Join PPT and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 to march in the 2023 Labor Day Parade!

PPT is a grassroots union of both transit riders and transit workers. We know that we are the ones using the system every day and that together, we have the knowledge needed to improve conditions for us all. One of our most fun celebrations of this community-union solidarity is when we march in the Pittsburgh Labor Day Parade – which is the oldest Labor Day Parade in the country!

You can join us at 9am for breakfast with our transit workerf friends from Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 85, at 91 Crawford St, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, right across from Freedom Corner. After breakfast, we’ll head to our spot in the parade lineup. The parade steps off at 10am, but we probably won’t be moving until 10:15. A 40′ PRT bus will join us for the march! We’ll walk our route (approx 1 mile) and then walk back to the start. If anyone needs rides to the event, or back to the start, just reach out to let us know: info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org.

RSVP below to join us and show solidarity with the labor that keep our city moving – September 4th, 10am-1pm. Meet 10am at St Benedict the Moore and reach out to info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org with questions or accessibility needs.

The reinstatement of fired transit workers will provide some immediate relief to our current service crisis. But in order to create public transit that gets us to more places, more quickly, with more reliability, PRT must show us how they plan to treat existing workers with dignity and hire more.

Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) celebrates the reversal of the vaccine mandate, which opens the door for the 80 experienced transit workers who were fired 1.5 years ago to return to their jobs. This is an important step towards addressing our regional transit crisis of on-going service cuts and unreliable transit schedules, and a step towards improving workforce morale at PRT. 

Riders and workers deserve both quality service and safety on public transit. Although PRT claimed to be uplifting rider safety, the March 2022 decision to abruptly terminate 80+ seasoned transit workers came at the expense of both service quality and safety. The result has been years of buses overcrowded with riders (who vastly outnumbered drivers on any bus, and were vaccinated at a far lower rate than operators), and ghost buses that left riders at the curb.

It added insult to injury when Pittsburgh Regional Transit lifted the masking requirement on public transit– likely the most effective COVID-19 preventative measure– just a month after firing dozens of frontline workers for not being vaccinated. The harm of the vaccine mandate terminations have been compounded by the fact that hundreds of transit workers have reached or are hitting retirement age this year and next, creating a predictable frontline workforce gap that now numbers over 200 employees.

We need more and better transit service in Allegheny County. But to have more access to more places and better quality transit service means that PRT must get serious about the hiring and retention of transit workers. Show us the plan.

Transit workers are heroes; we need to treat them with dignity and we need more. Our region’s economic prospects rely on it. Our region’s climate prospects rely on it. Our transit riders and the grocery stores, doctors’ offices, schools, parks, libraries and families that they visit demand it.

The reinstatement of fired transit workers will provide some immediate relief to our current service crisis, but will not be enough on its own to restore and expand service to pre-pandemic levels. And we demand a plan from PRT.

This Spring, ATU Local 85 President Business Agent Ross Nicotero laid out several policies that PRT could implement now to grow our region’s transit workforce; we urge our County leadership to listen to his expertise.

Sign on to support a vision for transit service that meets all of our needs. PPT is building this vision arm in arm with our transit workers, because we are a Union of transit riders and workers, and because we know that without our collective expertise and experiences, there is no transit system.

PPT Members know how to organize – and party! 100 members celebrated our victories at Mellon Park. And wrapped up a successful Summer Membership drive that brought on 115 new and renewing PPT Members!

Wednesday, August 9th, was our 2023 PPT Family Picnic and we had a ball. 100 PPT Members, their friends, and family gathered in Mellon Park to celebrate the victories that we’ve won so far in 2023 and have a whole lotta fun with our crew. We got to hang out, eat great food, listen to inspiring speakers, groove to fun DJs and party into the evening. Events like these bring us together as an organization. We build bonds with other members and create connections to our work. This develops the type of trust and commitment to each other that strengthens our organization. We are fighting for each other and we love it!

But our picnic wasn’t just fun and games, we also got down to business! PPT Staff Nicole and Laura worked with PPT Members Dean, Laura, and Teaira to host a PPT Member engagement station. At the engagement station, members had their last opportunity to vote in our 2023 PPT Board Elections. They also had a chance to kick off our 2024 Strategic Planning process.

115 people joined or renewed their PPT Membership during our Summer Member Drive. You can join this community and win improvements in our communities by becoming a PPT Member today:

We want to send thanks to all of the PPT Members who joined us – especially all those who volunteered to help set up, facilitate, and break down the party. We also want to say thank you to all the PPT Members who showed up ready to speak power to why our organizing is important during the program portion of the picnic – Mel Packer, Joy Dore, Damitra Penny-Harris, Antonia Guzman, Teaira Collins, and Sascha Craig. And finally, we need to send a big loving shoutout to all of the folks who helped with their professional services: DJ Franky Nitty for spinning fun tunes all night (send DJ Frank an email djfranknitte412@gmail.com or check out his facebook to book him), Chef Khristian Sheard for providing us some DELICIOUS catering; fried chicken, pulled pork, green beans, pasta salad, kung pow coliflower, Mmmm! Mmm! (you can book her by sending an email or Facebook Message), O’Ryan the O’Mazing for dazzling us with their circus performer talents (oryantheomazing.com for info and booking).

Thanks for PRT Bus Operator Khristian Sheard for providing the catering and to DJ Frank Nitte for spinning A+ tunes all night (send DJ Frank an email djfranknitte412@gmail.com or check out his facebook to book him).

