Image description: Black text highlighted in yellow reads “Transit for All Organizing Spring Training 2026”, interspersed with blue-filtered images of transit advocates at rallies, holding signs, and boarding the bus. Smaller text below reads “March 20-21, 2026, Pittsburgh, PA”, with the Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Transit for All PA logos.

You’re invited: Join transit riders, workers, and supporters from across PA and the country for the 2026 Transit for All Organizing Spring Training!

Transit can transform our communities – but it is up to us as organizers to build the grassroots movement to make it happen!

This March, you are invited to join Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Transit for All PA!, and advocates from across the country at the third annual Transit for All Organizing Spring Training.

It’s going to be bigger and better than ever before. This organizing training day will have workshops led by local advocates and advocates outside of Pittsburgh, and will have topics relevant to transit organizers at all levels and all regions.

Join peers and leaders from Pennsylvania and across the country for a Transit Tour through Pittsburgh, a Happy Hour, and a full day jam-packed with an inspiring plenary, engaging workshops, field visits, and lots of community building with comrades from near and far. Learn more about our workshops below!

For transit riders, workers, and advocates, there’s no other event like this. Space is limited and pre-registration is required for all events, so reserve your spot now!

Pre-registration is required for all events. The last day to register for Spring Training is Friday, March 13th, 2026.

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Table of Contents

• Schedule at a Glance
• Tickets are sold out
• Logistics
  • Location Information
  • Discounted Room Block for Overnight Stays
  • Accessibility
  • Food & Drink
  • Covid-19 Procedures
  • More information
• Workshop and Event Descriptions
• About Our Presenters

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Tickets are sold out

Tickets are sold out. The last day to register was Spring Training is Friday, March 13th, 2026.

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Logistics

Location Information

The Courtyard Pittsburgh University Center is located at 100 Lytton Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15213, in the amenity-rich Oakland neighborhood.

The hotel is very easily accessible from the airport via public transit. It is about a four-minute walk or roll from the Fifth Ave and Tennyson Ave PRT stop, which is serviced by the following routes:

• 54 Northside-Oakland-Southside
• 58 Greenfield
• 61A North Braddock
• 61B Braddock-Swissvale
• 61C McKeesport-Homestead
• 61D Murray
• 67 Monroeville
• 69 Trafford
• 71A Negley
• 71B Highland Park
• 71C Point Breeze
• 71D Hamilton
• 75 Ellsworth
• 81 Oak Hill
• 83 Bedford Hill
• 93 Lawrenceville-Hazelwood
• P3 East Busway-Oakland

Discounted Room Block for Overnight Stays

We have secured a discounted hotel room block at the venue, so that those joining from outside Pittsburgh can stay overnight.

Discounted rooms are available for $189 per night, only for those who book before Friday, February 27, 2026.

If you’d like to reserve a hotel room in our block, please use this link.

Accessibility

The Courtyard Pittsburgh University Center has accessible onsite parking and an accessible main entrance. All meeting areas are accessible, and there are elevators throughout the building. More information about the hotel’s accessibility features can be found on their web page.

ASL interpretation will be provided at all events.

Food and Drink

At happy hour on Friday, let PPT buy your first round! Drink tickets will be provided to all those who pre-register. Snacks will be available from 5:15-5:45, first-come-first-serve.

On Saturday, PPT will provide a continental breakfast for participants in the morning, lunch, and mid-day snacks—as well as coffee and tea, all day.

PPT will label provided food with common allergens.

COVID-19 Procedures

Masks are encouraged indoors at our events and will be available on-site at check-in. We also encourage everyone to take an at-home COVID-19 rapid test before arriving. Please stay home if you are feeling sick or have come into contact with someone who has COVID-19.

More Information

If you have any questions, please email info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org, and a member of the team will get back to you!

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Workshops and Events

Friday, March 20

3:30 PM: Transit Tour

Starting point: 4836 Ellsworth Ave, Pittsburgh PA, 15213

Come on a transit tour of Pittsburgh, tailored to you! Local transit advocates and members will lead this tour, beginning at the Pittsburghers for Public Transit office, and ending near our final destination: our attendee Happy Hour in the Strip District. Guides will lead us through local landmarks, service issues, our geography’s impact on the transit system, and new visions for the system’s potential.

5:00-7:00 PM: Happy Hour

Aslin Beer Company, 1801 Smallman St. 

You’re invited to mingle with the crew before the big day of workshops! Join up for chit-chat, cocktails, snacks, and activities in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District. We will be welcomed to the weekend by special remarks from Allegheny County Executive and transit champion Sara Innamorato!

Food will be served between 5:15 and 5:45 PM, first-come, first-served. Pre-registration is required, and comes with one drink ticket! RSVP at the form above.

Saturday, March 21

Courtyard Pittsburgh University Center
100 Lytton Ave., Pittsburgh PA, 15213

Opening Plenary

9:00-9:45 AM
Presenters:
Veronica Coptis, Senior Advisor, Taproot Earth
Andrew Slack, PA-based narrative strategist, facilitator, and storyteller
T4APA! Organizing Fellows Kearasten Jordan (Lancaster) and Laura Pauls-Thomas (Lancaster)

Narrative Change: Our Stories Build the World We Want

Block 1 (10:00-11:30 AM)
Presenters:
Nadia Awad, Content Director, Narrative Initiative
Andrew Slack, author, comedian, facilitator, and advocate
Clair Hopper, Digital Organizer, Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Transit for All PA!

Our stories are like stars spread across the night sky: bright, but too numerous to make sense of each one. When our stories share values and themes, we start to create constellations of shared narratives. These narratives have the power to drive public opinion shifts and real policy improvements. Join this workshop to learn how our movement can use Narrative Change Theory to transform our stories into victories.

#VoteTransit: Bus Mayor Elections and Beyond

Block 1 (10:00-11:30 AM)
Presenters: 
Betsy Plum, Executive Director of Riders Alliance (New York City) 
Barb Warwick, Pittsburgh City Council member, District 5

In New York City, Seattle, Boston and here in Pittsburgh, City leaders have shown that faster, more affordable public transit is a winning electoral issue. In this workshop, Riders Alliance Executive Director Betsy Plum will share how transit riders supported now-NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani to center transit justice in his campaign and how that helped propel him to a historic victory. Betsy Plum and Pittsburgh Councilwoman Barb Warwick will also lay out both the challenges and opportunities for transit riders to collaborate with—and hold accountable—municipal elected officials to make our transit dreams a reality.

Art-making Activity: Craft a Beautiful Rally Sign!

Lunchtime (11:45 AM-12:50 PM)

Facilitated by Arts Excursions Unlimited, exercise your creative mind and use your hands to create a sign for your next transit rally—one that inspires, moves, and (of course) looks great!

Movement Moment: Grounding, Accessible Yoga Practice

Lunchtime (11:45 AM-12:50 PM)

Facilitated by yoga instructor, massage therapist, community activist, and PPT member Mona Meszar (she/they), use this short, chair-based practice to ground in your body, and refresh your mind for the day ahead.

Mobile Workshop! Field Communications: Storytelling from the Street

Block 2 (1:00-2:30 PM)
Presenters: 
Joe Conniff, Video Editor, Educator, and Producer
Remote support from Marcelese Cooper, Teaching Assistant Professor in the Film and Media Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh

Our stories are our power, and organizing with stories can help the movement win big. Join this workshop to learn how to make in-the-field videos that develop our transit justice narrative and help us build power for this movement. We strongly suggest that participants take the Narrative Change workshop earlier that day, or have prior experience in our volunteer Communications Committee. Pre-registration is required; reserve your spot at the form above!

Bargaining for the Common Good: Worker/Community Solidarity

Block 2 (1:00-2:30 PM)
Presenters: 
Connor Chapman, University of Pittsburgh Graduate Workers Union and Pittsburghers for Public Transit
Ronni Getz, UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania

Learn how unions and community organizations can join together to win demands far beyond traditional union labor contracts, advancing the public good! Explore case studies from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, unions whose members not only challenged the boss, but took on inequitable systems within their professions. Participants will learn strategies for developing demands that benefit workers and the wider community—as well as ideas for using these principles to boost labor’s demands before the next contract fight.

