Pittsburgh media was eager to cover the release of PPT’s new Beyond the East Busway participatory transit planning tool. Within hours, 5 local outlets had covered the release and dozens of people had completed the tool. We’re encouraged to have this coverage. This grassroots participation is what we need to drive transit expansion in our region.
PPT is encouraging all people who live and take transit through the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs to complete the tool and share it with their neighbors. Follow this link to take action: BIT.LY/EASTBUSWAY
Check out the coverage below. Thanks to all the reporters who are helping get the word out:
On Wednesday, June 25th, Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) launched a grassroots planning tool for transit riders and residents to envision better public transit for the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs. This innovative transit mapping tool, entitled Beyond the East Busway, emerges from the belief that those most impacted by planning decisions are best-suited to design solutions for their communities. In tandem with this participatory planning tool, PPT is launching its first Community Organizing Fellowship, with a paid cohort of 8 resident leaders from the Eastern Suburbs and Mon Valley who will facilitate campaign outreach.
Image of 1st “Beyond the East Busway” Community Organizing Cohort. Bottom left to right: Joel Malloy, Annie Regan, Debra Green. Middle left to right: Silas Switzer, Mercedes Williams, Matthew Holiday III, Precious Chambers, Mary Carey. Top center: Joshua Malloy
Beyond the East Busway is a first-of-its-kind tool designed by CivicMapper, and will be accessible at eastbusway.pittsburghforpublictransit.org through September 2019. Residents and transit riders in those communities will plan where rapid bus corridors beyond the East Busway should be aligned, and identify important places underserved by transit in their regions. PPT will use the outcomes of this work to advocate for the funding, design, and implementation of these transit improvements through the Southwest PA Commission and the Port Authority. Both of these agencies have named the extension of the East Busway to Monroeville and McKeesport as transportation priorities in recent reports (SmartMoves For a Changing Region, long-range plan by Southwestern Pa Commission: Final Report of the Southwestern PA Partnership for Mobility, co-chaired by Port Authority CEO Katharine Kelleman)
The Beyond the East Busway Organizing Fellows will help facilitate hundreds of residents to use this tool, and to educate residents on why these rapid transit corridors could be transformative for residents and businesses. Those interested in participating in the second cohort can submit their applications by July 19th (information and application here).
PPT encourages all residents and transit users in the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs to take the Beyond the East Busway tool, and identify their public transit priorities: eastbusway.pittsburghforpublictransit.org
In 2018 PPT launched the Riders’ Vision for Public Transit in partnership with Mon Valley Initiative and Just Harvest. The ‘Riders’ Vision’ was created by dozens of transit riders and operators from across Allegheny County, to identify key opportunities for growing ridership and equity within our public transit system. One key plank called for the extension the East Busway to Monroeville and McKeesport. The East Busway is the most efficient way to travel within Port Authority’s transit system, but the benefits of its fast, frequent and reliable transit service don’t extend to these outlying communities. With some relatively inexpensive on- street improvements, residents and workers in the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs could get fast and reliable access into the transit network.
Beyond the East Busway is funded in large part by the Heinz Endowments.
Got a mailing list? Or an organization? Help us help you and spread the word about the new Organizing Fellowship!
As they say – help us help you! PPT’s Fellowship is a great opportunity for your own organization. Send your constituents through PPT’s Fellowship and equip them with skills to push your own issues forward. They’ll get paid too! We all benefit from having better organizers in our networks. Our work is interconnected!
PPT’s Organizing Fellowship will be training two groups of 8 organizers. These organizers will lead the campaign to build fast, frequent transit corridors through the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs. The Fellowship will include a series of training on the foundations of community organizing skills and tactics. Through the training, organizers will learn to map their communities and identify pressure points and opportunities. The fellowship will equip organizers with skills to move their communities! Read more about it here.
Check out the Promotion Kit that we put together for the Fellowship. It includes some sample text and images. Feel free to copy/paste into your twitter, facebook, blogs, and newsletters.
Big thanks for promoting this to your networks! This is an exciting opportunity to build skills for progressive causes. Reach out if there are any questions: info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org
Board Members John Tague and Jessica Walls-Lavelle join for a ride on the 1 Freeport with bus riders, an operator, and PPT Staff
PPT has been inviting members of the Port Authority Board of Directors to ride the bus with the drivers and riders who interact with the system day in and day out. These riders and operators are the unsung experts of our transit system, and they need to be brought to the table if we’re going to build an equitable system for all.
PPT is thrilled to have had three Board Members accept these invitations to join on the rides: John Tague Jr, Rep. Austin Davis, and Jessica Walls-Lavelle.
