CONNECT cards.
Best practice: Board members of the MTA in New York City receive free transit cards and their usage is published every year.
The Port Authority Board should work with TransitCenter to hold regular training and workshops for its members.
Resource: “TransitCenter is working to make transit agencies more accountable, attuned to best practices, and responsive to rider needs.”
COVID-19 has shown that there has never been a greater need to listen authentically to the people who are riding transit. They are experts on the system and together we can build a system that works for all.
Stand with transit workers this Wednesday and assert their right to say that Black Lives Matter.
On July 22nd Port Authority amended its dress code and began punishing local transit workers for wearing buttons and masks that read, “Black Lives Matter”. At least two workers have been sent home and disciplined for wearing “Black Lives Matter” messages. The workers organized with their union and were able to overturn the disciplinary action. However, Port Authority continues to insist that “Black Lives Matter” has no place in the transit agency.
If you stand with transit workers and their right to stand up for Black Lives, join them at their protest: 4pm this Wednesday (9/2) at 345 Sixth Ave.
Flyer for Wednesday’s protest created by local transit works
“Black Lives Matter is not a social or a political protest. It’s a movement. It’s how I live my life every day as a Black man in America.” – Sascha Craig, Port Authority Worker, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85.
Support for public transit, and support for public transit workers, is critical in the Movement for Black lives. It has long been recognized that the public transit industry has played a vital role in elevating Black Americans to the middle class, particularly Black Women. And public transit systems are essential tools to economic justice for Black riders too.
Port Authority released this statement in response to the workers who organized this protest, saying “Port Authority unequivocally believes that Black lives matter.” But riders and workers who are fighting for transit as a human right need more than words and niceties. To draw on a blog that we released in June, our struggle for transit justice and “Black Lives Matter” must mean we:
Fight for a low-income fare program at a time when riders are disproportionately Black and Brown and low-income. These communities are also more harmed by the economic fallout of this health crisis, and more likely to be taking transit to work to get to work and to access essential services.
Use equity metrics and analyze ridership data during COVID-19 to redistribute transit service, to prevent overcrowding or rider pass-ups on lines. Bus overcrowding is a public health hazard for riders and transit workers during a global pandemic.
Ensure that transit workers receive PPE and hazard pay, as they are disproportionately getting infected and dying from COVID-19. Transit jobs are also disproportionately held by Black workers and particularly Black women.
Ensure that we have dedicated and sustainable funding for transit at a time when cities and states are pushing a narrative of austerity; funding robust public transit is one of the most effective pathways for cities to achieve racial equity. In Pennsylvania, state police have been siphoning more than $850 million dollars a year of dedicated transportation funding from the Motor License Fund. Defund the police and ensure public investments go towards uplifting our most marginalized residents.
Weigh into #cancelrent and #cancelmortgages, and pass policies that effectively tie affordable housing and transit land use. The forthcoming wave of evictions triggered by COVID-19 will lead to a transit/mobility crisis, particularly for Black and Brown communities, and will accelerate the harm we’ve seen from displacement and gentrification.
Decriminalize transit. For black and brown community members, policing is a threat. In this time, Black transit riders have found themselves subject to police violence for both wearing a mask or not wearing a mask.
Ensure that riders’ voices- particularly Black riders’ voices- and data around equity are governing decision-making around public resources.
Tell Port Authority that Black Lives Matter. September 2nd, 4 pm Port Authority Offices at 345 Sixth Ave. Solidarity with transit workers and riders. See you in the streets.
With fare hikes, layoffs and shutdowns on the horizon, transit riders & workers came together to push Senator Casey to champion $32B for transit’s COVID recovery.
On Tuesday, July 28th, more than 300 transit riders and transit workers from across Pennsylvania participated in a virtual Transit Crisis Talk with PA Senator Bob Casey, calling on him to be a champion for $32 Billion in COVID emergency transit funding. The hour-long forum featured questions posed by representatives of the Transport Workers Union Local 234, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Transit Forward Philadelphia, One Pennsylvania, and 5th Square. The live video is posted and has received over 1,500 views.