Organizing with Disability Justice at the Center

Block 2 (1:00-2:30 PM)
Presenters:
Anna Zivarts, a leading author, transit rider organizer and founder of the Nondriver Alliance out of Washington state
Dr. Josie Badger, director of the national RSA-Parent Training, Information, technical assistance center (RAISE), and founder of several orgs including the Pennsylvania Youth Leadership Network (PYLN), the Children’s Hospital Advocacy Network for Guidance and Empowerment (CHANGE), and J.Badger Consulting
Moderator:
Alisa Grishman, founder of Access Mob Pittsburgh and PPT Board member

Disability justice is a core part of transit justice. In this workshop, organizers Anna Zivarts from Washington State and Dr. Josie Badger from New Castle, Pennsylvania will share practical ways to organize for better transit in both rural and urban communities—led by disabled riders themselves. They will discuss how to build strong coalitions and support disabled transit riders to move into leadership and decision-making roles, putting the principle “nothing about us, without us” into action.

Big Tech in Transit: Automation, Microtransit, Surveillance, and Data

Block 3 (2:45-4:15 PM)
Presenters:
Dr. Sarah Fox, Assistant Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University; Director, Tech Solidarity Lab
Sue Scanlon, Transit Operator, Pittsburgh Regional Transit; Pittsburghers for Public Transit board member
Ziggy Edwards, Leader, Mon-Oakland Connector Campaign

Across the United States, AI and private tech firms are playing an increasing role in our transportation systems- with serious consequences for transit workers and riders. In this workshop, CMU Professor Dr. Sarah Fox will share insights from her work alongside unionized transit workers to identify emerging tech challenges to transit jobs, and share strategies to ensure these technologies support worker rights, safety, and autonomy. A Pittsburgh transit worker and rider will also highlight lessons learned from the successful campaign – entitled “Our Money, Our Solutions” against the autonomous vehicle microtransit project “The Mon-Oakland Connector.”

Transit Isn’t Just Urban: Organizing in Small Systems & Everywhere

Block 3 (2:45-4:15 PM)
Presenters: 
Connor Descheemaker (they/them), Statewide Campaign Manager, Transit for All PA
T4APA! Organizing Fellows Angela Adler and Laura Pauls-Thomas (Lancaster), Benjamin Felker-Quinn and Andria Ahrens (Lehigh Valley)

We always say transit exists in all 67 counties across Pennsylvania, but what does that really mean, and who does it represent? Data shows us that there are just as high a percentage of non-drivers in our most rural communities as our most urban, and those in power need to serve those riders with reliable, accessible service for work, healthcare and communities. Right now, Transit For All PA is base-building in small cities to identify what service looks like, and what it should look like. Learn from six local organizers about what transit is like in their communities, and how they are reaching workers and peers to identify how to make it better.

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About Our Presenters

Sara Innamorato was sworn in as the first woman to serve as the Allegheny County Executive on January 2, 2024.  The Innamorato Administration’s guiding principle is to build a strong Allegheny County for All – one that serves all 1.3 million residents – built on a foundation of dignity and respect.

Sara has been a champion for transit riders locally, appointing a Pittsburghers for Public Transit member to the Pittsburgh Regional Transit Board of Directors, directing her Department of Human Services to start a half-fare transit program, and leading efforts to expand transit funding from the state.

Arts Excursions Unlimited is dedicated to increasing the cultural connectivity of the citizens of the greater Hazelwood community. They have collaborated closely with Pittsburghers for Public Transit to create art that transforms people’s understanding of transit justice & energizes a movement fighting for all peoples’ needs.

Mona Meszar is a Pittsburgh based massage therapist & yoga instructor whose work seeks to center TLGBQIA communities, as well as those involved in anti-repression and anti-fascist organizing. Regardless of who you are or what you are facing, choosing stillness and rest is an active choice. It gives us the agency we require to reclaim our space and time from the banality of capitalism, white supremacy, and militarism. She seeks to help others find the strength, resilience, compassion, and persistence to heal from that trauma.

Veronica Coptis is a rural organizer in Appalachia from Greene County, Pennsylvania. For the last nine years, her most important role has been raising two spirited children and instilling in them strong values to fight for everyone’s freedom. For over 15 years, she has been organizing around the intersection of environmental/climate justice and economic justice. Veronica is currently the Senior Advisor with Taproot Earth, a frontline-rooted organization based in the Gulf South that works in Appalachia and amplifies solutions from the global Black diaspora. Taproot Earth invests in frontline communities, facilitates processes that build power and cultivates climate solutions advancing justice, democracy, climate reparations and community stewardship so we can all live, rest, and thrive in the places we love. In her early organizing Veronica worked with the Center for Coalfield Justice and the Mountain Watershed Association. She also owns Redneck Strategies LLC, which provides strategic guidance, facilitation, and training services. Additionally, she is the treasurer of the Rural People Rising Political Action Committee, creating independent political infrastructure to support everyday people taking the bold step to govern our communities.

​​Andrew Slack is a narrative strategist, facilitator, and storyteller from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he lives with his wife and son. His family roots run through Altoona, in the heart of rural PA, and Pittsburgh holds a special place in his story as Mr. Rogers Neighborhood helped shape his entire worldview and inspired him to co-author Save Santa’s Home, a children’s book that playfully inspires young people to advocate for climate action. Growing up with a beloved grandmother who lived with a significant disability from polio deepened his understanding of how access and dignity are inseparable.

Andrew came up through sketch comedy and theater, performing across the country and producing some of the earliest viral videos on YouTube. Twenty-five years ago, he cut his teeth in activism at a spiritual center for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, helping people who had been traumatized tell their stories. He went on to co-found the Harry Potter Alliance, spending a decade inspiring over a million fans to become first-time activists through the power of shared stories. His work connecting popular culture to social change, from The Hunger Games to economic inequality, Superman to immigrant rights, has spanned over 30 countries and earned him fellowships at Ashoka and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Andrew’s writing and speaking have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, CNN, and the Hollywood Reporter, where he recently co-authored a piece on Superman as an immigrant with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. He has spoken at TEDx, SXSW, Harvard, Yale, the Illinois Holocaust Museum, and over 100 other venues, and recently appeared on Doug Rushkoff’s acclaimed podcast Team Human. As an international activist, satirist, and narrative strategist, he has organized A-list celebrities and Indigenous leaders across the Global South; co-launched a satirical organization against oligarchy; and has advised the Ford Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, Netflix, the Teamsters, and the nation’s top immigration lawyers. His social impact campaigns have reached over 100 million views, and a curriculum he created around an Oscar-qualifying Indigenous animated short was distributed to over 20,000 educators. He now runs Imagine Better Stories LLC, working to elevate the stories we tell about ourselves and our world.

Nadia Awad is an interdisciplinary artist and writer, whose work focuses on narrative and justice. For over fifteen years, she has produced media on the lives of LGBT, HIV-affected, and MENA communities. She contributed 20 oral histories, many with Muslim and Arabic-speaking narrators, for the New York Trans Oral History Project, and created photographs and videos on trans athletes, HIV criminalization, and healthcare access for Lambda Legal. Nadia has written about film, memory, and power for The New Inquiry, The Journal of Palestine Studies, and Camera Obscura. Two forthcoming scholarly works, Terrorism in American Memory and a study on Middle Eastern asylum seekers, will feature her art. Nadia received a B.A. from York University. She lives in New York with her partner, and an ever-expanding collection of succulents.

Clair Hopper is a disabled human person who makes a happy living designing data systems and communications for a very cool organization. She comes to Transit Justice work via Climate Justice work, having lived through many climate-change-induced megastorms in her adoptive hometown of Houston, Texas. She spends her free time touching grass at the beautiful Garfield Community Farm, and sewing.

Betsy Plum is the Executive Director of Riders Alliance, New York’s grassroots organization of subway and bus riders fighting for reliable, affordable, world-class public transit. A strategic organizer and policy expert, Betsy has led the charge to win and defend transformative victories for riders—including the historic implementation of North America’s first congestion pricing program, alongside sustained organizing to elevate buses as a core component of the city’s transit and political agenda. Under her leadership, Riders Alliance has mobilized thousands of New Yorkers, shaped major state and city decisions, and built lasting political power for the millions who rely on public transit every day.

Barb Warwick is the Pittsburgh City Council member for District 5. She first became engaged in City politics through her neighborhood’s fight against the Mon Oakland Connector, a proposed road for private autonomous shuttles that would have run through a public park. Working closely with Pittsburghers for Public Transit as well as community and transit advocates across the city, the MOC was defeated. Barb then ran for City Council, where she quickly passed legislation to both protect City parks from private development and reallocate MOC funding to long-needed community projects, including traffic calming, new sidewalks, and renovating a local rec center. Barb continues to be a strong supporter of public transit in Pittsburgh, including funding bus shelters across the city and free transit passes for city employees.

Joe’s entertainment industry experience spans across motion pictures, commercials, theater, indie web series, and other mediums. He has done locations work for Lionsgate, The Walt Disney Company, and Revolver Entertainment, and taught media arts and filmmaking to schoolchildren in Los Angeles.  