Use the arrow buttons on the image to flip through photos from the party:

Become a PPT Member Today:

7 PPT Members were elected to the PPT Board until 2025

Pittsburghers for Public Transit is unique in having a fully democratically, member-elected Board of Directors. Every year, half of the general member seats are voted upon for a two-year term, as well as one of the two specific seats allocated for members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU). The PPT Board of Directors is comprised of some of our most active organizational leaders, and sets PPT’s strategic direction, oversees staff and the finances of the organization. This summer, because dozens of PPT members called their peer PPT activists, we had a record number of new members join the organization for the Summer Membership Drive, vote in the Board elections, and party down with us at the Summer Member Picnic!

Congratulations to the PPT Members who were elected to the Board for the 6 PPT General Member seats: Ms. Teaira Collins, Bonnie Fan, Paul O’Hanlon, Gabriel McMorland, Dean Mougianis, Nickole Nesby. And congratulations to Kevin Joa, who was elected into the PPT Board seat reserved for unionized transit workers.

We’re thrilled and humbled by the level of wisdom, dedication, and love that these folks bring to the PPT community. It must be said, however, that all of the candidates that ran for the Board are incredible, selfless and deeply appreciated members of our community.

Become a PPT Member today to build the power of our grassroots union

Read some more about the PPT Members who were elected to the Board in our 2023 Board Elections:

Bonnie Fan (they/them)

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 the 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.

Dean Mougianis (he/him)

Dean Mougianis has been a media producer for forty years and an educator for twenty-five. Dean began his media misadventures on a gap year (well, several) in his education when he fell in with a group of people who had the audacious idea of founding a radio station. This became WYEP-FM. He later transitioned to video, worked in a variety of production facilities, then struck out on his own as a freelancer. As a producer, writer, video editor and motion graphic artist, Dean has worked with a wide range of commercial clients, had enough of that, and began working instead for non-profit, labor, and social service clients.

Somewhere in mid-life, Dean decided to pay back the legacy of many people who taught him so much and sought out teaching opportunities. As an educator for the past twenty-five years, Dean has taught courses and workshops in various aspects of video production from beginner to advanced for Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Grove City College, Laroche College, and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. An early convert to digital media, Dean now specializes in teaching motion graphics and animation.

Dean sees his primary role in assisting and advancing PPT’s communications and media efforts. Along with this he wishes to help develop membership participation and leadership and do what he can to connect PPT to broader transit advocacy coalitions at the state and national level.

Gabriel McMorland (she/her)

Gabriel is a white trans woman, who is also blind and transit-dependent. She has been active with PPT since 2015, and was previously on the Coordinating Committee from 2017-2022. Gabriel was very involved with the Don’t Criminalize Transit Riders campaign and early service campaigns, and on the current campaign around scooters and sidewalks. She was the Community Organizer at The Thomas Merton Center from 2014-2017, and TMC’s Executive Director from 2017-2023, doing work that ranged across racial justice, ecological defense, labor solidarity, immigrant rights, and other moves towards liberation. She is also a musician, and played bass in the live performance of Wheels on the Bus at PPT’s end-of-year celebration. 

Gabriel invests time and leadership into PPT because she needs PPT to succeed. She has seen many times how PPT includes the sidewalks, curb cuts, and crosswalks as part of the overall transit system, and how PPT has centered people with disabilities to ensure that everyone’s needs are served. She believes that the outcomes of PPT’s work are practical, tangible, and truly affect peoples’ lives: PPT enacts its radical values of racial justice and worker justice, and makes them real through organizing. Gabriel’s vision for PPT is to ensure that organizing and leadership development continue to be at the heart of PPT’s work. 

Nickole Nesby (she/her)

The honorable Mayor Nickole Nesby is a dedicated public servant with 20 years’ experience in legislative government. In November 2017, Nesby successfully unseated incumbent Phillip Krivacek to become the first female and African American to head the city of Duquesne, PA. She was elected to PPT’s Coordinating Committee in 2019 and is now running for her third term.

No stranger to socioeconomic disparity, Ms. Nesby was born in McKeesport, PA. Her parents were hard working steel mill workers. One of seven siblings who she had to raise when her mother fell victim to the crack epidemic, she refused to allow poverty to derail her goal of attaining higher education. Nesby recently completed her fourth degree, an MBS from Northcentral University in Organizational Leadership Specializing in Nonprofit. While Mayor Nesby has no children of her own, she works to build spaces where all her community’s children can succeed.

As a first-term mayor, Nesby is dedicated to improving the quality of life for Duquesne’s population of 5,481. Plagued by systemic poverty, illiteracy and incarceration, 80% percent of its residents are welfare recipients and of that number, half have criminal records.  Deemed the worst-performing school system in Pennsylvania, Duquesne was forced to close its high school in 2007.

Duquesne’s future may appear bleak, but Mayor Nesby’s aspiration is to make Duquesne a better place to live. She works so that residents have a quality education, affordable housing, better transportation, healthcare, and parks. These are the things that all people deserve, and they can be real by working together.

Paul O’Hanlon (he/him)

My name is Paul O’Hanlon, I’m a retired lawyer.  From 2001 to 2014, I worked for a disability rights law firm, and before that I was the Senior Housing Attorney and Housing Unit Chief with Neighborhood Legal Services Association in Pittsburgh.

I caught the “transit bug” in 1991.  At that time Port Authority began the long process of becoming accessible to passengers in wheelchairs.  Since that time I’ve been involved in advocating for the best, most accessible, area-wide and affordable public transit.  

I have been involved in a number of advocacy issues in Allegheny County, particularly around housing, accessible public transportation, and voter engagement.

