Category Archives: Uncategorized

Port Authority’s Q2 Service Changes, with comment from the PGH Bus Info Hotline

Each quarter the Port Authority adjusts its transit schedules and routes to account for rider’s requests, ridership shifts, construction, road closures and/or all of the other unexpected hiccups that might affect Pittsburgh roads. 

In case you missed it, the most recent set of changes went into effect Sunday, June 16, 2019. The next set of changes due to be released in September. You can check Port Authority’s website to follow these quarterly service changes.

The Pittsburgh Bus Information Hotline is a volunteer-run twitter account that gives riders updates on Port Authority’s daily happenings. The Hotline has no official connection to the Port Authority (again, it is a volunteer-run twitter account) but the updates are helpful nonetheless. The Hotline is a big supporter of PPT, and an enormous advocate for public transit. We’re thankful for they’re support and happy to share this rundown of the Q2 service changes compiled by the Pittsburgh Bus Info Hotline.

Rundown of Q2 Service Changes, with takeaways from the PGH Bus Info Hotline

The Hotline’s overall takeaway from this quarter’s changes: The vast majority of these changes are positive, and will improve the transit experience for most riders.  

List of Q2 service changes are as follows:

PortAuthority Customer Service can be reached by phone 

@ 412-442-2000

Weekdays 5a to 7p

Weekend + Holidays 8a to 430p

or via Twitter @PGHTransit or @PGHTransitCare

The bus Info Hotline can be reached 

By phone @ 412-759-3335

ONLY When PortAuthority Customer Service is Closed/unavailable 

Or via Twitter anytime @PGH_BUS_INFO

The PGH Bus Info Hotline will be back on PPT’s blog in September for Q3 changes and takeaways. See ya then!

“Charting a New Course for Urban Mobility”, PolicyLink Chimes Into PGH’s AV Conversation

Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s new report, “Wait, Who’s Driving This Thing?: Bringng the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table”, with Forward by Anita Cozart, Senior Policy Director at PolicyLink

It did not take much time for Pittsburghers for Public Transit to come to a decision about who to invite to write a forward to the organization’s new Literature Review on the impact of Autonomous Vehicle technology, “Wait, Whos Driving This Thing?: Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table”.

Anita Cozart, Senior Director at PolicyLink, has been doing important justice-oriented policy work at the intersection of race, mobility, and economics. Her work and that of her team at PolicyLink have been leading the conversation about how to ensure equity and human rights in a time where private investment is rapidly flowing into both the development of urban neighborhoods and new transportation technology.

Pittsburghers for Public Transit was honored when Anita accepted our invitation to author a forward to this Literature Review because we both agree: conversations about new technology need to begin with the people who will be most affected by them.

Read Anita’s forward below, and read the full copy of “Wait, Who’s Driving This Thing?: Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table”.

“Charting a New Course for Urban Mobility” by Anita Cozart, Senior Director at PolicyLink

Everyone deserves to live in a healthy, safe and inclusive community with affordable and accessible transportation that connects them to jobs, schools, health care, grocery stores, and more. Over the past few years, private sector leaders and some local officials in Pittsburgh and other cities have championed the idea of autonomous vehicle technology as a means to deliver on that vision.

The history and the future of our nation tells us that, as we consider integrating such technology into their transportation systems, community members must be at the table. Our historic transportation policies and investments, fueled by structural racism, have saddled communities of color with burdens including longer travel times, higher costs, environmental damage and illness. And, as we move toward a future in which by 2040, the U.S. will be a majority people of color nation, in order to realize a vision of healthy communities and shared prosperity, we must ensure that community has voice and agency in shaping the way we move through our neighborhoods, cities and regions.

The findings from Wait, who’s Driving this Thing? are a reminder that when it comes to transportation, we should embrace the “curb-cut effect”1. Curb cuts in sidewalks were originally developed to accommodate people in wheelchairs, but they benefit a broad swath of people. This concept can be applied in other areas of infrastructure (or the built environment): the most vulnerable transportation users should be the focus for the plans that are developed to integrate autonomous vehicle technology in cities. Simply put, the priorities of the most vulnerable communities should drive transportation policy and planning in our cities.

A national coalition of more than 100 groups dedicated to advancing racial equity into transportation policy, the Transportation Equity Caucus has developed a set of principles that can be used to consider the benefits and harms of automated vehicle (AV) deployment:

Create affordable transportation options for all people.

The cost of using AV for daily travel must be accessible for all incomes, particularly if they are to be an extension of the public transportation system.

Ensure fair access to quality jobs, workforce development and contracting opportunities in the transportation industry.

Jobs and contracts that come from the growth of AV must be accessible to workers and firms who have historically been shut out, namely people of color and people with disabilities. Economic security and new work opportunities should be prioritized for people working in sectors that will be eliminated due to AV deployment.