Marcelese Cooper is an artist and educator originally from Santa Clarita, California, and has practiced throughout the Midwest and the South for nearly a decade. Influenced by their experiences as a young, black, queer individual, Cooper explores themes of identity, community, and the black/brown narrative through mediums like animation, performance art, and experimental video. They blend the DNA of dreams, science-fiction, and surreal art-house cinema in their work.

Connor Chapman is a labor/community organizer based in Pittsburgh, PA. Committed to building strong labor-community coalitions, he believes that robust connections between unions and community groups are key to preserving and expanding access to public goods. With the PPT Organizing Committee, Connor helped develop trainings for PPT members that draw on tried and true tactics from the labor movement. As a doctoral candidate in sociology, he also organized with the Pitt Graduate Workers Organizing Committee (United Steelworkers), where he helped secure union representation for 2,300 graduate workers at the University of Pittsburgh.

Anna Zivarts is a visually impaired parent and author of When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency (Island Press). Zivarts is a leader in the nondriver movement, organizing disabled transit riders in Washington State through the Nondriver Alliance and supporting the growth of the Week Without Driving, which she launched in 2021.

Dr. Josie Badger received her Bachelor’s degree from Geneva College in Disability-Law-and-Advocacy, a Master’s from the University of Pittsburgh in Rehabilitation Counseling, and a Doctorate from Duquesne University in Healthcare Ethics. In 2012, Dr. Badger was crowned Ms. Wheelchair America. In 2014 Josie founded J Badger Consulting Inc. where she provides youth development and disability consulting services. She is the National-Transition-Director for SPAN Parent-Advocacy-Network, working with RAISE and the National Healthcare-Transition Center for Youth with ID/DD. She is the Campaign Manager of the United Way of Southwestern PA’s #IWantToWork Campaign, to improve the employment of people with disabilities, is the lead Field Organizer for the Family Care Act that supports paid family leave, and is the developer of SAIL, a statewide advocacy and lobbying training program. Josie recently founded PEACOCK, a nonprofit that will further support the needs of the disability community and our underserved populations.

Alisa Grishman is a disability activist and founder of Access Mob Pittsburgh, an advocacy group that utilizes positive approaches to making change, such as education and economic incentives. A self-described shameless agitator, Grishman has also been arrested multiple times fighting for disability rights with ADAPT, a national advocacy group. Her work has been recognized locally and nationally in such outlets as the Rachel Maddow Show, NPR, Huffington Post, Esquire Magazine, WTAE, KDKA News, and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Along with her direct advocacy work, Grishman co-runs Ballots for Patients and Care to Vote, sister efforts that respectively collect emergency absentee ballots from hospitalized peoples on election day and work with nursing and personal care homes to help residents register to vote and fill out ballots. She also sits on the board of directors of the Keystone Progress Education Fund.

In her free time, Grishman enjoys knitting and collecting antique books. She lives in the Uptown neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA.

Sarah Fox is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the Human Computer Interaction Institute, where she directs the Tech Solidarity Lab. Her work examines the impacts of AI and automation on essential work sectors, with a focus on developing systems that center workers’ needs and expertise. 

Ziggy Edwards is a lifelong Pittsburgher who writes and edits for her local paper, along with the literary zine she co-founded. 

Sue Scanlon has been a public transit operator for 25 years with Pittsburgh Regional Transit. She is also a 16 year member of Pittsburghers for Public Transit. She was part of the successful pushback campaign against Pittsburgh’s Mon-Oakland Connector which was a plan for an automated ‘bus’ to transport people from the Hazelwood neighborhood to CMU. 

Connor Descheemaker has over a decade of experience building and facilitating diverse coalitions to change policy, support local communities, and provide professional education and development.  Born in Phoenix, they came of age as the area opened its first light rail line, and the changing city ignited their interest in mobility and community-building. There, they ran multiple all-ages art and performance spaces, and founded a business coalition to support walkable, sustainable, and affordable urban development. After four intermediary years in Seattle supporting architects in their professional development, and housing and transportation advocacy, they arrived in Philadelphia in 2022 to manage the Transit Forward Philadelphia coalition. There, they grew the group to 35 community-based organizations covering environmental justice, immigrant and refugee support, community development, political advocacy, and elder and disability rights. Now, they organize transit riders and workers across Pennsylvania to build rural-urban solidarity for accessible and reliable public transportation in all 67 counties.

Outline of this blog:

1. You Gotta Take a Look at This: Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Bus Line Redesign Refresh
2. Pittsburgh Regional Transit Needs to Get its House in Order Before Overhauling the System
   • Even the Best Service Plan Won’t Succeed if There’s No Money for Implementing It
   • It’s Not Just the Funding- the Agency Needs to Grow Ridership, Improve Reliability and its Communications Before Upending the System
3. Pittsburgh Regional Transit Doesn’t Have to Wait to Implement Common-Sense Improvements

Other resources from Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s Research Committee to learn more about the Bus Line Refresh:

• Explore How the Bus Line Refresh Could Affect Your Commute
• Communities Most-Harmed by PRT’s Draft 2.0 Bus Line Refresh
• TAKE ACTION: We Need Reliable, Robust Service that Serves Us. Send a letter to your legislator to support more funding for transit before the Bus Line Refresh is implemented

You Gotta Take a Look at This: Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Bus Line Refresh

In March of 2026, Pittsburgh Regional Transit dropped their “Bus Line Refresh” Draft 2.0, a proposed redrawing of our transit system’s bus network. This will have major impacts on our entire region – not only on transit riders and transit workers yes, but also our schools, healthcare providers, employers, our road congestion and our county’s economy. It is very important that everyone carefully review and give feedback on Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Bus Line Refresh online or at their upcoming meetings. Pittsburghers for Public Transit participatory research committee will be spending the next few weeks evaluating the proposal route-by-route. We’ll also be hosting Pittsburgh Regional Transit to review and discuss the draft plan in our April monthly meeting-you should join us there too! 

Public Feedback Matters: Riders Spoke Up about Bus Line Redesign Draft 1.0 and Pittsburgh Regional Transit listened to a lot. Over the past year, transit riders and workers have been organizing to improve the Bus Line Redesign and make it more of a Bus Line Refresh. Together, we called we called for a Bus Line Redesign that Benefits All. In our 2025 report, A Roadmap to a Bus Line Redesign for All, we told the agency to scale back the proposed disruption to our routes – most importantly, not to fix what’s not broken. We also called on the Agency to provide riders with a commute “calculator” so that we could model the proposed changes to our trips, and to ensure that the proposed “microtransit zone” communities like McKeesport, the Southern Hilltop and Natrona Heights are provided with expanded fixed route buses, not irregular on-demand shuttles. Riders and workers drove this message home with a petition that garnered more than 1,000 signatures, and a rally held on a cold and rainy January morning before delivering public feedback at the transit agency’s board meeting.

To PRT’s credit, they heard you, and have incorporated this feedback in the new proposal. There’s still a lot to review, however, and we expect that there will be both gems and concerns about this Draft 2.0. 

Pittsburgh Regional Transit Needs to Get Its House in Order Before Overhauling the System

Even the Best Service Plan Won’t Succeed if There’s No Money for Implementing It 

It is currently almost inconceivable that politicians in Harrisburg will pass a dedicated, long-term transit funding bill by 2027, the proposed implementation date for the Bus Line Refresh. The last time Pittsburgh Regional Transit did a Bus Line Redesign (the Transit Development Plan, also known as Connect ‘09), it was aborted in the middle because of a transit funding fiscal cliff.

At that time, new routes that had just started were rolled back, and others were never implemented. In fact, Pittsburgh Regional Transit had to cut 15% of overall transit service due to a lack of dedicated, expanded state funding (eliminating 29 routes, reducing 37 routes, and closing a bus garage). Riders cannot be asked to endure major service changes only to have them abandoned halfway through the process.

Frankly, even just stable funding is not good enough- the resources should be in place to reverse our cuts. 

We need more than this status quo. Our transit service is now beyond austere. Allegheny County currently has the lowest levels of transit service since the first half of the 20th century. Implementing this “cost-neutral redesign” will lock in the 20% service cuts we’ve experienced just in the last five years of the pandemic, and the nearly 40% cuts we’ve endured over the last 20 years.

With a cost-neutral redesign, Pittsburgh Regional Transit is shuffling deck chairs on the sinking Titanic and forcing unconscionable choices about which community will get more transit service at the expense of others, when all communities need and deserve more. 