During this pandemic, PA transit agencies are seeing millions of dollars of operating revenue loss a day, but still must provide reliable and safe service to ensure that essential workers can keep our cities running.
Yasha Zarrinkelk from Transit Forward Philadelphia asks Senator Casey what he’ll do to ensure that $32B is passed for public transit.
Yasha Zarrinkelk, organizer for Transit Forward Philly said, “Fare hikes, layoffs, and shutdowns are on the horizon if Congress does not pass the 32 billion dollars necessary for public transit. Pennsylvania itself is facing a 1.4 billion dollar shortfall,” and asked what Senator Casey will do to ensure that the full amount of needed funding gets passed in the next Senate COVID recovery act.
Transit riders Bill McDowell and Lish Danielle (One Pennsylvania) raised the importance of fully-funded, reliable and affordable transit as a disability justice and racial justice issue.
Lish Danielle, Member of One Pennsylvania, says public transit funding is a racial justice issue, asks Sen. Casey what he will to do ensure transit money isn’t spent on policing.
Bill McDowell, speaking as a member of Pittsburghers for Public Transit and the Committee for Accessible Transit said, “The HEROES Act that was passed in the House did not allocate funding directly to the Port Authority. Instead, it dedicated funding to larger transit agencies and left all mid-sized, life-line, and rural transit agencies and paratransit services to compete with each other for a small portion of funding that could never meet their needs. When you leave these agencies stranded, you leave Allegheny County stranded. You leave me stranded.” Mr. McDowell called on Senator Casey to ensure a fair allocation of COVID relief funds to all PA transit agencies and paratransit services.
Transit leaders from the Transport Workers Union Local 234 and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 also spoke about the need for federal guidance on PPE and transit safety, as well as federally-funded hazard pay for essential workers. More than 200 transit workers have died from COVID-19, with tens of thousands more workers infected.
Willie Brown, International Rep. & President of TWU Local 234 representing SEPTA workers asks about PPE for frontline workers.
This Transit Crisis Talk is followed up by a call to action for contacting federal legislators around the COVID transit relief. It has also come on the heels of an open letter to PA Senators Casey and Toomey, signed by 64 community organizations, advocacy groups and unions across the state of Pennsylvania, and calling on these elected officials to champion a $32 Billion dollar COVID relief package for transit with the Senate version of the HEROES Act.
The US House of Representatives passed a significant increase in COVID-19 relief funding for transit systems. But the Senate has yet to act. We need our Senators to be a transit champion and pass full funding for transit to keep riders — and the economy — moving.
Public transit revenue has cratered during the COVID-19 crisis.
Transit agencies are bleeding millions of dollars weekly.
Unless Congress delivers, this shortfall will mean fare hikes, service cuts, and shutdowns.
Congress needs to invest the $32 billion to address the projected shortfall.
Public transit is the engine that drives the US economy. Without a fully operational transit system that people can rely on to get to work, school, dining, shopping, and health care, there is no economic recovery.
To beat COVID-19 and provide the confidence people need to return to public transit and reopen the economy, Congress must invest in transit health and safety protocols and full-service levels.
Use the form below to send your letter to PA Senators Bob Casey & Pat Toomey.
On Tuesday, July 21st, 62 community organizations, advocacy groups and unions across the state of Pennsylvania sent an open letter to PA Senators Casey and Toomey calling on them to champion a $32 Billion dollar COVID relief package for transit with the HEROES Act.
Public transit in Pennsylvania is on the edge of disaster. Transit revenue has cratered during the COVID-19 crisis and PA transit agencies are bleeding millions of dollars weekly. Congress needs to invest the $32 billion to address the projected shortfall nationwide, or SEPTA, the Port Authority of Allegheny County, and dozens of agencies across the state will see fare hikes, service cuts, and shutdowns. PA needs safe, effective transit so that essential workers can continue to provide services to their communities through their jobs in healthcare and grocery stores, and to ensure that our cities have a pathway forward to economic recovery.