Promote, healthy, safe and inclusive communities.

Just like there are food deserts, there are transportation innovation deserts. Many communities of color are the last ones to have access to on-demand rides, bikes, and scooters. As AV is deployed, it is important to assess the spatial distributions of affordable transportation options using a racial equity lens.

Invest equitably and focus on results.

It is important to ensure that bias is not embedded in the computer algorithms that drive automated vehicle technology, and that rigorous data privacy regulations, which are currently lacking, are put in place. To ensure equitable outcomes, people of color and people with disabilities must be co-designers of the deployment of AV in cities.

Let’s take the wisdom from this report and chart a new course for urban mobility that is centered on ensuring that our most vulnerable in society can benefit from transportation innovation.

PGH Residents Makes it Known, They Need To Be Part of the City’s Driverless Tech Conversation

On Thursday, July 18th, more than 70 residents from Hazelwood, the Run, Panther Hollow, and the surrounding communities made it known: the public wants to be included in the City’s decisions about driverless vehicle technology on their public streets with their public money.

The high turnout at PPT’s first forum on driverless vehicle technology shows that neighbors have serious questions that remain unanswered about the technology and the City’s decisions to underwrite it with public resources.

The event, called “Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table”, was held to open a conversation with residents about the impacts of Autonomous Vehicles, and give space to have residents outline the needs they have in their communities, and compile the questions that they have around the technology.

This is a vital conversation to have with residents of these neighborhoods because they are currently being included in a City of Pittsburgh proposal to experiment with a driverless shuttle between the Hazelwood Green development site and the Universities in Oakland. Residents have never raised an autonomous shuttle as a need for their community, nor have they been given a voice in the City’s decision to use them as a test-site.

In fact, in the three years since driverless vehicles have started testing on Pittsburgh streets, the City has never held a public forum or conversation about AV.

PPT used the event to release a new literature review that was compiled with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh titled, “Wait, Who’s Driving This Thing?: Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table”. The review examines over 100 articles and publications to give context around the downstream impacts of Autonomous Vehicle technology.

At the event, a series of speakers gave context and perspective about why public inclusion is important, and what is at stake when deciding to invest in new technology over proven transportation solutions. Attendees then broke out into five tables – pedestrian safety, mobility, jobs, environment, data privacy – to discuss their needs and values, as well as list the further questions they have on AV, public investment, and public process.

We will update this blog with the input that residents gave at this meeting. But information like this (about the wholistic effects of new transportation technology), as well as the public forums like these (to allow for discussion and accountability), are essential to creating an equitable process for residents to make decisions about public investment.

News coverage of the event

See the full report of “Wait Who’s Driving This Thing?: Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table”

Or the 1-page summary document here.

Join us on Tuesday for this City Council Post-Agenda Hearing on Autonomous Vehicle Impacts.

Experts will be joining us from the Union of Concerned Scientists, Transport Workers Union, BikePGH, and CMU to talk about their work and the future that they see for AV. More information on the Post-Agenda Hearing here.

“Wait, Who’s Driving This Thing?” PPT’s New Lit Review & Position Paper On Driverless Vehicles

In the three years since driverless vehicles have been tested in real-life on Pittsburgh streets, the City has not hosted a single opportunity for residents to learn more about the technology’s impacts or decide if unproven AV solutions are worthy of public investment. Yet, the City of Pittsburgh has moved forward with earmarking millions of public dollars to facilitate an experimental deployment of a driverless shuttle in Hazlewood, the Run, Panther Hollow, Oakland.

Now more then ever, the public must be included in the conversation about autonomous vehicle investment. They deserve the public forum and resources to evaluate the impacts that AV will have on our communities, and determine if this is a future worth investing public dollars in.

It is time that the public is brought to the autonomous vehicle table.

PPT has spent the last 10 months working with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh to examine what the downstream effects of Autonomous Vehicles will be on our jobs, our environment, public safety, data privacy, and access to equitable public transit.

We, the public, need to have the space to examine at all of the associated impacts that new technology will bring to society in order to determine whether our public dollars should be used to facilitate the outcome.

“Wait Who’s Driving This Thing?” is PPT’s review of what the current literature and research are saying. It is a critical perspective to include as residents in Pittsburgh and across the country deal with pressures of new technology and call for a seat at the table where decisions about public investment are being made.

See a Copy of the Full Paper Here

And see the Paper’s 1-page summary here, or check below for the document’s text.

Reach out to us with questions, comments, or if you’d like to get involved with the campaign.

Wait, Who’s Driving This Thing?: Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table

Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) is a grassroots organization of transit riders and workers who advocate for mobility as a human right.