It’s Not Just the Funding- Pittsburgh Regional Transit Needs to Grow Ridership, Improve Reliability and its Communications Before Upending the System

Pittsburgh Regional Transit must significantly grow ridership and improve service reliability before implementing the entirety of the Bus Line Refresh. Major bus changes, no matter how positive those changes are, will cause ridership loss at the outset. The Agency cannot afford to upend our bus system and lose more riders when it is starting at such a deficit. 

PRT’s ridership has declined the last two years in a row, to 59% of pre-pandemic ridership. By contrast, transit agencies nationwide have restored ridership to between 75%-85% of 2019 levels and are seeing ridership growth every year; PRT’s ridership recovery places them 136th out of 150 U.S. transit agencies (in the bottom 10%!) for restoration of ridership since the pandemic started. 

There is no shortage of ways that Pittsburgh Regional Transit can meaningfully grow ridership now – even under its current fiscal constraints. They can start by becoming unabashed champions of their new fare programs (Allegheny Go and the PRTner pass) which will make it cheaper and easier for more riders to access the bus. They can also restore the 71 and 61 bus lines to Downtown which resulted in huge ridership loss, and they can capitalize on the massive influx of visitors for the NFL Draft and other huge events this year. 

Moreover, until Pittsburgh Regional Transit can run its existing service effectively and reliably, riders have little faith that a wholly-redesigned bus system schedule can be successfully implemented. 

In PRT’s 2025 annual service report, it showed that PRT’s bus system on-time performance hovers at 66%. That means that 1 in every 3 buses do not show up when expected. Riders need to trust that they can get to their jobs, their doctors’ appointments, their schools and childcare facilities on time and reliably through transit.

PRT can improve schedule reliability principally by writing more realistic schedules. Riders and transit workers have been calling on the agency to write more realistic schedules for years (see our 2022 report, Representing our Routes). PRT’s routes have been largely the same for generations, and every day the agency acquires more real-time data about how much time it takes for operators to drive these routes. All of this information should ensure that their schedule reliability and that their on-time performance gets closer to 100%.

Also, Pittsburgh Regional Transit must improve their communications around schedule changes. Even with much smaller changes than the Bus Line Redesign, riders are very frequently left stranded because of inaccurate information on bus stops or the printed schedule, on their website’s service change notices and even what is communicated to the operators around routing. Over the past year, that was a common refrain around the Downtown and Oakland construction detours, and even around regularly scheduled service adjustments. Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s rider communications around transit schedule and stop changes must be on point before they execute a system-wide change of this scale that will upend service frequencies and span, route names, and bus stop locations.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit Doesn’t Have to Wait to Implement Common-Sense Improvements

Finally, the smaller, good elements of the plan – adding service frequency, modifying existing routings- that can be implemented during a regular upcoming service change, should. Riders should not have to wait years for service improvements that will grow ridership, alleviate overcrowding or improve service reliability.

The agency already has the ability to change service frequencies and completely change bus routing during the thrice-yearly schedule changes. If anything, Pittsburgh Regional Transit is already overzealous in changing schedules (sometimes for more than 50 routes) in a “regular service change.” Nothing inhibits PRT from making critical adjustments or improvements to the bus routes and schedules immediately.

Other aspects of the Bus Line Refresh plan, including rebranding (PAT and Port Authority of Allegheny County, anyone?) and the relocation and elimination of bus stops (see our article from 2019!) are obviously already within their power to implement anytime.

We agree that change is needed: we have organized transit riders and workers for years to ensure that our transit system makes needed changes to address its concurrent ridership, service reliability, and funding crises. We have put forward solutions around service improvements and fare strategies that would grow ridership and revenue in our current funding “status quo” environment, and authored reports around service reliability that highlight schedule reliability issues so that they can be fixed.  

The Bus Line Refresh is an important opportunity for transit riders and workers to weigh in on our bus network in the future. But while we weigh in on this plan, Pittsburgh Regional Transit must address its concurrent funding, ridership and reliability crises so that a good “refreshed” bus network builds upon a stable and resilient foundation. 

Image Description: an image of a Pittsburgh bus lane covered in ice and snow, next to bold black text reading “Pittsburgh needs a snow removal plan for non-drivers”.

This post was written by Alisa Grishman, Founder of Access Mob Pittsburgh, with support from Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Pittsburgh Center for Disability Justice, and BikePGH.

Even in snow, all Pittsburghers deserve the freedom to move.

On January, 25th, 2026, the City of Pittsburgh experienced a significant snowstorm. Since that event, our region has had persistently below-freezing temperatures- ensuring that unplowed, unshoveled snow remained where it fell for more than two weeks. Throughout this time, snow and ice have obstructed key sidewalk corridors, piled up in front of bus stops, and rendered curb cuts on street corners entirely inaccessible.

For the 30% of Pittsburghers who are non-drivers, the snowstorm and the City’s resulting inaction has been a prolonged disaster. 

Thousands of residents have been stranded, unable to leave their homes and safely access their grocery stores, medical appointments, schools and jobs. And people with disabilities have been disproportionately harmed by this failure to properly address snow conditions because there has simply been no accessible way to navigate our City’s right of ways under these conditions. Those who did venture out were forced to walk or roll on the street alongside active traffic, putting themselves into danger in order to access their daily needs. 

Our City’s lack of a pedestrian snow removal plan has become very apparent through this experience. 

The City failed to enforce statutes requiring property owners to shovel their sidewalks. Bus stops remain uncleared even two weeks later, and snow plows focused on clearing streets for single occupancy vehicles without regard to buses’ access to the curb. Worse of all, snow plows throughout the City used ADA curb ramps and sidewalks as storage space for large piles of ice and snow. 

How can the City keep our rights-of-way accessible to all after snowfall?

Access Mob, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Pittsburgh Center for Disability Justice and BikePGH recommend that the City of Pittsburgh Develop a Pedestrian Snow Preparedness Plan. This plan must do the following:

• Set clear roles within the City and County as to who is responsible for different aspects of snow removal. At present, the Department of Public Works is responsible for streets, and the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure cites property owners for failure to shovel sidewalks. There must be a specific agency charged with overseeing pedestrian right-of-way snow clearing efforts.
• Support the passage of Councilwoman Barb Warwick’s legislation for a Right-of-Way Accessibility Needs Inventory.
• Partner with Pittsburgh Regional Transit to identify and ensure clearing of high volume bus stops, stops serving critical infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and grocery stores, and stops with frequent ramp deployments.
• Formalize a relationship between the City and the County for collaborating around snow removal in pedestrian thoroughfares in the event of an extreme weather emergency.
• Prohibit plowing snow onto curb cuts at crosswalks.
• Update snow removal procedures at bus stops. Require roads and sidewalks at bus stops be cleared to the curb.
• Ensure that walking routes to our public schools are clear and usable for the students and parents who are required to walk.
• Ensure sidewalks on bridges are clear, which may involve creating maintenance agreements with adjacent municipalities.
• Create a program that would incentivize residents to go out into their communities and remove snow in vital locations such as curb ramps and bus stops. (In New York City, the Department of Sanitation has an ongoing program wherein residents can apply to be an Emergency Snow Shoveler. In the event of a heavy snowfall, this network can be activated and shovelers are paid $19.14/hour to shovel out curb ramps, crosswalks, bus stops, and fire hydrants. On February 4, 2026, Philadelphia announced that it, too, would be implementing a similar program focusing on curb ramps throughout the city.)
• Promote the Snow Angels program and incentivize participation.
• Develop a media package (social, print, and televised) to educate property owners on their responsibilities in regards to snow removal, emphasizing why it is so important to do it properly.

We urge City and County leaders to treat this moment with the seriousness it demands and to act now in preparation for future moderate and severe snow events. Mayor O’Connor has rightly recognized the need to invest in additional plows and equipment; that commitment must be matched by a comprehensive, enforceable sidewalk, bus stop and curb ramp snow removal strategy that prioritizes people who walk, use mobility devices, and rely on public transit. The failures of this storm response were not merely inconveniences—they created dangerous, exclusionary conditions that cut thousands of Pittsburghers off from work, healthcare, and community life. 

Access Mob, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Pittsburgh Center for Disability Justice and BikePGH respectfully request a meeting with the Mayor’s Office and City Council to discuss these recommendations and to collaborate on a clear, accountable plan for implementation. Pittsburgh can and must do better, and we stand ready to work with City leaders to ensure our City is accessible, equitable, and safe for all residents—no matter the weather. 

Take action: tell City Council to develop a snow removal plan that serves non-drivers!

Image Description: Black and yellow text reads “ICE OUT” on a pixelated gray and black gradient background.

Organizing around transit justice is about ensuring that all people have the freedom to move—to travel safely and with dignity everywhere we need to go. All communities should have the ability to freely access their places of school and work, grocery stores, healthcare, and places of recreation and play. 