Teaira Collins (she/her)

Teaira Collins is a lifelong transit rider, a Hazelwood community leader, a mother and foster mother, and now a grandmother to six grandchildren. Ms. Teaira met Laura Chu Wiens while at Port Authority testifying for improved transit service in Hazelwood, and has since become a leader in PPT’s Our Money, Our Solutions campaign for weekend service on the 93 and the extension of the 75. Ms. Teaira spoke at the City Council Capital Budget hearing press conference about the Mon-Oakland Connector alongside Barb Warwick, and on behalf of PPT during the Poor People’s Campaign Jubilee Caravan. She recently traveled to Atlanta on behalf of PPT on a delegation to connect with other Human Rights organizers across North America, and raise the important connections between public transit, housing, healthcare and food access. She is very active in the community, volunteering with The Mission Continues to help veterans and with the Hazelwood Family Support Center to uplift young mothers. Ms. Teaira also runs her own non-profit to advocate for those like her son Judah and other famlies with children who have Down Syndrome, and fundraises for the National Kidney Foundation to help research related to her daughter’s health. 

Ms. Teaira’s excited about winning weekend service for underserved neighborhoods like Hazelwood, and is passionate about fighting for reliable and safe transit for all communities. She is dedicated to the fight for a permanent low-income fare program because it is needed now more than ever for all communities. Ms Teaira Collins has been:

• A Hazelwood leader in PPT’s Our Money, Our Solutions campaign to create a resident-based mobility alternative to the Mon-Oakland Connector
• A PPT organizing fellow for the FairFares campaign and helped sign up dozens of riders for the pilot program
• A Volunteer and community advocate for The Mission Continues, Hazelwood Family Support Center, PPS PTA, and for people with Down Syndrome and Kidney Disease.
• A Member of the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council Board of Directors

Kevin Joa (he/him)

Kevin is a Port Authority bus operator and member of ATU Local 85. He was first elected to PPT’s Coordinating Committee in 2019 and won his re-election in 2021. Kevin has taken part in PPT campaigns to encourage Port Authority board members to ride transit; push for expanded transit funding in PA; and build more affordable housing near great transit. Kevin was part of bus ride-alongs with County Executive candidates to lay out demands for policies that support transit riders and workers for the new leadership of the region. He was most recently quoted on WESA for speaking out at the Pittsburgh City Council hearing about the Spin scooter pilot program about the ways that he’s observed the e-scooters affecting transit access at bus stops. 

Before joining Local 85 as a bus operator, Kevin worked at a local public school system. Kevin also is a proud owner of a beautiful dog!

Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) has posted a date for major service changes coming to the 61D, 71A, 71C, and 71D this Fall. These changes will significantly impact riders going to healthcare centers, universities, jobs, shopping destinations, Pittsburgh neighborhoods, and surrounding boroughs.

How will these changes impact you? Share your story now.

PRT’s Downtown to Oakland Bus Rapid Transit project, now called PRTX, has been in the works for more than a decade, and the agency has just posted notices to riders with a confirmed date for the first round of service changes accompanying this project:

October 1, 2023.

In this blog, we are focusing on these recently widely-published changes for BRT routes. If you want more info on what riders have been saying about these service changes and this project, read our previous blogs at the end. 

What is happening to the 61D, 71A, 71C, and 71D?!

PRT’s new Bus Rapid Transit service plan will have major impacts for the 61D, 71A, 71C, 71D. Their plan says that these routes will turn around in Oakland and no longer service Uptown and downtown. For example: 

If you need help visualizing this: The 61D will go down Fifth Avenue to Robinson Street, turn around at Robinson, make a right on Craft, then turn left and left onto Forbes Avenue. The bus will then become outbound. For the 71A, 71C, and 71D the buses will go inbound via Fifth Avenue until Robinson Street, turn around, then go back on to Fifth Ave but in the opposite direction this time, going outbound. 

The 61A, 61B, 61C, and 71B will all continue from the start of the routes through downtown and be able to use the BRT bus-only lanes. 

*Wait, you say “what about the P3”-(wasn’t that one of the routes slated for changes as well)?  Good question. We published a previous blog on the win for riders reversing the proposed routing changes to the P3.*

So, what does this mean for riders??

1. Loss of direct connections:

With the 61D, 71A, 71C, and 71D ending in Oakland, riders will lose the direct connections to Downtown and Uptown. Destinations like Mercy Hospital, Duquesne University, and PPG Paints Arena – where thousands of people travel for jobs, healthcare, higher education, and recreation daily- will no longer be directly accessible to these routes. 

Conversely, these changes will also mean Uptown residents will lose direct access via these routes to Shadyside Hospital, Hillman Cancer Center, Neighborhood of Homewood, and other points in the East End. 

Uptown riders would also lose a direct connection using the 61D to the Waterfront shopping destination in Homestead. 

Some riders from Homewood would lose a direct connection to Uptown destinations – Mercy Hospital or Duquesne University. They are forced to transfer to a different bus in Oakland, which could add time to a trip.

2. Service Frequency Reduction and Overcrowding:

The 61A, 61B, 61C and 71B will now have riders from the short-turned buses getting on to continue to travel downtown

All of the redundancy of routes that we currently see on 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D and 71A, 71B, 71C, 71D between Oakland to Downtown made service really frequent. Reducing the routes serving the corridor between Oakland to Downtown by half means that riders will have less service frequency in that corridor.

3. Double Fare for Cash Paying Riders:

While riders will still be able to access these locations mentioned above, a transfer will now be required (which means the overall trip will take longer, and people paying cash will need to pay an additional $2.75).

In a previous blog post, we’ve discussed the disproportionate cost burden faced by riders who pay with cash. Read New Fare Changes Leave Largest Inequities In Place for more info.