A little background on the Board Members who came along
PPT is encouraged by the Board Members who joined the ride-alongs. This shows a real willingness on the part of these leaders to understand how riders experience the system and work to improve it. Rep. Davis and Ms. Walls-Lavelle are new to their positions, and PPT is confident that with this approach, they will do good things for Port Authority.
John Tague Jr is a long-time disability rights advocate. He is a regular rider of PAAC transit as well as ACCESS. He chairs the Board Committee on Stakeholder Engagement. Throughout his tenure on the Board, John has made a concerted effort to connect with riders and bring their input to the table. Check this Post Gazette article published after his appointment in 2012 for more on his background and advocacy for disability rights.
Rep. Austin Davis is a new to the Board, appointed in March 2019 by Rep Frank Dermody. Rep. Davis is a sophomore Representative of the Monongahela Valley, a region where transit’s usage is high and its value is essential. He has been vocal about the vital role that transit plays in his constituents’ lives and has advocated for an extension of the East Busway into the Mon Valley.
Jessica Walls-Lavelle is also a new to the Board, appointed in April 2019 by Governor Wolf. Ms. Walls-Lavelle works as the Director of Wolf’s Southwest PA Office. Before that, she worked with SEIU for eight years. PPT believes that her long history with Labor and her desire to be a conduit for equity will make her a positive addition to the Board.
Check our Port Authority’s website to see more about the other 8 Board Members who have not joined a bus ride along yet.
Board Member Representative Austin Davis joins a ride on the 1 Freeport with this constituent, Debra Green, a bus operator, and PPT Director, Laura Wiens
The route selected and the issues raised
This first round of ride-alongs was held on the 1 Freeport, a route that runs from Downtown Pittsburgh all the way out to New Kensington and Tarentum.
This is an important route that riders and drivers wanted to use to highlight some big issues:
The lack of CONNECTCard machines forces riders to pay in cash, which ends up costing these riders more. This is the #7 highest cash usage route, where nearly 1 out of every 5 riders pays in cash. A single ride costs $2.50 with a CONNECTCard fare, but $2.75 with cash. Card users get transfers for $1. Cash users have to pay another full $2.75. That means a cash rider who needs to get to their job and back, and who has to transfer once, pays nearly 60% more a month than someone with a CONNECTCard- just because there aren’t enough CONNECTCard machines spread throughout the county.
Pushing riders to pay with cash slows down service and makes it impossible for drivers to keep on schedule. Additionally, tensions that can arise between riders and drivers over fare payment create dangerous situations for all. The answer is not to remove the ability to pay cash or to charge cash users more, it’s to make fare payment easier with more options. PPT is grateful that PAAC is introducing a Mobile Fare Payment app in early 2020.👍
Improved policies must tie transit and affordable housing. Many families in this corridor have transportation costs that exceed their costs of housing, as the #1 household cost burden. And residents of communities like Natrona and Natrona Heights with dense affordable housing have sparse or nonexistent access to transit.
The lack of safe, connected sidewalk infrastructure creates dangerous situations for riders who need to walk to and from routes and wait for buses. It also makes for dangerous conditions for drivers and passengers as the stop to pick up and drop off riders. Port Authority, PennDOT and boroughs/municipalities need to collaborate and build sidewalks and crosswalks to get safely and easily to bus stops from key destinations, and our bus stops need lighting, benches, and shelter from the elements.
More service needs to be added to these communities! The conversation has been started about how a coalition of organizations and riders can fight for dedicated, sustainable transit funding to get more frequent and round-the-clock service, and routes in Allegheny Valley’s transit deserts.
Next Steps + Take Action
The Port Authority’s Board of Directors make critical decisions that affect transit riders and workers every day: they approve changes to fare policy, service expansion, investments in new technology, union contracts…the list goes on. They are the ones that are best positioned to advocate for riders and shape a transit system that works for all, but they need to experience the system from a grassroots perspective to truly understand it.
PPT sends a huge thanks to Board Members Jessica Walls-Lavelle, Representative Austin Davis, and John Tague for coming on these ride-alongs. PPT looks forward to scheduling more rides with the other Board Members and working towards a more equitable transit system.
Raise the concerns that you want to see brought up with Board Members on these ride-alongs. Leave your questions/concerns/ideas in the comments of this Facebook video:
HEY PITTSBURGH! You're an expert in public transit, and you know how to make it better. Share your comments, questions and ideas about Port Authority and we'll bring them with us when we ride the bus 1 on 1 with Port Authority Board Members.Bus running late?Any input on fares?Got a favorite bus driver?Leave your questions and comments, and we'll bring them to the Port Authority Board.If you ride public transit, then your vision needs to be voiced!(and huge thx to Dean Bog for putting the beautiful video together!)