ICE as an institution is structurally in opposition to that freedom of movement. It is a state instrument of violence, of repression and fear, of incarceration and isolation. We have seen the ways that they have systematically targeted our community of transit riders, which are disproportionately people of color, disabled people, low-income people, and immigrants. 

We are humbled by the solidarity, courage and organizing muscle of all those in Minneapolis, and particularly celebrate the leadership of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 in protecting transit riders and workers from state-sactioned violence. We endorse the call for a National Strike on Friday, Jan 30th, and support the organizing at the County, State and Federal levels to defend against, to defund and abolish ICE. 

We also stand in support of the proposed Allegheny County ordinance that would prohibit County employees and resources from assisting ICE, and protecting equal access to County services without regard to immigration status (real or perceived).

We encourage our community to sign onto a petition & pressure Allegheny County Council to support this ordinance. Click the button to tell Allegheny County Council that ICE is not welcome here.

image description: illustration of a red bus to the left of the image, small photo of smiling supporters to the right, text reads “Job listing Digital Organizer – Data Lead” with logos for Transit for All PA! and Pittsburghers for Public Transit.

The movement is hiring a new staff position! Check out the description below and apply if you’re a great candidate

January 2026

About Transit for All PA! and Pittsburghers for Public Transit

Transit for All PA! is fighting for more public transit that moves all Pennsylvanians. The campaign is led by Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT), which is a grassroots union of transit riders, workers, and neighbors. Together, PPT and Transit for All PA! organize for public transit that meets all needs, with no communities left behind.

PPT is a member-led grassroots union. Our members vote annually to elect fellow members to our Board of Directors, which manages our staff and finances. Members create and vote to approve our yearly campaign plans, and members work on our three volunteer-led committees to do the research, organizing, and communications projects needed to win our campaigns.

Together, we are creating transit systems that work for everybody, for our communities and our state, by organizing as poor and working-class people in a multi-racial movement for transit justice—and we need you with us in this fight.

Digital Organizer – Data Lead Position Summary

The Digital Organizer – Data Lead will build & manage our digital infrastructure, data strategy, online-to-offline organizing funnel to grow our movement and win our campaigns. The position will work in the organization’s small but mighty Digital Department, with the Digital Organizing Director and the Digital Organizer – Communications Lead. Close collaboration with the rest of the staff and our member leaders will be vital.

This is not an entry-level position; we require applicants to have a command of data management skills (such as managing databases, digital infrastructure and tools, workflows, and data hygiene) and experience with community organizing skills (such as facilitating meetings, trainings, events, and participation). It’s a big, broad job, and we work as a team to support each other and get it done.

 The Digital Organizer – Data Lead will report to the Digital Organizing Director.

Primary Job Responsibilities

1. Digital infrastructure building & management: co-create systems to maximize the efficacy of our data via digital and old-fashioned community organizing.
   • EveryAction! Grow an organizational culture committed to building a powerful EveryAction database and advocacy/communications toolset to win our campaigns. Work with EA to develop systems/segmentation to support our organizing across the state. Train staff on their appropriate roles in the database. Troubleshoot issues when they arise.
   • Manage the organization’s tech stack – Sharpen the use of our tech stack (which currently includes Everyaction, Mobilze, Getthru, Google Workspace, Zoom, Twilio, Asana and some others) and digital/analogue data by fixing bugs, building workflows, and training staff.
   • Build a culture of effective data collection + hygiene– Train staff/members on systems & practices, and lovingly hold our team accountable to our program. Make the benefits of our data practices tangible – graphs, dashboards, effective workflows, clear purpose.
     
2. Membership program growth: Cultivate a PPT Membership program that builds strong, caring, personal relationships that move people to action and sharpen our fundraising with small-dollar donors. That means we will need you to:
   • Grow membership & solidarity – build systems to increase the number of members.  Deepen new & existing members’ understanding of what it means to be part of this grassroots union.
   • Improve & maintain data/digital systems – Iterate on existing systems to track and report on membership program. Streamline program operations – recruitment, renewals, self-service, and more.
   • Increase revenue – Lead 2 large membership drives and 2 small recruitment campaigns throughout the year. Coordinate with the team on a fundraising calendar.
   • Deepen engagement and leadership development – Help members increase their involvement in our organizing & develop leaders who can take charge of making change in their communities. 
     
3. People Organizing – Yes, this position will spend lots of time on a computer, but it will also require strong real-life relational organizing to be successful:
   • Create & lead our Data Volunteer Team (name is a work in progress) – establish a volunteer team  work on data projects. 
   • Large-event planning & logistics – lend a hand with large in-person and virtual events held throughout the year

Qualities We Are Looking For

Versed in Strategic Infrastructure. You have experience building and managing digital infrastructure to strengthen organizations. Systems and tools should be clear, intuitive, and accessible for staff and volunteers to utilize.

Accountability Focused. You are a rigorous systems thinker who can create digital infrastructure to accurately assess our current engagement capacity, identify opportunities for growth, and demonstrate the efficacy of different organizing and communications strategies.

Visionary and Committed. You are an organizer at heart, working towards justice for our communities. You are caring, invested, and accountable to your fellow staff, PPT’s democratically-elected board leadership, and membership.

A Swiss Army Knife. You are resourceful and creative, willing to do what it takes to make a project succeed. You can handle a lot in a fast-paced, multi-faceted work environment.

In(ter)dependent. Can work independently, self-managing your time, while maintaining close communication with remote teams. You are flexible and know that organizing doesn’t always happen between 9 am and 5 pm – and you respect your time and your team’s by taking flex time to keep everyone at a 40hr work week. You believe in people and know everyone can contribute in different ways to win a better world.

Required Qualifications

• Support Transit for All PA! + Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s mission, vision, goals, and theory of change
• Deep personal investment in the intersectional struggle for transit justice, housing justice, disability justice, racial justice and environmental justice
• Experience in multi-racial, multicultural settings
• Spreadsheet prowess and admin-level proficiency in 21st-century office tools: Google Suite, Zoom, Asana etc
• 2-3 years of managing digital systems and infrastructure for an organization like CRMs, websites, and tools for digital activism
• 1+ years experience in creating training materials and training organizational staff. 
• Access to reliable internet, phone, and remote office arrangements. 

Preferred Qualifications

• 2-3 years of community organizing experience (paid or volunteer), preferably with grassroots member-led base-building organizations or unions, moving people to volunteer, donate, attend events, or take action for social change
• 1+ years experience in PPT membership and/or the Transit for All PA! campaign, and familiarity with Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s/Transit for All PA!’s community and organizational culture. 
• Ability to write and speak a second language, preferably Spanish

Location and Travel

Our staff must be willing to work a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends – while also valuing rest, humanity, and taking time for our own needs and the team’s.

The Digital Organizer – Data Lead can live anywhere in Pennsylvania, but will need to be able to travel to Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and other parts of PA 4-5 times a year. If the hire lives in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, some level of in-office time with local staff will be required. The hire will need to have some flexibility and give input on our “workplace norms” as we grow to operate at a statewide level. 

Salary and Benefits

This is a full non-exempt position. Salary is $65,000 a year, and includes high-quality, zero premium and zero deductible family health care, free transit pass, unmatched and matched 401k retirement contributions, and generous paid leave time. PPT is committed to an access-focused culture centered around Disability Justice principles and believes in a workplace culture with a healthy work-life balance.

How To Apply & Hiring Timeline

Please email a resume, cover letter, and writing/work samples to Dan Yablonsky, PPT/T4APA’s Digital Organizing Director, at dan@pittsburghforpublictransit.org. To ensure your email is received, please include “PPT Digital Organizer – Data Lead” as the subject line. References will be asked for candidates who advance in the process.  Candidates will only be contacted if our hiring team chooses to pursue an interview.

Pittsburghers for Public Transit is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, familial status, sexual orientation, national origin, ability, age, or veteran status.

All applications received by February 20th, 2026 are guaranteed to be reviewed, but applications will be accepted until the position is filled. The target start date for this new hire is March 20, 2026.

Image description: photo of a newspaper clipping sourced from Claudette Colvin and published in a Guardian profile in 2021. There are two headlines reading “Girl, 15, Guilty in Bus Seat Case” and “Negro Girl Found Guilty of Segregation Violation,” as well as a photo of a young Black girl with tortoiseshell glasses, short curly hair wearing a sweater looking into the camera and lightly smiling.

Colvin’s story took too long to surface because she was at the time an unwed, pregnant Black girl; then, as now, some argued that the only people whose voices and actions should be recognized are those whose stories are seen as perfectly respectable and unassailable. 

But that is wrong: we are all deserving. 