The HEROES Act must include a fair funding formula, so that transit agencies across the Commonwealth will each receive a sufficient allocation of the emergency relief to meet their needs, with no communities left behind. This federal legislation should also provide the resources to ensure transit and other essential workers are given hazard pay to recognize and compensate them for the risk that they assume everyday, along with PPE and federal transit safety guidelines for riders and workers.
Hundreds of PA riders and transit workers will follow up on this letter by participating in a virtual Transit Crisis Talk with Senator Bob Casey on Tuesday, July 28th at 5 pm, and share their stories of why Senator Casey needs to be a #TransitChampion and ensure that transit moves us past COVID-19.
As labor, environmental, business and community advocates, we applaud the decisive action that you took in March to support the federal CARES Act at the outset of the pandemic. The CARES Act emergency federal transit funding was a critical initial investment to help offset the steep revenue decline experienced by our transit agencies. However, $32 billion dollars in COVID-relief funding for transit is still needed in order to address this crisis. We urge you to take immediate action and provide robust transit funding support in the upcoming HEROES Act legislation. We need to have safe and effective public transit to move us through the pandemic and beyond, especially here in Pennsylvania.
Our transit systems keep our cities alive: essential workers depend on transit to get to work and many are reliant on transit to access essential needs like food and healthcare. Transit is an important economic driver — transit agencies are among the largest employers in PA cities — and these services are vital to stemming congestion and pollution. Transit is also crucial to uplifting historically underserved Black and Brown communities.
There is no economic or public health recovery for our communities without a fully operational transit system. That is why it is so alarming to realize that Pennsylvania’s transit agencies alone are facing a $1.36 billion dollar funding shortfall through fiscal year 2021.
Pennsylvania’s transit systems will run out of funding by September 2020.
Nationwide, transit systems need a total of $32 billion dollars in emergency operating support, without which we will inevitably see service reductions, fare increases and transit system shutdowns. The consequences of these impacts will hurt essential workers and our Black and Brown communities the most. We also need the HEROES Act to include a fair funding formula to ensure that transit systems each get a dedicated allocation according to their needs.
Pennsylvania cannot reopen without full transit service. People can’t go to work if they can’t get to work; 36% of all transit commuters are essential workers who rely on public transit to get to their jobs. Even with the current reduction in ridership, we need to ensure that the system is safe for both essential personnel and transit workers, and that it provides reliable and effective service to move riders to jobs, healthcare, food and other critical needs. Transit workers and many regular riders have been hardest hit by both the economic and health consequences of COVID-19, with one quarter of essential workers in Pennsylvania making less than $30,000 annually. It’s our moral obligation to ensure that Pennsylvania runs enough transit service so that essential personnel and transit workers have sufficient space to ride safely.
We need to make sure that Pennsylvania’s paratransit service and rural transit agencies are fully supported throughout this crisis and will remain viable into the future. These transit providers take riders without other options to jobs and health care. This is vital lifeline service, not an afterthought. Federal aid must prioritize those facing the most precarious situations regardless of where they live in the Commonwealth.
Federal funding for transit is an investment in good jobs and is a major driver of economic activity for Pennsylvania. PA’s transit agencies are among the largest employers in their cities, and these jobs are at risk. Transit workers continue to provide critical services at great risk to themselves. Over 300 transit workers in Philadelphia tested positive for COVID-19.9 The HEROES Act needs to provide hazard pay to recognize and compensate this essential work. Moreover, capital projects for transit create manufacturing and construction jobs across the country. One study found that over 30,000 manufacturing and 30,000 construction jobs will be lost without additional funding due to the cancellation of capital projects.