Every day, we see autonomous vehicles (AV) drive down the street in front of our office, and we read stories in our local papers about their deployment in our neighborhoods. Five companies have begun test-driving operations in our city over the past three years, and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have been earmarked to support their deployment. Yet, in that time, our local government has not hosted a single conversation about how our communities will be affected by AV, nor held any public discussion about why public resources should be allocated to facilitating this technology over other inarguable mobility and pedestrian safety interventions.

We at PPT believe that we are long overdue for a public discussion of the impacts of Autonomous Vehicles. This is a conversation that should begin by examining our shared values and considering whether AV are truly the best way to address our collective needs.

We have an environmental crisis, a safety crisis, a jobs and mobility crisis that is happening now, and the impacts are irreversible. To prevent the worst outcomes of climate change, we need to dramatically reduce our vehicle emissions and change our land use patterns. To stem the rise in pedestrian and cyclist deaths that is happening in cities across the country, we need to prioritize traffic calming and people-centered design. To put an end to inequality in our country, we need to commit to providing high-quality, affordable, accessible transportation for all—as well as good family-supporting union jobs for folks to get to. Above all, we must consider the effect of eliminating driving jobs, because displacing workers is the most direct consequence of this technology.

None of the impacts of AV technology will happen in isolation, so in order to have a meaningful conversation, the public must be given the tools to weigh them as a whole. New technology, for whose benefit? At whose expense?

After our literature review, it has become apparent that any proposed benefits of AV to mobility, safety, and the environment will be realized far in the future under a very specific, impractical framework. Absent that framework, the impacts of AV will likely be harmful. As a society, we cannot wait 30 or 40 years for AV benefits to be realized. Nor do we have the luxury of simply hoping for the best outcomes when it is far more likely that AV will exacerbate existing problems.

In this time of multiple, pressing needs, we do not have the pub- lic resources to finance such uncertainty. Autonomous vehicle companies will continue to make rosy, unfounded claims in or- der to sell their products for profit. But our collective resources are finite, and with every decision to invest in supporting AV de- velopment and deployment, we miss opportunities to put our money and attention on inarguable improvements—including more public transit service; better sidewalks and dedicated bike and bus lanes; and good technology, like vehicle to traffic signal communications and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

We offer a summary of our upcoming literature review paper below as a starting point for the public to evaluate the claims of autonomous vehicle companies, and to call for a truly open discussion of what we want “progress” to look like.

Find PPT’s complete AV literature review paper at:

www.pittsburghforpublictransit.org/av

Impact on Jobs

AV will affect about 10 million jobs where driving is a significant component of the work, and directly threaten between 3.8-4.5 million jobs where driving is the primary activity.

Eliminating bus operator positions will disproportionately affect women and people of color, and these jobs have been important for social and economic mobility. Driving jobs are primarily occupied by workers late in their careers, without college degrees. Just transitions are very unlikely, given these demographics, and there are no serious plans being advanced to support displaced transportation workers.

Impact on Public Transit and Mobility

AV is likely to diminish public transit use, which would create a vicious cycle of lower fare revenues and cut bus routes.

Any loss of services will disproportionately harm low-income communities and communities of color. Moreover, older adults and riders with disabilities rely on bus and paratransit drivers to access transit, so automating buses will reduce their access to basic needs.

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Environmental Impacts

AV will only lead to positive environmental impacts under specific conditions and decades down the road.

In the absence of regulations, public infrastructure investments, and radical social behavioral changes, AV will likely be environmentally destructive. Transportation emissions are now the single-largest carbon producing sector of the U.S. economy. We can’t afford to wait decades in the hopes that AV will have a positive impact, particularly given that there are clear green policy solutions that would reduce our carbon footprint now.

Bicyclist & Pedestrian Safety Impacts

The safety benefits of AV have not been sufficiently proven, and there are non-autonomous vehicle technologies that could achieve the intended safety benefits.

No industry standards exist for evaluating AV as a safety solution, and current data indicate that AV crash more frequently than vehicles with human drivers. Requiring new cars to install car-to-car or car-to-infrastructure (like traffic light) communications technology would significantly improve safety with technology that is currently available. Reducing speed limits, installing protected bike/pedestrian infrastructure and getting more people on buses are proven ways to reduce pedestrian and driver fatalities.

Impacts on Privacy

Passenger routing and destination data can not only be compromised but also sold and hacked, which raises serious questions around user privacy, data ownership and safety.

Find PPT’s complete AV literature review paper at

www.pittsburghforpublictransit.org/AV

And join PPT at these upcoming events as we bring the public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table

Tuesday, July 13 // Talk @ Pitt with PGH Human Rights City Working group // 4-6pm in Posvar Hall

Thursday, July 18 // Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table :: PPT’s Research Paper Release & Community Conversation // 4-5:30pm at Spartan Center

Tuesday, July 23 // Pittsburgh City Council Post-Agenda Hearing on AV Impacts // 1-3pm at City Council Chambers, 414 Grant St

Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table

Pittsburghers deserve a public conversation about driverless vehicles in our city.