We are all deserving of life free from injustice and violence, and Claudette Colvin deserved to be celebrated and supported for her courage – not despite the fact of her pregnancy and her youth, but especially because she was just a child of 15 when she was arrested for the civil disobedience, and one who was particularly vulnerable because she didn’t have a husband and because she was bearing a child. At great risk to herself, she stood up for justice.

Image Description: Photo of Ms. Lisa Gonzalez wearing a red PPT shirt, long black braids and glasses looking at the camera and holding a picture book of Claudette Colvin, with coloring sheets of buses in the background. Her photo is surrounded by peonies and other flowers.

This image above is that of our own transit and civil rights icon, Ms. Lisa Gonzalez, pictured here holding up a book on Claudette Colvin. For several years, she led a PPT table on MLK Day in which she would share Claudette’s story with children at the Kelly Strayhorn theater. 

Today we also remember the late Ms. Lisa Gonzalez as well as Mr. Samuel Jordan, leader of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, who became a friend to Claudette Colvin and told her story to our generation of organizers in the fight for transit justice. He was a mentor and peer to PPT, and active in the national rider coalition, the TRUST (Transit Riders of the U.S. Together). Mr. Jordan himself passed away last August. 

We cherish our movement storytellers as well as those whose courage was showcased in the histories they tell.

Ms. Claudette Colvin, Ms. Lisa Gonzalez, Mr. Samuel Jordan, presente-

PPT builds Transit justice every day, every month, every year—and 2025 was no exception.

So what does justice look like for transit riders and for transit workers? 

Transit justice begins and ends with all of us at the table—in Pittsburgh City Hall, in PRT’s boardroom, in Harrisburg, and in Washington. 

Transit justice is about riders and workers setting the table– making the table large enough to hold all of us and our dreams- and not merely accepting the crumbs.

In 2026, more of you were at the table and set the agenda than ever before:

• You testified at PRT’s service hearings and addressed the PRT Board of Directors around the Bus Line Redesign 1.0 and our transit service quality. 
• You spoke up for affordable housing and bus shelters and passing a budget for free transit for all downtown City workers at Pittsburgh City Council and City Planning. 
• Over 15 of you from the Mon Valley, the Southern Hilltop communities and transit workers committed to a months-long organizing fellowship, where through intensive study and practice have refined your expertise on the needs and opportunities around transit in your communities.
• As part of the weekly research committee meetings or the statewide Transit for All PA calls, you developed our policy demand for service and state funding, putting pen to paper to make a plan for more transit, not less. 
• You met with dozens of City and state legislators telling your transit story, putting forward transit funding solutions and demanding more transit, not less.
• Joined the inaugural Organizing Committee training series, building critical campaign-winning skills in our community.
• You hosted the largest national gathering of transit advocates for a conference on transit skills-building 

This year, transit was the defining issue in the state budget fight: state legislators have said never heard more about an issue—ever—than they did this year about transit. 

That is because of you. 

The Transit for All PA policy package for service growth and expansion—the legislative proposal that you and hundreds of your peers across the state developed and ratified—is the only transit legislation being considered by legislators for the next two years.

Your work has won us all a seat at a table. A table big enough for everyone, and a table big enough to hold our dreams. 

That’s the transit justice we delivered in 2025.

2025’s Tangible Transit Organizing Wins

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win.” – Assata Shakur

We’re not just committed to grassroots organizing, we are committed to winning what our communities need and deserve. Here are some of the wins you racked up in 2025:

• Averted the most imminent, catastrophic transit cuts in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia’s history through months of rallying, public testimony, participatory research on state transit funding policy, legislative visits, letter writing and more. 
• Protected transit access for shoppers & workers at the Waterfront mall (and had the most ruckus press conference this town has ever seen with a bus stop marching band parade)!
• Won free transit passes for all 750 downtown City of Pittsburgh employees through PRT’s new bulk transit discount program, the PRTner pass.
• Conducted bus shelter audits and crowdsourced rider data to help the City identify and install new bus shelters, so riders have a dignified and safe place to wait. These shelters were made possible by the funds that you won in the 2025 City of Pittsburgh Budget- the first ever transit amenities line item in Pittsburgh history.

2025 by the Numbers

There’s no way around it: in 2025, PPT has grown bigger, bolder, and faster than ever before. 

To give you a sense of this growth, staff measure the size of our Movement by the number of people in a contact database—in other words, folks who have agreed to be organized around our issues. 

Thanks to the organizing prowess of PPT’s local and statewide members, our database contacts have grown an absolutely stunning 72% since December of 2024. That’s just over 32,500 people who joined the fight in 2025. Check out this (awe-inspiring!) graph that charts contact growth over the past year: 

Image Description: a graph of red bars showing the growth of PPT & Transit for All PA! supporters: from just over 10,000 in Dec. 2024, to around 45,000 in Dec. 2026.

If that data isn’t juicy enough for you, take a look at these other stats showing this massive growth: 

• 350,000+: letters Pennsylvanians sent to their state legislators in support of robust, sustainable transit funding
• 32,500+: new contacts added to the contact database in 2025
• 350: Pennsylvanians who traveled to Harrisburg for a rally and lobby day supporting state transit funding (legislative partners told staff that this was the biggest rally they’ve ever seen at the Capitol!) 
• 50: PA Senate districts with Transit for All PA supporters (yes, that means supporters in every single legislative district in Pennsylvania!) 
• 100+: attendees at PPT’s 2025 National Transit Advocacy Spring Training (want to join in for Spring Training in 2026?)
• 1500+: members of PPT, thanks to the new, more inclusive membership definition
• 317: PPT members who contributed to our Year-End Member Drive to build new constellations of power
• 41: members who started a monthly recurring dues-paying membership, sustaining transit organizing for the long haul

Most of all, our victory is in our clarity of purpose across so many differences. Our victory is in our smart, committed, caring community. Because the damn fascists are doing everything they can to divide us—by race, geography, by our abilities, by our income, by our nationalities. They wouldn’t try so hard if they weren’t so afraid of us, of how powerful we are together. 

In 2025 we built a new constellation of power here at PPT. We’ve won many things, but more victories can and must be on our horizon in 2026. 

In sum: cheers to you, to us, and to our collective liberation.

Image Description: a bus stop titled “Pressely St.” decorated with a red starburst, and pictures of 3 PPT members holding rally signs and smiling. Black and red text reads “Unveiling our new bus shelters: celebrating the Transit Stop Improvement Program”.

Join PPT and the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure for a Bus Shelter Celebration on Feb. 4th, Transit Equity Day, and the 2-year anniversary of the launch of PPT’s Shelter Campaign. We will be celebrating the launch of the first new bus shelter created as a result of our organizing and partnership with the City of Pittsburgh! 

We will meet at the new shelter at the Cedar Ave and Pressley St inbound bus stop, on the City’s northside, sharing warm beverages, sweet treats, and reflections of the work we’ve done and the road yet ahead. There will be special speakers and opportunities to learn  about PPT’s upcoming infrastructure initiatives.

A Look Back at our Bus Shelter Campaign

Image Description: a yellow, black, and red timeline graphic showing the progression of PPT’s Bus Shelter Campaign, from the first bus shelter audits in Spring 2024 to Transit Equity Day 2026.

When we last updated you, dear PPT members, we were launching our own 2025 Bus Stop Summer. This came after our first bus shelter victory – the allocation of funds for transit amenities in Pittsburgh’s 2025 Capital Budget, and the City of Pittsburgh’s 2025 Transit Stop Improvement Program launch. 

On a hot 90-degree day in July, four different teams of PPT members set out on a one-day Bus Stop Audit Blitz to help the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) gather information on the conditions of bus stops. The goal was to identify enough stops to rehome several “orphaned” bus shelters living at inactive bus stops throughout the city. 

29 high-rider stops across 14 neighborhoods in the city of Pittsburgh were visited. 10 of those stops were deemed eligible for bus shelters by PPT members who were trained according to Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Bus Stop and Street Design Guidelines and DOMI’s criteria. This information was shared with the City to aid in their work.

Where we are now

DOMI’s 2025 Transit Stop Improvement Program allowed for the repaving of sidewalk pads at 6 high ridership bus stops and the subsequent installation of shelters at those stops. You can now wait for the bus in the shade and protection of shelters at the following bus stops:

• Broadway Avenue at Hampshire Avenue (inbound)
• Broadway Avenue at Hampshire Avenue (outbound)
• Hamilton Avenue at Oakwood Street
• Cedar Avenue at Pressley Street
• Brighton Road and Woods Run Avenue
• Sandusky Street and E. General Robinson 

As a part of this program, DOMI created an Engage page where transit riders can read the detailed criteria of what constitutes a bus stop eligible for a shelter, as well as recommend stops that need sidewalk improvements. The biggest takeaway from PPT’s bus stop audits has been that sidewalk conditions in the city are poor to fair at best, which prevents the easy installation of bus shelters, benches, and other amenities.