For three years, City leaders have made the decision to subsidize the development of Autonomous Vehicle Technology – through the use of our roadways as a test track, through the blushing pride with which our city advertises itself as a tech hub without any regulatory framework, through the $23 million new road to accommodate an AV shuttle, and through all the city staff time that went into PGH’s Smart Cities application.
However, in all that time, there has not been a single public forum for residents to examine the effect of Driverless Vehicles and decide whether this technology is worth investing taxpayer resources in expanding.
Not surprisingly, a recent $410,000 Knight Foundation grant offered to the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to facilitate the deployment of Autonomous Vehicles in Pittsburgh has City Council, residents, and organizations voicing concerns.
When City Council was first asked to approve the Knight Foundation’s grant at the May 15th Standing Committee Meeting they decided to delay the vote. Council heard the concerns raised about the lack of community involvement and transparency about what the money would be used for. Council directed DOMI to work with PPT and the community to address concerns and improve the proposal (see our blog on this meeting for more background).
However, despite our discussions with DOMI’s Director, the proposal did not change when it was brought up again for a vote at May 29th’s meeting (see a copy of the agenda here).
In response, more than a dozen people and representatives from organizations such as the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, Sierra Club, BikePGH, Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, Pittsburgh United, Just Harvest and Access Mob Pittsburgh came out to speak in support of a public process around Autonomous Vehicles that is transparent, inclusive, and allows residents to examine the full spectrum of impacts that driverless vehicle technology will have.
City Councilors heeded the points raised during public testimony and added their own questions about the lack of public inclusion throughout the three years that Autonomous Vehicles have been testing on public streets. Led by Councilmembers Theresa Kail-Smith, Corey O’Connor, Deborah Gross, and Darlene Harris, Council called for a Post-Agenda Hearing and a Public Hearing to gather input about the full spectrum of AV’s impact on communities, and account for all associated costs. Additionally, Council called for those who gave testimony to work together on a series of amendments to ensure a transparent process.
In the coming weeks, PPT will work collaboratively to build a process that allows residents to identify shared values about Autonomous Vehicles and decide whether this is ultimately a technology that should be deployed in our communities. We are enthusiastic that the Council recognized the significance of this opportunity and is taking measures to include the community’s voice in this important conversation about the future of mobility.
See PPT’s Press Release put out before the May 29th Standing Committee Meeting
Copies of Public Testimony
Laura Wiens, Director, Pittsburghers for Public Transit – .PDF
Join the core team of people who coordinate the direction of PPT
PPT’s Coordinating Committee is the equivalent of our board of directors. We are looking for people who understand the importance of our work and are looking to get more involved in directing the course of our campaigns, communications, and actions.
There are 10 seats on PPT’s Coordinating Committee. 2 seats must be filled by members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 85 – the union that represents all of the Port Authority’s bus operators and maintenance workers. The other 8 seats are filled by members who have had previous experience with PPT’s work, and are looking to bring their involvement to the next level.
For this current election, we are looking to fill 5 seats on the Coordinating Committee; 4 from our general membership, and 1 from ATU membership.
Quality candidates are active with PPT, or bring experience that the membership finds important for moving the organization forward.
Members are expected to attend quarterly Coordinating Committee meetings – on the second Saturday of January, April, July, and October – should also stay engaged with General Membership Meetings on the second Wednesday of each month.
Coordinating Committee members will need to maintain active lines of communication with PPT staff and other PPT members to advise and assist with the organization’s strategy, tactics, structure, and financial sustainability.
Terms are two years in length. Members shall not serve more than three consecutive full or partial terms, whether elected or appointed.
Nominations and Elections
People can nominate others in the community, or themselves. Nominations are open until July 8th.
Elections will be held at PPT’s July monthly meeting on July 10th. At the meeting, all nominated candidates will have space to share their vision for PPT and how their skills will help build the organization. All PPT Members in attendance will be eligible to vote. If PPT Members are not able to join the meeting, they can reach out to info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org to arrange for an absentee ballot.
Nominate PPT Coordinating Committee Members today:
PITTSBURGHERS FOR PUBLIC TRANSIT (PPT) is a grassroots organization of transit riders, transit workers, and residents, mobilizing for equitable, affordable, and sustainable public transit.
What we do
In 2018 PPT launched our Riders Vision for Public Transit. The ‘Riders Vision’ was created by dozens of transit riders and operators from across Allegheny County, to identify key opportunities for growing ridership and equity within our public transit system through fare policy changes, linking affordable housing and transit planning, funding free transit days through the Clean Air Fund, and extending the East Busway with on-street transit improvements to Monroeville and McKeesport.