Pittsburghers for Public Transit believes that residents are long-overdue for a public conversation about the autonomous vehicles that have been roaming our streets for the last three years.

There are now five different companies testing their technology in our neighborhoods and millions of tax-payer dollars are earmarked to facilitate their deployment. Yet, in all of the time since Uber’s 2016 announcement that it would begin autonomous vehicle testing, there has not been a single public forum for residents to ask questions and learn about the experimental technology.

If PGH residents are forced to play the role of test subject and investor then we need to be at the table to make decisions about this tech.

We all deserve information about what this tech will do for our communities and a space to decide whether this is actually the best way to invest our public resources.

PPT has spent the last 10 months working with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh to examine what the downstream effects of Autonomous Vehicles will be on our jobs, our environment, public safety, data privacy, and access to equitable public transit. It is important that the public have the resources to examine all of these effects alongside each other because none of them will happen in isolation.

It is only after Pittsburgh has had a robust public dialogue about our values and the technology that we can decide whether this is a future to invest in.

Throughout the end of July, PPT will hold a series of public conversations about Autonomous Vehicles and our shared values.

We are eager to share the findings from our research, and open the floor for residents to voice the questions that they deserve answers to.

Please reach out if you would like to get involved or learn more: info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org. Hope to see you as one or all of these events:

Tuesday, July 13 // Talk @ Pitt with PGH Human Rights City Working group // 4-6pm in Posvar Hall

How should autonomous vehicle tech be used to build a human rights city? Pittsburghers for Public Transit will preview some of the findings of our new paper, “Wait, Who’s Driving This Thing? Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table”. And we will open discussion to raise other questions and concerns to keep in mind during this work.

Thursday, July 18 // Bringing the Public to the Autonomous Vehicle Table :: PPT’s Research Paper Release & Community Conversation // 4-5:30pm at Spartan Center

Join us in Hazelwood on Thursday for the public release of “Wait Who’s Driving This Thing? Bringing the Public to the Autonomous vehicle Table”, and a community conversation about our shared values when it comes to public transportation investments.

Tuesday, July 23 // Pittsburgh City Council Post-Agenda Hearing on AV Impacts // 1-3pm at City Council Chambers, 414 Grant St

Pittsburgh City Council members Theresa Kail-Smith, Corey O’Connor, and Deb Gross have called for a Post-Agenda Hearing for Council to learn more about the impacts of AV from experts in the field. PPT has worked with these Council-people to assemble a panel from across the country who will testify about their experience and answer questions about the holistic impacts of AV. 

Organizing Fellows Lead Beyond the East Busway Outreach

PPT is ecstatic to announce that the 1st cohort of Beyond the East Busway Fellows has been trained and is currently leading campaign outreach in the Mon Valley and eastern suburbs. These 8 talented organizers all have deep connections to these communities. They personally understand the importance of transit and are ready to build a grassroots movement with their neighbors.

All 8 Fellows spent last Saturday working with PPT Organizer, Josh Malloy, to map their communities and identify locations and networks that have a stake in transit expansion. They shared skills for starting conversations, encouraging participation, and building community consensus. Over the next few weeks, they will work within these regions to walk 250+ people through using the Beyond the East Busway Tool.

Congrats to all 8 members of the “Beyond the East Busway” Community Organizing Cohort: Joel Malloy, Annie Regan, Debra Green, Silas Switzer, Mercedes Williams, Matthew Holiday III, Precious Chambers, Mary Carey. We are all excited to see the work that you do.

Deadline for  Cohort #2 of the Beyond the East Busway Organizing Fellowship is July 19th. Check this blog to learn more and apply today.

Media Roundup: Beyond the East Busway

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:

Ed Blazina, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburghers for Public Transit launches website to spur transit development in east suburbs, Mon Valley

Margaret J. Krauss, WESA, A New Tool From PPT Aims To Expand Rapid Bus Service

Jason Togyer, Tube City Almanac, PODCAST: Extending the East Busway to McKeesport and Monroeville

Dillon Carr, TribLIVE, Online survey launched to help understand Pittsburgh’s bus transportation needs

Bill O’Tool, Next Pittsburgh, Build your own busway with this new website from Pittsburghers for Public Transit

Beyond the East Busway Tool is Live!

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? PPT’s new Organizing Fellowship is for you

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!

Use the Promotion Kit

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.

Use the Promotion Kit

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

Three Port Authority Board Members Join PPT Bus Ride-Along

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:

Ride the bus? You can make it better.

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!)

Posted by Pittsburghers for Public Transit on Friday, May 17, 2019

Join the next PPT meeting to get involved –
2nd Wednesday of each month
7pm – 8:30pm
Downtown at 1 Smithfield St.