The success of PPT’s collaboration with DOMI has not only been in the Transit Stop Improvement Program, but also in the city of Pittsburgh thinking of bus stops in a bigger way; viewing them for the role they play in neighborhood connectivity at all levels of mobility, starting with safe sidewalk infrastructure.

You can always share with PPT which bus stops you think need a shelter through our This Stop Needs a Shelter form. We share this information with our friends at DOMI.

Join PPT and DOMI for a Bus Shelter Celebration on Feb. 4th, Transit Equity Day, and the 2-year anniversary of the launch of PPT’s Shelter Campaign. We will be at the new shelter at the Cedar Ave and Pressley St inbound bus stop, on the City’s northside, sharing warm beverages, sweet treats, and reflections of the work we’ve done and the road yet ahead. There will be special speakers and opportunities to learn about PPT’s upcoming infrastructure initiatives. 

Together, Transit Riders & Workers Are Building New Constellations of Power! PPT Members celebrated our year in style.

After a long year of successful organizing, PPT Members were ready to have a good time at our Victory Party & Year-End Celebration in Friday 12/12!

2025 was a year of highs and lows. PPT Members and transit riders & workers across the state celebrated massive growth with the statewide Transit for All PA! campaign. More than 45,000 riders and workers (from every single State House Voting District in Pennsylvania) mobilized to uplift public transit in the state budget negotiations like never before. Riders fought back 45% service cuts in Philly, 35% cuts in Pittsburgh, and laid the groundwork for a statewide movement that will expand public transit service in every corner of PA.

PPT Members also celebrated wins at home too, with successful organizing drives to protect and improve our bus stops, win free transit for every City Worker downtown, and level up our organizing skills together at trainings that brought together organizers from all across the city, county, state and country.

The PPT Family mourns the loss of freedom fighter, Paul O’Hanlon, February 9, 1954 – November 30, 2025. Paul was a co-founder of PPT back in 20211 who was serving a term on our board when he passed this Fall. Paul was a lifelong organizer in the intersecting struggles of disability, housing and transportation justice. Read more about Paull on PPT’s blog.

PPT Members are ready to take all of this energy into our fight in 2026. Join as a dues-paying PPT Member today during our year-end membership drive.

Check out this year-in-review video from PPT Member Joe Coniff to show all that we’ve been up to in 2025:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pittsburghers 4 Public Transit (@pgh4publictransit)

AND OF COURSE, HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS! See the full album here on Flickr.

Take part in the Year-End Membership drive TODAY and help Build New Constellations of Power:

Our PPT family mourns the recent passing of Paul O’Hanlon, Board member and co-founder. His spirit will live in our organizing forever.

Pittsburghers for Public Transit was founded with the fire of Paul O’Hanlon and the community that he inspired. Over the years, he helped this movement grow with his ideas, humor, and an unwavering sense of justice. He joined us in the protests, and he joined us at the parties. He taught us how to fight and love. His spirit will live in our organizing forever.

Paul was a powerful organizer for human rights, with a clear understanding of how our movements for disability justice, transit justice, housing justice and voting rights are connected and necessary. He was courageous, smart, committed and supportive, and he has mentored so many in bringing their power to the light. 

We will miss Paul deeply, and we offer all of PPT’s love and community to his family in this difficult time. 

Rest in power, Paul. Your memory will fuel our fight until every person can access the opportunity they deserve.

• Paul’s obituary
• RSVP to Paul’s Memorial Service on 1/10 [flyer here]
• Leave a video memorial message for Paul – to be shared during his memorial service
• Leave a written memorial message for Paul – to be shared on this page
• Photos from Paul’s 2012 civil disobedience & arrest with the Transit Twelve calling for increased public transit access for all
• Paul’s family invites you to give a membership donation to PPT in his honor

The PPT family is invited to leave your words of remembrance here, or record a video of yourself sharing your words of remembrance and upload it here. All written and video remembrances will be added to this page. Please note that we are also putting together a video presentation for the public memorial honoring Paul’s work in the field. Excerpts from our recordings will be used!

Read remembrances from PPT Members:

Dean Mougianis

It’s a cloudy Pittsburgh day in 2011 and I am on a bicycle in the back alleys of the strip district. I’m panting and wheezing, pedaling as fast as I can, dodging potholes that I hope won’t upend me. Partly, this is because I’m running late, trying to get to a protest of Governor Tom Corbett’s education cuts. But mostly, it’s because I am trying my damnedest to keep up with Paul O’Hanlon, who is making his motorized wheelchair bounce and rattle atop the broken pavement at a dizzying speed. We were both at a meeting of Occupy Pittsburgh, and I had decided I should accompany Paul on the trip. You know, look after him a bit. Silly me. He’s leaving me far behind and it’s all I can do to try to match his pace.

I think that’s all any of us could ever do. Try our feeble best to keep up with him.

I first met Paul on election day in 2008, in the “escalation room” of Election Protection – lawyers who volunteer their services to safeguard our vote. I was there as the dispatcher for “Video the Vote” a group trying to do the same thing with video cameras. (This was before everybody had cellphone cameras in their pockets.) There were a few dozen attorneys around a big conference table at a downtown law firm. They took calls from an 800 number. If the call seemed like it represented serious skullduggery, then it was escalated to a smaller group of more expert lawyers. Alpha lawyers you might say. Paul was without doubt an alpha lawyer, and so there he was – ready to battle electoral evil.

Mercifully, there was less skullduggery than anticipated that election. That left a lot of down time to sit and talk and get to know the person working next to you. The Paul I got to know that day was passionate, whip-smart, warm and sincere. The kind of person who leaves an impression on you – a serious Atticus Finch vibe.

As I indicated, our paths crossed again in the muddy confines of the Occupy Pittsburgh encampment. Well, actually, just before. He was there at a planning meeting, laying out the legal case for taking over the public space of Mellon Green downtown. When it came to Occupy, Paul seemed to be everywhere. Dispensing legal information, yes. But more importantly, movement wisdom. Paul had seen a lot advocating for disability rights, housing rights, education rights, etc and learned from every bit of it.

It was in the area of public transit where I came to know, and appreciate, Paul the most. He was part of the founding group of Pittsburghers for Public Transit. That same year of 2011 transit in Pittsburgh was facing a 40% cut. Cuts had been foisted on the public for years and this one would be devastating. Paul understood, along with others, that the public needed to be aware of a trend that was happening in darkness. And thus the Transit Twelve was born – a dozen activists who sat mid-road and stopped traffic in downtown Pittsburgh to raise awareness of the damage those cuts would do.

The Twelve were arrested for their civil disobedience and carted off to be arraigned of course. Well, eleven of them. The police did not know what do to with the erudite and self-assured attorney in the wheelchair. They couldn’t just toss him in a squad car. The picture you see above is of Paul next to a police officer – a Paul miffed because he isn’t being arrested along with the others. The story I heard is that shortly after this picture was taken, Paul got impatient and just motored over in his chair to the public safety building, driving himself to his own arrest. I haven’t been able to confirm the story’s veracity – but it’s true to the Paul that I knew. That’s exactly the kind of thing he would have done.

Paul was on Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s coordinating committee (the precursor to the board of directors) for years. I watched him consistently guide legal and organizing policy with his careful and wise counsel. He was everything a great movement lawyer should be – thorough, precise, compassionate. And with all that brainpower, with all that experience, I never once saw him be condescending or less than completely open to the contribution of others. As is true with such a long list of issues – transit in Pittsburgh would be severely diminished without the efforts of Paul O’Hanlon.

Earlier this year, Paul had a medical setback that sent him to the hospital. The condition made it difficult for him to speak and even breathe. When I went to visit, he wanted so badly to hear about what everyone was doing in the movement space. And he had a take on all of it, spoken in his same measured and complete way, even though he struggled with every word. Because he labored so hard to speak, it was all I could do to stop myself from trying to finish his sentences. Paul, though, was going to say it the way he felt it should be said – no matter what that took.

Amazingly he bounced back from it. There he was out in the world again, buzzing around in his chair, making sure he didn’t miss anything. Sadly, so very sadly, that was short-lived. Last week illness and infection caught up to him. As quick and as mobile as he was, mortality still caught up to him – in the way it will overtake all of us. He passed away last weekend. This passing hits me hard, as it hits dozens, maybe hundreds, of others.