4. Accessibility on Transit: 

New transfers may cause additional burden onto disabled riders who will have to exit and then reboard a connection going inbound or outbound in Oakland.

5. Modest Service Increases on 61B, 61C, 71B, 82, 87, P1, P3, and P7:

To alleviate hardship on riders who are losing direct connections to downtown on the 61A, 61B, 61C and 71B, PRT has added modest service increases on the 61B, 61C, 71B, 82, 87, P3, and P7. Additionally, service will be increased on the P1.

How else would these changes impact you? What can riders do now?

Clearly, riders have a lot to say about how these changes could impact how, when, and where they take transit. If you take the 61D, 71A, 71C, 71D, we want to hear how this will affect you. Tell us your story by completing this form or emailing us at info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org. We will be organizing with a lot of affected riders and transit workers to speak up about the impact of these changes in the coming weeks.

You can get involved in our organization by visiting the “Get Involved” tab and registering for our Monthly Meeting on September 13, 2023.

Share your story and advocate for change

PPT Members! RSVP below to join us at our Summer Picnic
August 9th, 6-9pm at Mellon Park Shelter

PPT Members are making waves and its time to celebrate <3

Whether its a victory to center disabled people as leaders in City planning, or elect a transit champion to be the next County Executive, or increase funding for local transit, or launch a program to give free fares to all low-income households in Allegheny County, PPT Members are making waves and its time to celebrate.

PPT is hosting this picnic to celebrate the incredible effort that its Members are putting into this organization. Members are volunteering on our committees, creating our strategic plan, electing our leaders, and building our base. We are winning our campaigns left and right because of it.

We want all PPT Members to join us on August 9th at the shelter in Mellon Park across from 6602 Fifth Ave, for an evening of great food, good people, and fun music.

Reach out to info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org or 312.307.2429 with any questions.

Details for the PPT Summer Member Picnic

What to expect: the event will be a casual outdoor picnic. Folks should wear whatever makes them comfortable, but don’t be afraid to bring some fun flare and spunk to your outfit. The picnic will be on August 9th at the Mellon Park shelter across from 6602 Fifth Ave from 6-9pm. There will be a full dinner served free to all PPT Members who RSVP. Music will be provided by our friend DJ Frank and dancing will certainly happen. PPT members will facilitate some planning around a new campaign that we’re launching to improve transit frequency and reliability in the county. And PPT members from different campaigns will talk about what it takes to win and what it means for their families and our communities. Attendees do not feel obligated to attend the entire event, so feel free to arrive and leave at whatever times work best for you.

Accessibility: The Mellon Park Shelter has some important accessibility features. The shelter provides some good cover and picnic table seating for a few dozen people. There is also ample space to socialize outside the shelter. There will be some pop-up tents for the DJ and food service. There is a paved pathway from the lower parking lot up a small hill. The bathrooms are indoors and accessible. They are a 2-4 minute walk from the shelter along a paved walkway and across a parking lot. There will be a DJ playing music outside the shelter, which could be loud, but we will do our best to play it at a volume that is comfortable for all attendees.. Attendees should be ready for variable mid-August weather and lighting. There will be interpretation in both ASL and Spanish upon request.

Food: Full dinner will be served to all PPT Members who RSVP. Veggie/vegan/gluten-free options will be available. Water and other non-alcoholic beverages will be available.

Getting there: The Mellon Park Shelter is across from 6602 Fifth Ave, near the corner of Fifth and Penn. There are a number of bus stops within a close walk. On Penn Ave side of the park, the 71C and 88 will drop you off with a 2-4 minute walk to the shelter along paved paths. On the Fifth Ave side, the 28X and 71D will drop you off with a 1-3 minute walk to the shelter along paved paths. There is bike parking and car parking in the Mellon Park parking lot which is a 1-3 minute walk to the shelter.  If you need help with transportation, contact PPT to discuss options, 312.307.2429 or info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org.

COVID procedures: Event will be outdoors with areas to socialize under the shelter and in the areas surrounding it. Masks are not required. We also encourage everyone to take an at-home COVID rapid test before arriving. Please stay home if you are feeling sick or have come into contact with someone who has COVID-19.

FACEBOOK EVENT HERE + SPANISH/ENGLISH FLYER BELOW
EVENTO DE FACEBOOK AQUÍ + FOLLETO EN ESPAÑOL/INGLÉS ABAJO

PPT is on the verge of winning the biggest campaign in our history – free fares for all SNAP/EBT families in Allegheny County – but it won’t happen unless we show we have power.
You can build strength to win this campaign by becoming a PPT Member today.

Xxxxxxxx people of all ages will have their lives transformed if PPT wins this our campaign for free fares for all SNAP/EBT households in Allegheny County. That means xxxxx mothers, fathers, and children will be able to access healthy food, new job opportunites, and life-saving healthcare – but only if we organize together to make the demand.

PPT Members are at the forefront of this soon-to-be historic victory. You can help seal the deal and transform access in Allegheny County by joining us as a PPT Member today during our Summer Membership Drive.

Join with transit riders and become a PPT Member today as part of our Summer Member Drive. We need you active to win.

So what does it mean to be a member of PPT? PPT’s Membership is a diverse and growing group of transit riders, transit workers, and neighbors who are dedicated to the ideals enshrined in the Transit Bill of Rights. PPT Members help in all sorts of ways – some join committees, some attend meetings, some just donate and encourage others to do the same. But at our core, all PPT Members make the same three commitments:

1. PPT members pledge to support the organization’s Transit Bill of Rights which declares public transit as a human right.
2. PPT members share in supporting the organization’s budget with membership dues of at least $2.75/mo – the cost of a single Port Authority cash fare – with no one excluded because of inability to pay.
3. PPT members help the organization build power. This looks different for every Member. Some attend meetings, some vote in our elections, some volunteer on a committee. Others spread the word on social media, speak up at public meetings, or donate and encourage others to do the same. How can you help build power for transit justice?