What is the organizing fellowship?
This fellowship will focus on the Riders’ Vision plank to extend the East Busway to the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs with on-street transit improvements, entitled “A Roadmap for Economic Opportunity.” The East Busway is the most efficient way to travel within Port Authority’s transit system, but the benefits of its fast, frequent and reliable transit service don’t extend to these outlying communities. With some relatively inexpensive on- street improvements, residents and workers in the Mon Valley and Eastern Suburbs could get fast and reliable access into the transit network.
Most importantly, we believe that with the right tools, transit riders themselves could design a transit corridor that best serves their needs. To do that, PPT has created a rider-led planning tool that residents and transit riders can use to plan the transit corridors through the Mon Valley or Eastern Suburbs, and identify key community locations that are underserved by transit. The organizing fellows will be helping facilitate hundreds of residents from those communities to use this tool, and to understand why this transit corridor could be transformative for residents, workers, and businesses in the region.
Fellowship Timelines
First Cohort
June 14 // Deadline for 1st Cohort Applications June 22, 10am-1pm // 1st Cohort Training + Lunch June 23 – July 14 // 1st Cohort Outreach Week of July 14 // 1st Cohort debrief + celebration
Second Cohort
July 19 // 2nd Cohort Application Deadline July 27, 10am-1pm // 2nd Cohort Training + Lunch July 28 – August 18 // 2nd Cohort Outreach Week of August 18 // 2nd Cohort debrief + celebration
The organizing skills that the organizing fellows will learn
The fellows will learn how to collectively run a successful outreach campaign, and set and meet attainable goals around community engagement. They will learn how to map the Mon Valley or Eastern Suburb region, identify and follow up with contacts for outreach, and facilitate both one-on-one and group usage of the East Busway extension transit planning tool. They will be able to talk with confidence about the importance of transit for household economic opportunity and community development, the difference between rider-led and agency-led planning efforts, and what a “bus rapid transit” transit corridor could look like.
The time commitment
The total anticipated time commitment is ~20 hours over 3 weeks. The work hours will be flexible, and could happen during evenings or weekends. All of the scheduling will be done in collaboration with the fellows to accommodate other commitments or work schedules.
There will be 1 Beyond the East Busway Organizing Fellowship introductory meeting, 3 outreach opportunities, 1 PPT-led community meeting, and a concluding organizing fellowship meeting at the end of the month. There will additionally be weekly phone check-ins and logistics calls with the PPT community organizer.
The compensation
All fellows would receive an honorarium of $500 for the three-week program. PPT will additionally provide fellows with a monthly bus pass and reimbursement for Lyft/Uber to do outreach as-needed, or a $100 stipend for using their personal vehicle.
Requirements to apply
Applicants must already be active within the Mon Valley or Eastern Suburbs regions of Allegheny County, with some demonstrated leadership or volunteering efforts in the community.
Applicants should be regular transit riders, or should have been regular transit riders in the past, with some familiarity with the regional transit routes.
Applicants must commit to the three-week timeline and fulfill the outreach and meeting attendance detailed above.
PPT is strongly encouraging women, POC, LGBTQIA and other marginalized folks to apply for the fellowship. In addition, we welcome applicants who are working full-time hours or have other regular commitments. It’s not just enough for Community Organizations like ours to do outreach in these groups, we must also, when we can, pay for their labor, their stories and their experiences. PPT hopes that through this Fellowship folks in these marginalized groups can use skills gained through this work to continue organizing in their respective communities.
If you or your organization is able to help spread the word about this fellowship, we’d greatly appreciate it! Check out this Promo Kit for sample posts and images for your facebook, twitter, blog, and newsletter – there’s also a poster that you could print and share!
Reach out if there are any questions: info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org
You’re an expert in public transit, and you know how to make it better.
Share your comments, ideas & questions about Port Authority and we’ll bring them with us when we ride the bus 1 on 1 with Port Authority Board Members.
Bus running late? Any input on fares? Got a favorite bus driver?
Leave your questions in the comments below this facebook video and we’ll get you answers from members of the Port Authority Board. If you ride public transit, then you’re an expert and your vision needs to be voiced.
HEY PITTSBURGH! You're an expert in public transit, and you know how to make it better. Share your comments, questions and ideas about Port Authority and we'll bring them with us when we ride the bus 1 on 1 with Port Authority Board Members.Bus running late?Any input on fares?Got a favorite bus driver?Leave your questions and comments, and we'll bring them to the Port Authority Board.If you ride public transit, then your vision needs to be voiced!(and huge thx to Dean Bog for putting the beautiful video together!)