Federal funding for transit will help stem congestion and pollution. If Congress doesn’t act now to keep transit running safely at full service levels, we will see massive increases in traffic congestion, pollution, motor vehicle crashes, along with decreases in productivity, sustainability, and efficiency. PA’s transportation emissions alone account for nearly 1% of the U.S.’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation accounts for 29% of emissions in the U.S., and 83% from cars and trucks. To prevent the worst impacts of climate change to our economy, health and environment, we must reduce transportation emissions impacts. We cannot afford to reverse the progress we’ve made by worsening greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.
Investing in public transit is a concrete way to uplift the public health and economic well-being of Black and Brown communities. We know that emissions from transportation disproportionately affect lower-income people of color, and poor air quality is linked to more severe COVID health outcomes. Over the past several decades, the federal government has consistently neglected mass transit, instead prioritizing investment in roads and highways that disproportionately serve whiter suburban communities. This is part of a pattern of the federal government disinvesting in Black and Brown communities, and the Trump administration has made the problem worse by gutting Obama era investments in mass transit.
Black workers are disproportionately represented among essential workers and Black and Latinx workers are less likely to be able to work at home than their white counterparts. Even pre-COVID, Black and Latinx Americans were more than twice as likely as whites to rely on public transportation to get to work. Under the pandemic, Black and Latinx people are even more likely than white people to be riding public transit every day to get to jobs as essential workers.
As we respond both to the crisis of the pandemic and reckon with our nation’s lack of investment into Black and Brown communities, we call on you, our state Senate delegation, to help lead the effort in advancing solutions that we know work. It is just as important that we see sufficient funding to address the scale of the need.
We look forward to working with you as you shape relief legislation.
Sincerely,
ATU Local 85, Pittsburgh PA
ATU Local 164, Wilkes-Barre PA
ATU Local 168, Scranton PA
ATU Local 568, Erie, PA
ATU Local 801, Altoona PA
ATU Local 956, Allentown PA
ATU Local 1241, Johnstown PA
ATU Local 1279, Ebensburg PA
ATU Local 1345, Reading PA
ATU Local 1436, Harrisburg PA
ATU Local 1496, Williamsport PA
ATU Local 1595, Plum Borough PA
ATU Local 1738, New Castle PA
ATU Local 1743, Pittsburgh, PA
Transport Workers Union (TWU)
5th Square
350 Philadelphia
Allegheny County Transit Council (ACTC)
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) Pittsburgh Chapter
Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia
Bike Pittsburgh
Bloomfield Development Corporation
Casa San Jose
Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly (CARIE)
CKG Architects
Clean Air Council
Connect the Dots
Consumer Health Coalition
Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers
East Passyunk Crossing Civic Association (EPX)
Economy League of Greater Philadelphia
evolve environment::architecture
Green for All Dream Corps
Green Party of Allegheny County
Izaak Walton League of America, Allegheny County
Just Harvest
Nationalities Service Center
Neighborhood Bike Works
Olivia Bennett, Allegheny County Councilmember District 13
One Pennsylvania
PACDC
PennEnvironment
PennPIRG
Philadelphia Climate Works
Philly DSA
Philly Transit Riders Union
Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG)
Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers
Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance
Pittsburgh Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)
Pittsburghers for Public Transit believes in transparency, accountability, public participation, democracy, collaboration, and shared leadership.
And we want to practice what we preach.
So each year our organization runs an open nomination and election process for our general membership to choose 5 people to serve on our Coordinating Committee (aka our Board of Directors). The Coordinating Committee is an 11-member body that helps to guide PPT’s campaign strategy, committee work, and fundraising efforts. Two of those seats are reserved for members of Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 85 (the union that represents all of the Port Authority’s bus operators and mechanics) because PPT believes fundamentally that riders and operators are the ones that are best qualified to improve the system. Each elected member serves for a 2-year term.
For those that are doing the math, the final unelected seat is filled by the Executive Director of The Thomas Merton Center or their appointee because they act as PPT’s fiduciary.