Once you become a PPT Member, you will be a real part of winning improvements that benefit the lives of your neighbors. Our members shape the future of our organization. As a PPT Member, you will be able to vote to elect the people who lead our Organization during our annual Board Elections in July. You’ll also be able shape our annual strategic plan and vote to approve it in December.

Become a PPT Member and build the movement for transit justice. Help us hit our goal of 100 new and renewing members during our Summer Membership Drive

PPT’s election for our Board of Directors will run from July 12th-August 9th. All PPT Members in good standing should cast their ballots for our next leadership team!

Please read this blog with bios on all the candidates before casting your vote. An overview of our election process and a guide on how to vote and the ballot are at the bottom of this blog.

We are excited to announce the following slate of candidates who were nominated to join the PPT Board of Directors. PPT Member can vote for the next round of leaders who understand the importance of our work for transit justice in Allegheny County – leaders who are looking to become more involved in directing the course of our campaigns, communications and actions.

Learn more about the nominees in their bios below and select the one who you feel can help usher our organization and movement into a new era of advocacy, connectivity and engagement. 

As a reminder, there are 6 board seats available for PPT General Members and 1 seat available for a unionized transit worker PPT Member. All those elected will serve from August 2023 to August 2025.

All candidates are listed below in alphabetical order by first name. There is a photo and short bio for each candidate to give background on their past work for transit justice and other issues. Each nominee has approved and contributed to their bio.

PPT Members can vote for up to 6 of the following candidates to fill PPT General Member seats on our Board of Directors:

• Barb Warwick (she/her)
• Bonnie Fan (they/them)
• Dean Mougianis (he/him)
• Gabriel McMorland (she/her)
• Joy Dore (she/her)
• Kris Chandler (he/him)
• Mona Meszar (she/her)
• Nickole Nesby (she/her)
• Paul O’Hanlon (he/him)
• Teaira Collins (she/her)

Then, PPT Members can vote for up to 1 of the following candidates to fill seats reserved for Transit Workers on our Board of Directors:

• Kevin Joah (he/him)

---

Barb Warwick (she/her)

My name is Barb Warwick and I have been a member of PPT since 2019. I live in Four Mile Run and first became involved with PPT as part of the fight against the Mon-Oakland Connector. That experience really opened my eyes to the power of community activism and to what an amazing organization we have in PPT.

Professionally, I have always considered myself to be somewhat of a workhorse who is fully committed to any project I take on. Having had lots of experience in the corporate arena, I am always happy to “suit up” and meet with political leadership and transit authorities to press for policies that support equitable, affordable, and sustainable transportation systems.

My communication style is diplomatic, but persistent. And, with 20 years’ experience in marketing communications, I know how to stay on point and on message. As a writing and editing professional, I can also help ensure that content put out by PPT is always clear, concise, and engaging. The way I see it, PPT saved my community and public park from being overrun by the Mon-Oakland Connector. Whether chosen for the Board of Directors or not, I feel such gratitude to you all and look forward to continuing to work together for transit equity and justice for many years to come.

Bonnie Fan (they/them)

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 the 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.

Dean Mougianis (he/him)

Dean Mougianis has been a media producer for forty years and an educator for twenty-five. Dean began his media misadventures on a gap year (well, several) in his education when he fell in with a group of people who had the audacious idea of founding a radio station. This became WYEP-FM. He later transitioned to video, worked in a variety of production facilities, then struck out on his own as a freelancer. As a producer, writer, video editor and motion graphic artist, Dean has worked with a wide range of commercial clients, had enough of that, and began working instead for non-profit, labor, and social service clients.

Somewhere in mid-life, Dean decided to pay back the legacy of many people who taught him so much and sought out teaching opportunities. As an educator for the past twenty-five years, Dean has taught courses and workshops in various aspects of video production from beginner to advanced for Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Grove City College, Laroche College, and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. An early convert to digital media, Dean now specializes in teaching motion graphics and animation.

Dean sees his primary role in assisting and advancing PPT’s communications and media efforts. Along with this he wishes to help develop membership participation and leadership and do what he can to connect PPT to broader transit advocacy coalitions at the state and national level.

Gabriel McMorland (she/her)

Gabriel is a white trans woman, who is also blind and transit-dependent. She has been active with PPT since 2015, and was previously on the Coordinating Committee from 2017-2022. Gabriel was very involved with the Don’t Criminalize Transit Riders campaign and early service campaigns, and on the current campaign around scooters and sidewalks. She was the Community Organizer at The Thomas Merton Center from 2014-2017, and TMC’s Executive Director from 2017-2023, doing work that ranged across racial justice, ecological defense, labor solidarity, immigrant rights, and other moves towards liberation. She is also a musician, and played bass in the live performance of Wheels on the Bus at PPT’s end-of-year celebration. 

Gabriel invests time and leadership into PPT because she needs PPT to succeed. She has seen many times how PPT includes the sidewalks, curb cuts, and crosswalks as part of the overall transit system, and how PPT has centered people with disabilities to ensure that everyone’s needs are served. She believes that the outcomes of PPT’s work are practical, tangible, and truly affect peoples’ lives: PPT enacts its radical values of racial justice and worker justice, and makes them real through organizing. Gabriel’s vision for PPT is to ensure that organizing and leadership development continue to be at the heart of PPT’s work. 

