PPT Member Lorena takes it to the airwaves to talk about her transit organizing with Pittsburgh's Latino Community
La Mega Pittsburgh sat down with one of our PPT members who has shown herself to be a leader in her community, and ours. Lorena has been working fiercely to get the Latino community in Pittsburgh connected to transit resources and to bring Spanish language access to the transit system in our county. Along with PPT and Case San José Lorena has been a driving force in planning and implementing the Transit Tours showing Latino residents and their families the ins and outs of the PRT transit system. We are so proud and excited that Lorena got to share with La Mega the work that she has been doing with us.
Through Lorena and PPT’s other member-led organizing there have been some crucial wins for Latino households in Allegheny County.
Transit System Wins for the Latino Community and Beyond
One win has been the integration of the Spanish language throughout our transit system including: bilingual stations along the Red Line have gained Spanish language access, as well as Spanish access on PRT’s Customer Service line (412-422-2000), and Spanish language info on some LED info boards along the Red Line.
Another win has been that after years of fighting for free fares came a pilot which demonstrated how access to transit without the barriers of fares dramatically improved the lives of transit riders. This year Allegheny County won a permanent half fare program.
In addition, after the terrible shutdown of the Red Line in 2022-2023 left passengers stranded in the cold, relying on shuttles that were completely unreliable and there was no communication from Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), much less communication in Spanish, groups like PPT and Casa San Jose fought hard to make it known that this was not acceptable and this year when they were going to announce the Red Line repairs to the community, they reached out to PPT and Casa to help organize a community meeting and spread the message. That meeting was well-attended and prepared residents for the changes in the transit system that they knew would heavily impact their day to day lives.
Lastly, as previously mentioned, Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Casa San Jose are organizing Transit Tours for Latinos who have just arrived in the area, to help orient them to our public transportation system, how to get to important destinations and general customs in this new city. Lorena says that she has seen people’s lives change after these tours.
How You Can Help Your Community, Too
The work doesn’t end here. While we’ve had wins, we look forward to continuing to work closely with our Latino community and organizers in that community to bring transit justice to that community, along with many others. One way we know we can deliver on improving transit is by providing a roadmap for Visionary Transit Service. That’s why PPT has recently launched its Visionary Transit Service campaign, because we know that visionary transit is possible, necessary and transformative to the residents of our county.
To get involved in envisioning transit service that we know is possible please visit our website: pittsburghforpublictransit.org/vts to share your story with us and read the report from PPT’s research committee on Visionary Transit Service. Thank you to Lorena for sharing some of PPT’s vision with her community and with La Mega Pittsburgh radio. We hope to see you out there with us fighting for your community soon. The work continues!