And for those reading closely, you may be asking; how did 6 people win if there were only 5 seats up for election in 2020? Well, that is thanks to a tie for the 5th place seat. The sitting Coordinating Committee (minus those up for re-election) voted to settle the tie by expanding the committee by one-seat in the immediate-term. They will be taking up a discussion on long-term structural changes, possibly adding more seats, at the first meeting of the new CC on July 25th.
Pittsburghers for Public Transit is very excited to announce the winners of 2019’s Coordinating Committee election!
Congratulations to the next slate of Coordinating Committee members who will serve until Summer 2022 (and possibly longer if they run for reelection!)
Christina Acuna Castillo
Christina Acuna Castillo
Christina Acuna Castillo is a Peruvian cultural worker, artist, and organizer based in Pittsburgh. They have served as a translator to recently resettled Spanish-speaking refugees and has taught Latinx youth through Casa San Jose about ways to support, protect, and preserve cultural memories and practices. They now work multiple jobs. They work with the Emergency Response Team at Casa San Jose, providing resources and support for families dealing with ICE, and have spent many years with CSJ organizing with the undocumented community, both young folks and older. Christina is also the Digital Organizer and Artist for Pittsburgh United, working with all three campaign tables around housing justice, worker justice, and water justice. For over two years, they have also worked with the Pittsburgh Foundation as an advisor on their Social Justice Fund and as a grant reviewer for the Rapid Response Fund that is being coordinated by the Pittsburgh Foundation and New Voices Pittsburgh
Christina creates artwork that is used in protests, vigils, marches, and other community gatherings. They believe that visual arts is an essential organizing and accessibility tool because it helps people imagine what change looks and feels like. And that’s what they have tried to bring to PPT, and that is what they would like to continue to provide to PPT – the visionary and organizing skills and possibly anything in between that is needed.
Bonnie Fan
Bonnie Fan
Bonnie worked in transit for four years before coming to Pittsburgh, seeing laid bare the lack of regard for operators, the policing of riders, and power grabbing mindset of management that prevented any kind of internal change possible. While joining Otolunji Oboi Reed’s Equiticity campaign prior, they found a stronger force in mobility justice worked centered in Black and Brown communities.
Seeing the work made possible with PPT’s grassroots mobilization has changed the way Bonnie orients her work. In seeing the narrative arcs of other cities play out, especially for post industrial cities, they are deeply concerned by the secret privilege of private developers, universities and tech companies when it comes to how the public domain should be made and who it should be made for. In this landscape, also complicated by political and financial relationships, PPT has been one of the few where grassroots voice has been able to fight and win for riders and workers without compromise.
Much of the other work they are involved in is against predictive policing and #NoTechForICE – all of which falls in the realm of tools and decisions made in favor of existing oppressive power dynamics.
Verna Johnson
Verna Johnson
I am fighting to get free transportation that is based on people’s incomes for Port Authority. Everyone deserves to be treated equally relative to their income. I have been involved with PPT since 2015. First I was part of the neighborhood leadership team fighting for weekend service in Garfield in 2015, and we won! Since then, I have testified with PPT at Port Authority meetings around the importance of maintaining service on the 61 and 71 lines with the BRT plan. I also spoke at a PPT rally to prevent transit policing on the T and a rally before we presented 2,500 “Make Our Fares Fair” petition signatures to the Port Authority Board. I was also one of the sketch note artists for the Fair Fares graphic novel planning meeting.
I do this work because our neighborhoods deserve better routes and better run times, and Port Authority should hear from residents about what they need. People that work for Port Authority are front-line workers, and more should be done to keep them safe.
Fawn Walker-Montgomery
Fawn Walker-Montgomery
Fawn Walker-Montgomery is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Take Action Mon Valley (TAMV). She is a former candidate for Mayor in McKeesport and a past candidate for State Representative in the 35th District. Fawn was the first black person & woman to run for a State seat in the Mon Valley. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Johnson C. Smith University (HBCU) and a Master’s of Science in Criminal Justice Administration Point Park University.