Joy Dore (she/her)

Joy is a frequent transit user, and a lifetime public transit advocate. She believes that the fruits of everyone’s hard work are starting to pay off. As an example, the city is not reauthorizing the SPIN scooters. This means that the injuries, blocking public sidewalks that prevent an accessible use of them for the disabled, and other challenges these scooters presented will be mitigated. 

Before the pandemic, she was a volunteer with the TIRES transportation committee. Joy has done extensive lifelong advocacy work including recently as a Food Justice Ambassador, Stormwater Ambassador with Grounded, advocacy with Moms Rising, and am an active volunteer with LAMP (Library for Accessible Media) and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (She was selected as a neighborhood ambassador, and also is an active member of the Friends of the Library Downtown. Joy holds the Vice President office there). She has also actively volunteered at First Presbyterian soup kitchen and First Trinity Lutheran for years, and teaches classes in American Sign Language (like found at this link). Joy has also attended multiple trainings for Homewood Children’s Village Leadership Institute for leadership, advocacy, and housing/transit advocacy. She believes that these experiences in spite of the past year being a personally challenging year with a cancer battle and losing my fiancee (who passed away from cancer 6/21/22) prepared her to advocate for the importance of public transit. 

Her vision would be to continue the fight for equitable, accessible, and affordable transportation.

Kris Chandler

As an advocate for progressive change and growth within various realms of public policy, I have dedicated my life and career to building community and creating active engagement within programs and initiatives. With a background in non-profit administration, creative arts, writing, transportation policy, and political campaigning, I love to work outside of the realm of expectation and seek to look outside-the-box for areas of innovation and exploration. With these values leading the charge, I hope to help usher PPT into a new era of advocacy. An era that continues to uplift transit operators and provide them with the resources to live – and work – in safe and fair environments. An era that focuses on the relationship between land use, zoning, and transportation so that we can build communities that correspond with the transit needs that exist today to prevent the disasters of tomorrow. An era that elevates the importance of historical context and restorative justice so that we can reconnect communities with access to jobs, fresh food, places of enjoyment, and beyond. An era that sees changes within our transit infrastructure so that we can have bus shelters at every stop, sidewalks that are accessible for all ages and abilities, and an equitable system that provides actual coverage and frequency for all. Valuing connectivity, I seek to build coalitions with organizations and community stakeholders in order to address where transit overlaps with other policy initiatives. I seek to help PPT hold those accountable who might stand in the way or prevent our region from expanding in the most equitable, accessible, and sustainable ways possible.

With regards to PPT, shortly after becoming a member, I have been part of the Communications Committee filling in and helping out with whatever was asked of me. Most recently, I have assisted with the candidate profiles for the Allegheny County Executive race and drafted some copy for the PPT website. In tandem with this, externally, I have volunteered on numerous political campaigns, uplifting progressive candidates who I have felt could truly make a difference for all people and communities. Most recently, I conducted relational organizing for Sara Innomorato’s County Executive campaign, and look forward to helping hold her office accountable assuming she wins the general election in November 2023. Additionally, due to my work for the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), I am actively engaged in many transportation related initiatives throughout the country. I have conducted programming that was part of the Better Bike Share Partnership and the American Cities Climate Challenge, during which I led roundtable discussions, wrote case studies, facilitated in working groups, and assisted with the drafting and copyediting of transit-oriented guidance.

Mona Meszar (she/her)

Mona is a queer trans woman born in Shawandasse Tula, Massawomeck, and Monongahela/Osage lands (Fayette County). She is involved in anti-colonialist, anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, environmentalist, and abolitionist struggles – rooting herself in queer anarchist perspectives. In 2018, she was part of a cohort of PPT fellows who worked on the Beyond the East Busway Campaign, and has a sincere appreciation for PPT’s commitment to community led campaigns. During Covid she helped canvass riders, pass out PPE, and phonebank membership. She believes public transit should be free, reliable, environmentally sustainable, and accessible & disability informed. If elected to PPT’s steering committee, she would be excited to work with others to re-vitalize the Beyond the East Busway Campaign. In particular, extending bus rapid transit service to East Pittsburgh  and Mon Valley neighborhoods; better connecting them to affordable housing, healthy affordable food, healthcare, and green & recreational spaces. Mona currently resides in Pittsburgh, and enjoys making music, backpacking, bike touring, reading, cooking, meditating, doing yoga, and gardening. 

Nickole Nesby (she/her)

The honorable Mayor Nickole Nesby is a dedicated public servant with 20 years’ experience in legislative government. In November 2017, Nesby successfully unseated incumbent Phillip Krivacek to become the first female and African American to head the city of Duquesne, PA. She was elected to PPT’s Coordinating Committee in 2019 and is now running for her third term.

No stranger to socioeconomic disparity, Ms. Nesby was born in McKeesport, PA. Her parents were hard working steel mill workers. One of seven siblings who she had to raise when her mother fell victim to the crack epidemic, she refused to allow poverty to derail her goal of attaining higher education. Nesby recently completed her fourth degree, an MBS from Northcentral University in Organizational Leadership Specializing in Nonprofit. While Mayor Nesby has no children of her own, she works to build spaces where all her community’s children can succeed.

As a first-term mayor, Nesby is dedicated to improving the quality of life for Duquesne’s population of 5,481. Plagued by systemic poverty, illiteracy and incarceration, 80% percent of its residents are welfare recipients and of that number, half have criminal records.  Deemed the worst-performing school system in Pennsylvania, Duquesne was forced to close its high school in 2007.