What’s the Port Authority Board and what do they do?
They’re a group of 11 political appointees who make final decisions on the annual Port Authority budget and approve all large spending projects PAAC undertakes. They also choose the CEO, and this is important because the CEO hires a management team whose job it is to figure out how to provide reliable service, gather necessary funding, and end up with a balanced budget each year.
If the management team can’t balance the budget, they usually reduce service before taking pay cuts or reducing their own staff, and this can lead to huge inconveniences for riders, but you can let the board know how these things affect you. Many of the existing board members don’t ride transit and need to know what riders experience on and off the bus.
This is the first time that Pittsburghers for Public Transit has ever reached out to invite board members to ride the bus with us. We’re doing it because they need to see the importance of the Riders Vision for Public Transit, and hear and what riders go through day to day – difficulty reaching CONNECTCard machines, paying for transfers, poor sidewalks, complicated connections, and more.
PPT believes that residents deserve a full, frank public conversation about all the possible effects of an Autonomous Vehicle future – the increase in car congestion, the job loss, the sprawl, the effect on our environment, the decrease in public transit service and ridership, the heightened displacement and gentrification, the Billions needed in public subsidy, etc.
According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, “The Knight Foundation said the grant is geared to finding what the community needs and how autonomous vehicle technology may help.”
But this is a huge problem.
If we begin a public “education” campaign about AV with a framework that only allows us to talk about helpful benefits, then we are starting from a biased position and we will have a biased conversation. The residents of Pittsburgh have spent three years as test subjects for AV technology that has proved to be dangerous and deadly. In those three years there has been ZERO public conversation about the effect of AV technology, or if we want it on our streets. It is wrong that the Knight Foundation only wants to discuss AV in rosy terms, with Tech Company talking points. We as residents need a space where we can talk about ALL the effects that automation will have, and whether this is indeed the future that we want to use our public dollars to build.
Fortunately, this week when City Council heard public testimony regarding the Knight Foundation grant from Four Mile Run resident, Ziggy Edwards, and Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s Director, Laura Wiens, Council voted to delay the start of the process. It is crucial that we structure a public discussion about Autonomous Vehicles from a framework that will allow full discussion about the effect that the technology will have on equity/mobility, jobs, traffic safety, environment, and privacy. The delayed vote allows us the opportunity to do just that.
You can make this a a reality by joining us at the next City Council Standing Committee Meeting and making your voice heard.
Pittsburgh City Council Standing Committee
Vote on Knight Foundation Grant for AV Education
Wednesday, May 29
10am-11am
414 Grant St.
Public Testimony for 5/15 City Council Standing Committee Vote on Knight Foundation AV Grant Laura Wiens, Director, Pittsburghers for Public Transit Ziggy Edwards, Resident, Four Mile Run
CALL to ACTION:
On Wednesday, May 15th at 10 am, 414 Grant St Pgh 15219, Pittsburgh City Council will be asked to approve a $410k grant for public outreach on self-driving cars in the Hazelwood and Greenfield neighborhoods. This is yet another indication that the City’s decision to have autonomous vehicles (AV) be the “transportation solution” for these communities was determined in advance of engaging with the communities, and in opposition to resident desires. Join us to testify when City Council discusses this grant, to ask city councillors why DOMI is so insistent that this unproven, costly and harmful technology be deployed instead of proven solutions that residents have identified – sidewalks, public transit, traffic calming.
BACKGROUND:
Residents of Hazelwood, Four Mile Run, South Oakland and Greenfield have real transportation and pedestrian safety needs that could be addressed with sidewalks, street lighting, bus shelters, weekend and evening transit service. Instead, $23 million in public money is being allocated just to create a roadway for Autonomous Vehicles that will drive through the heart of Schenley Park, which also threatens to undermine the water and sewer flooding mitigation efforts that are desperately needed in the Run.
Check out this coverage in WESA of the press conference, titled “A Shuttle System Through Schenley Park is Going Nowhere with Some Residents.”
On April 18, 2019, residents called on the City’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to invest in the mobility solutions we know work – sidewalks, transit, traffic calming – and reverse course on the Mon Oakland Connector project.
From the start, the Mon Oakland Connector Project has looked to advance Autonomous Vehicles (AV) as the solution to these neighbors’ transportation issues, without ever engaging them in a public process.
See Ziggy Edwards, resident of the Run, speak up about this lack of public process and call for proven solutions to the neighborhood’s transportation and infrastructure problems.
Read more at: https://www.pittsburghforpublictransit.org/council-will-vote-to-continue-moving-self-driving-shuttle-deployment/