Fawn is also a past second-term Councilwoman in McKeesport. She has 18 years of experience in the human services field.
Debra Green, re-elected to a 2nd term
Debra Green
Debra Green has been a member of the PPT Coordinating Committee since 2018, but has been a leader in advocating for improved transit service even prior to her work with PPT. In 2008, Ms. Debra led a petition drive with her co-workers at the Rivers Casino for improved transit service at the casino, and based on that success, she campaigned for service improvements to the Hilltop Parkview Apartments in Duquesne. She was successful in mobilizing hundreds of residents to sign petitions and call Port Authority to request the transit service, and both efforts won life-changing improvements for bus riders.
Ms. Debra became involved with PPT in the effort to prevent devastating cuts to the 61 bus lines in the Mon Valley in Port Authority’s Bus Rapid Transit proposal, and helped design and launch the Riders’ Vision for Public Transit. She was a Beyond the East Busway organizing fellow, helping to get fellow Duquesne residents to take the survey to expand rapid transit into the Mon Valley, and she helped lead the successful organizing effort for weekend service in McKees Rocks. She has testified countless times at the Port Authority board meetings, and has been active with Just Harvest and Put People First in connecting food justice, the fight for universal healthcare and transit justice, and has traveled to Harrisburg to lobby for all of these needs. She was profiled in the Huffington Post for her transit advocacy efforts with PPT.
Alison Keating, re-elected to a 2nd term
Alison Keating
My relevant experience that I apply to PPT comes from reading decades of news articles about development, housing, transit, and, more recently, the history of Allegheny County politics. I like that we don’t play favorites when it comes to politicians or political fights, we’re only concerned about what’s best for riders and drivers, and finding compromises that lead to better service and better understanding.
Going forward, I’m interested in zoning and think we could do interesting work there because it’s part of the system keeps us from having more equitable and diverse development, especially when it comes to whether transit is even considered. You can build all the affordable housing you want, but if it’s 2 hours away from everything (education, entertainment, jobs, health care, family & friends), you’re asking people to spend greater amounts of their time uncompensated, unfree, or to go without having their needs met, and that’s a little-recognized public health crisis for a growing number of people.
In the last week, PPT has partnered with Green For All to take our call for an emergency low-income fare program to the national stage. Now more than ever, public transit must be treated as an essential life-sustaining service – like housing, food, and utilities. Just like other emergency programs have been created to assist us with those essentials, Port Authority needs to implement a low-income fares program to help riders get where they need to go.
It is a matter of economic justice. It is a matter of public health.
PPT organizer Josh Malloy advocates for a low-income fare program on a national Green for All Transit Equity Townhall.
He was joined with some big names from Baltimore, and the Bay area. Josh called for a low-income fare program and defunding the police to let black and brown communities invest that money in transit that best serves them. Watch the town hall to hear from Josh and these other important transit equity advocates.
PPT Member Deanna Turner interviewed & makes the call for a low-income fare program
Deanna lives in Hazelwood, is a mom, and has had to take the bus to work in Oakland through this whole pandemic. In her interview, Deanna explains that $97/month for transit is forcing her to make decisions about whether she spends money on other essential needs like utilities and food.
She calls for an emergency low-income fare program to help front-line essential workers survive this economic crisis. Listen to her interview below
Separately, Teaira spoke at the PA Poor People’s Campaign Jubilee last month to elevate the demand for an Emergency low-income fare
Call Port Authority and join Josh, Deanna, and PPT in the call for an emergency low-income fare now!
412-442-2000
Script: Hello, My name is ________. I am calling to request that Port Authority fo Allegheny County implement a low-income fare program, which would allow low-income riders to show their EBT benefits card in place of fare payment. Fares place undue burdens on low-income essential workers and transit reliant communities. Can a representative from Port Authority please call me back to share when you will be implementing this program or taking steps to address my concern?