Duquesne’s future may appear bleak, but Mayor Nesby’s aspiration is to make Duquesne a better place to live. She works so that residents have a quality education, affordable housing, better transportation, healthcare, and parks. These are the things that all people deserve, and they can be real by working together.

Paul O’Hanlon (he/him)

My name is Paul O’Hanlon, I’m a retired lawyer.  From 2001 to 2014, I worked for a disability rights law firm, and before that I was the Senior Housing Attorney and Housing Unit Chief with Neighborhood Legal Services Association in Pittsburgh.

I caught the “transit bug” in 1991.  At that time Port Authority began the long process of becoming accessible to passengers in wheelchairs.  Since that time I’ve been involved in advocating for the best, most accessible, area-wide and affordable public transit.  

I have been involved in a number of advocacy issues in Allegheny County, particularly around housing, accessible public transportation, and voter engagement.

Teaira Collins (she/her)

Teaira Collins is a lifelong transit rider, a Hazelwood community leader, a mother and foster mother, and now a grandmother to six grandchildren. Ms. Teaira met Laura Chu Wiens while at Port Authority testifying for improved transit service in Hazelwood, and has since become a leader in PPT’s Our Money, Our Solutions campaign for weekend service on the 93 and the extension of the 75. Ms. Teaira spoke at the City Council Capital Budget hearing press conference about the Mon-Oakland Connector alongside Barb Warwick, and on behalf of PPT during the Poor People’s Campaign Jubilee Caravan. She recently traveled to Atlanta on behalf of PPT on a delegation to connect with other Human Rights organizers across North America, and raise the important connections between public transit, housing, healthcare and food access. She is very active in the community, volunteering with The Mission Continues to help veterans and with the Hazelwood Family Support Center to uplift young mothers. Ms. Teaira also runs her own non-profit to advocate for those like her son Judah and other famlies with children who have Down Syndrome, and fundraises for the National Kidney Foundation to help research related to her daughter’s health. 

Ms. Teaira’s excited about winning weekend service for underserved neighborhoods like Hazelwood, and is passionate about fighting for reliable and safe transit for all communities. She is dedicated to the fight for a permanent low-income fare program because it is needed now more than ever for all communities. Ms Teaira Collins has been:

• A Hazelwood leader in PPT’s Our Money, Our Solutions campaign to create a resident-based mobility alternative to the Mon-Oakland Connector
• A PPT organizing fellow for the FairFares campaign and helped sign up dozens of riders for the pilot program
• A Volunteer and community advocate for The Mission Continues, Hazelwood Family Support Center, PPS PTA, and for people with Down Syndrome and Kidney Disease.
• A Member of the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council Board of Directors

Kevin Joa (he/him)

Kevin is a Port Authority bus operator and member of ATU Local 85. He was first elected to PPT’s Coordinating Committee in 2019 and won his re-election in 2021. Kevin has taken part in PPT campaigns to encourage Port Authority board members to ride transit; push for expanded transit funding in PA; and build more affordable housing near great transit. Kevin was part of bus ride-alongs with County Executive candidates to lay out demands for policies that support transit riders and workers for the new leadership of the region. He was most recently quoted on WESA for speaking out at the Pittsburgh City Council hearing about the Spin scooter pilot program about the ways that he’s observed the e-scooters affecting transit access at bus stops. 

Before joining Local 85 as a bus operator, Kevin worked at a local public school system. Kevin also is a proud owner of a beautiful dog!

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Overview of PPT’s Board Election Process

Pittsburghers for Public Transit is a grassroots, democratic, member-led organization that fights for racial justice and public transit as a human right. The election of a Board of Directors from and by our general membership is a cornerstone of what keeps us accountable to our members. The Board is responsible for strategizing and executing the organization’s campaigns, outreach, governance, and fundraising.

The Board’s Executive Committee chooses how many seats will be up for PPT’s board election each year. Our bylaws say that our Board can be anywhere from 5 to 15 people and that 2 seats are reserved for transit workers connected to a local transit union. Earlier this year our Board’s Executive Committee decided to open 6 seats to be elected from our general membership, and 1 seat to be elected to a transit worker.

Each spring, the PPT membership nominates fellow members to run for the Board of Directors. If those members accept the nomination, then they are invited to submit a photo and bio to be placed on the ballot, and they are invited to speak about their qualifications at the July General Member Meeting.

PPT Members in good standing can cast their ballots for two weeks in July. The nominees with the highest vote totals are invited to join the Board of Directors for a 2-year term.

How can PPT members vote?

PPT Members in good standing can cast their ballots from July 12th to August 9th using the form below. The nominees with the highest vote totals are invited to join the Board of Directors for a two-year term. As a reminder, all active PPT members commit to doing the following:

1. Agree to uphold PPT’s Transit Bill of Rights. 
2. Pay dues to support our budget. We encourage members to give at least $2.75 monthly (the cost of a single PRT fare), but no one is turned away because of funds.
3. Take part to help us win our campaigns. PPT Members contribute to our campaigns in many different ways, and you can find the way that’s right for you. This could mean anything from joining meetings to voting in our elections, participating in a committee, spreading the word on social media, to speaking up for transit at a public meeting.

If you are unsure of your PPT Membership status, you can check by email (info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org) or by phone ( 412-626-7353 ).

PPT Members can vote below:

Legislators, advocates praise new bill HB 1307 to allow PA Counties to expand funding for public transit

This recap is reprinted from Transit for All PA!’s website

An enthusiastic crowd of State Legislators, Transit Agency Representatives, Transit Worker Union Leaders, and Transit Advocates led by Representative Joe Hohenstein, gathered on the steps of the State Capitol for a press conference on the morning of June 20th to promote Hohenstein’s new House Bill HB 1307 that would allow the SEPTA region, Allegheny County, and Lancaster County the option to raise local transit funding to supplement existing state funding for transit. 

“SEPTA has been there for us and now we need to be able to step up and be there for them. The funding flexibility in the local revenue generation is essential to the survival of public transit and public transit is essential to our economic growth. Passing this bill is going to give Philadelphia and surrounding counties the ability to support one of the largest people-moving systems in the country. And our folks in Allegheny County will see the economic benefits from this as well,” said Representative Joe Hohenstein during the press conference. 

The proposed legislation would give these local municipalities the freedom to increase local funding to supplement existing state funding and help solve these challenges. With the wealth of new federal funding available to Pennsylvania through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), it’s critical that we tackle this problem now. These federal funding packages can offer our region billions of dollars, but our transit agencies require additional local matching dollars to qualify for federal funding. Without local matching dollars, cities in other states will be more competitive to the business community and receive greater investment, putting Pennsylvania further behind.

“For SEPTA, it means we could compete for over $2 billion dollars. Otherwise, we will leave that money on the table. Trust me, other state transportation agencies across the country would love to have that money. Our county leaders recognize the importance of mass transit to the economic vitality of their communities and are ready to act to fund these important investments for mass transit. However, in order to close the loop to secure these federal dollars we need the General Assembly to enact new options for matching funds. We want to compete.“ said Leslie Richards, CEO and General Manager of SEPTA.

“The 182nd district in Center City Philadelphia, my district, has more public transit infrastructure than anywhere else in the entire state of Pennsylvania. Because of that our communities are more affordable, more walkable, and for our seniors, it is easier to age in place. All of these things are partially because we have some of the most public transit infrastructure in the entire Commonwealth. It’s time to bring that to the rest of the state,” says Representative Ben Waxman enthusiastically.

This will enable the SEPTA region and Allegheny County to address our aging transportation infrastructure and backlog of capital projects, and with prompt action will provide an avenue for generational investment into our public transit systems through the current federal funding opportunities.

“Transportation is a cornerstone of independence. To make transportation more accessible, it is vital to seniors and people with disabilities, but there is more work to be done. The capital funding option from HB 1307 and HB 902 could help improve our transit system infrastructure and make it more accessible to the people in our community,” says disability advocate Kwanesha Clarke of Liberty Resources/ADAPT.

Enabling local source funding for our PA transit systems has long been one of the key needs to ensure that transit is fully funded in our regions, and is a central demand in the Transit for All PA! platform. It would provide the local match needed to access the unprecedented funding available through the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and advance some truly transformative transit projects to improve transit accessibility, air quality, and economic outcomes in our regions.

Nearly 20 organizations across the state have signed on to a letter supporting HB 1307 and HB 902 and expanded resources for PA transit systems. Read their letter here.

Media Recap

• Allegheny County supports bill to add local taxes to support transit projects, from Ed Blazina at the Pittsburgh Union Progress
• SEPTA and some Philly Dems want the state to let counties raise taxes for public transit, from DaniRae Renno at the Philadelphia Inquirer
• Philadelphia Democrat proposes more local options for mass-transit funding, from Samuel O’Neil at the Pennsylvanian Capital Star

More photos!

When it Comes to Shared E-Scooters (and All Transportation Initiatives), Legislators Should Center Those With the Most at Stake

This week, as the PA Senate decided not to take up legislation that would extend and expand shared E-Scooter programs in Pennsylvania, they have effectively stopped the SPIN scooter pilot program here in Pittsburgh. Residents throughout Pittsburgh who are disabled, elderly, have real mobility needs, and are in search of real mobility solutions have long raised concerns about scooters and their prioritization in the City’s transportation policy and the unreliable, untransparent data around safety and environmental impact that the company was reporting to the City. It is good that the PA Senate heard these concerns, however, the end of this Scooter pilot is not a victory. The issues that we have uplifted throughout our campaign have not been won and we will continue organizing toward these goals because they are more pressing than ever.

So as legislators in the City of Pittsburgh and in Harrisburg continue to shape the future of our transportation system, Pittsburghers for Public Transit continues to advocate for the kinds of mobility priorities that will make equity and access a reality in our communities, all of which are at the heart of PPT’s Pittsburgh 100 Day Transit Platform:

1. Sidewalks are critical. Our sidewalks are the most important public right-of-ways for our most vulnerable community members, including for older adults, for parents pushing strollers, for people with disabilities, and for transit riders. Instead of policies that disinvest in public spaces and sell them off to private interests, our government agencies need to develop, maintain, and keep sidewalks clear of all obstacles. This includes shared e-scooters, car parking, sidewalk dining and construction equipment. For starters, if scooters were ever to work in a city, they must be parked in corrals and the company should be fined– not financially rewarded– for sidewalk parking violations.

2. People with disabilities, low-income residents, and residents in transit deserts should be at the table, making decisions around the mobility gaps that they experience the most acutely. These residents should not have to struggle to be heard once decisions have long been made on their behalf, policy decisions based on the dubious premise that the needs of the most vulnerable are being served even in their absence or against their objections.

3. Pennsylvania cities need to have transportation policies that support and center public, mass transit, which moves the lion’s share of our residents– hundreds of thousands of people each day – traveling outside of single-occupancy vehicles. The central transportation mandate of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) should be to support the dignified and easy access of residents and visitors to quality public transit: through connected and clear sidewalks, bus shelters, bus priority lanes, and incentives that support affordable housing near our best transit assets.