I’m going to conclude with a quote I think Paul would have approved of. It’s from Mother Jones, who said:

“Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living”

I will miss you – my comrade, my friend.

Alisa Grishman

When I was 14 years old, my dad had a conference in Denmark, and I tagged along. It wasn’t safe to let naive little me wander the streets of Copenhagen by myself, though. Thankfully Lori Levin brought her husband, Paul O’Hanlon, and their 10-month-old son Sam along with her. My dad somehow conspired with them that I thought that I was being Daddy’s Helper by pushing Paul around town in his manual wheelchair and playing with Sam in various playgrounds, when really Paul was babysitting me.

A few years later when I’d moved to Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon, I ran into Paul. He remembered me and we exchanged some pleasantries, and then I didn’t really see him again for about a decade.

In 2015, however, all of that changed. I’d become more and more disabled myself at that point, and after meeting my dearest, beloved friend Richard Meritzer, he brought me to my very first City-County Task Force on Disabilities and introduced me to such powerful voices as Jeff Parker, who I miss dearly. There with everyone else… was Paul. And Paul welcomed me with open arms.

The following year, I’d already started up Access Mob Pittsburgh and I was eager to prove myself and get involved in absofuckinglutely everything. Paul came to me and told me about his big project he’d been working on for many years, Pittsburgh Ballots for Patients, and asked if I would be interested in helping out. That was the first year I was in charge of volunteers for Ballots for Patients, and I’ve done so every two years since then. We had at our height (before UPMC decided to be helpful and provide some of their own aides) upwards of 70 volunteers in nine area hospitals collecting emergency absentee ballots from hospitalized patients who couldn’t go to the polls. This has been some of my proudest work.

There are so many other projects we worked on together as well. He got me involved with the Committee for Accessible Transportation, and we fought HARD to make them allow paratransit vehicles to pull over in bus lanes. We advocated loudly about the need to make the Department of Permits, Licensing, and Inspection prioritize accessible entrances when businesses were making ADA-related infrastructure improvements, to the point that we got a hearing with City Council and the City’s legal team to plea our case.

I cannot say that I agreed with Paul on everything. He could be super pig-headed and obstinate, especially at the end. We had an on-going dispute about whether or not it’s OK to force riders without mobility devices to get up for those who do (it absolutely isn’t – invisible disabilities are still real disabilities).

What I can say, though, is that I would not be the amazing human I am without Paul. And for that I will hold him close in my heart for the rest of my life. Thank you, Paul, for everything you’ve taught me, and for the strength you’ve given me. I promise to keep Ballots for Patients going, and to continue your legacy of advocacy in this City. I love you forever.

Cassandra Masters

Paul was one of the first people I met in 2019 when I worked for ACCESS paratransit. I learned from him trillions of things about disability justice and the abysmal transit access across the city and country for people with disabilities over the years.

Paul’s advocacy radicalized me in so many ways (and we didn’t even know each other that well!). I specifically remember talking with him about how sidewalk curb cuts, while essential, *cannot* be the only accessibility win we fight for–neighbors deserve curb cuts AND we have to dream bigger. I think about it every time I see a new curb cut. He leaves behind a remarkable legacy. Rest in power, Paul.

Andrew Hussein

Alas I can’t exactly remember when I 1st met Paul, it’s been a wild and rough last few years. What I can say is I definitely remember Paul being very insightful, inspirational and a fierce fighter and both Pittsburgh and the PPT Community are a little bleaker with this great loss! The remembrance at the top of the PPT Blog says it well, May you rest in power, friend!

Laura Chu Wiens

A few years ago, the members and staff of Pittsburghers for Public Transit thought up a slogan that would encapsulate our work for the year. It was: “This Bus is for All of Us.” The artist whom we enlisted to make the poster came around to get inspiration for what they would draw that reflected our community. What emerged at the front of the poster, smiling and ready to board the bus, was an illustration of Paul, because transit was a joy to him, and because he has always been a transit advocacy leader. 

PPT, though we can now boast being around for 16 years, was hardly the first organizing home for Paul around transit. I remember Paul sharing his experience travelling around the City and County in 1991 just after the passage of the ADA. At the time, only a handful of buses had wheelchair ramps installed, and they ran on only one or two routes. That was revelatory to me- what it meant for movement, for one’s ability to live if you were a wheelchair user who was limited to one or two accessible corridors in the County, or before that- none at all. 

Public transit was to become a gateway to freedom for people with disabilities- through the relentless advocacy of Paul and John Tague and others who went on to bottom-line the newly organized City County Taskforce on Disabilities. 

But I think about how back in 1991, 35 years ago, Paul could only travel on a single, solitary route- and yet could envision a transit system in which the whole County would be accessible. We saw Paul going on to demand it. That awes me: who else among us has such clairvoyance, such determination and such hope?

Paul was the best kind of stubborn, clear minded about the obstacles to surviving, to participating, to thriving in this world, and refusing to let them stand. At the outset of his role with PPT, he blocked Fifth and Wood Street downtown to demand action and state funding for transit along with 11 other PPT members – and took an arrest for this civil disobedience. Or rather, he would have, but Pittsburgh police didn’t have a van that could accommodate his wheelchair and so turned him loose. Paul offered to roll to the jail himself, and they still refused. And so Paul went home on the bus, but as his spouse Lori describes it, he was so agitated that the others were in jail without him that he turned around, caught the next bus, and went right to the jail so that he could be together with the others in solidarity. 

While this is an example of his courage, his activism was steady, strategic and long-term. Paul organized alongside community members up and down the Mon Valley to prevent the cuts to the 61 A,B,C buses in 2017, he was part of the braintrust of members that developed PPT’s Fair Fares platform in 2019. He called on PPT to join him in a lawsuit to compel ridehailing companies to provide accessible vehicles under the ADA in 2020. He guided our work for accessible stops and shelters, and around affordable housing, and against the proliferation of private transportation tech.

Paul recognized how our environment can be designed in ways that make our lives smaller and meaner- a single route with only one origin and one destination. But for all the injustice that he experienced, that he perceived directed to others, I never saw him organize with anger at the fore. 

There are so many movement lessons here that Paul has given to me, and to us. We must hold and communicate joy in our organizing along with the frustration. We should be impatient for justice and also ready to fight for as long as it takes to win. 

Transit can be a vehicle of our liberation, not a last resort. It can be a chauffeur, a valet, a palace for the people. It is our public good. 

In organizing for freedom of movement- for people with disabilities – Paul was opening up the pathway to life for everyone. For low-income folks, for youth, for older adults, for undocumented immigrants- other communities that he was always lifting up alongside his own.

This Bus is for All of Us. 

Any one of these organizing efforts would be impressive enough in its own right- but PPT was only one very small part of the legacy that he leaves behind. From founding Ballots for Patients, whose work continues through the leadership of Alisa Grishman and Access Mob, to organizing tenants and advocating for more expansive use of Section 8 homeownership opportunities, to participating in a commission for Wilkinsburg’s home rule charter, to laying the groundwork for so much of the disability rights gains in Southwest PA over the last half century, Paul O’Hanlon was somehow both the mildest and fiercest force to be reckoned with. He is survived by his spouse Lori and son Sam, and by all of us- we will continue the movement in his memory.

Ken Regal

Thankful for our friendship with Paul over many decades beginning when we were housemates in a (usually) cooperative house in the early 1980’s and continuing in work together for voting rights and other social justice issues. Paul was truly a hero who made our community a better place for everyone to live and thrive.

Donna Gates

My favorite story about Paul is when he presented an award to Port Authority management for adding buses with wheelchair lifts. At the time, the lifts rarely worked and Paul was trying to draw attention to the fact. So, he and others met Port Authority management downtown to present an award to them at a bus stop. Press was there. When an accessible bus pulled up for them to get on, the lift did not wotk. Port Authority managers were embarassed and assured everyone these would be fixed. Paul viewed the ability to ride a bus as a blow for freedom to be able to go where he wanted to go. These buses work now.

Amanda Clark

Paul had such a kind and giving heart. He onboarded me to Ballots for Patients, back before mail-in voting was a thing. He helped me with my illegally-held security deposit. I didn’t know him well, and won’t claim to, but he touched many hearts, and I was one of them, and I will always be grateful for that, and will always miss his presence in our lives now. I pray for peace and comfort to his family and friends, and I pray his spirit lives on in the rest of us.

Ron Gaydos

Whether knowing Paul at the Pittsburgh Quaker Community house on Homewood Ave, to seeing him assertively enter buses on his way around town, to standing up for people in his legal work, I’ve always admired him and looked forward to seeing him every time.

Dustin Gibson

Paul embraced me and the ideas that I had as a young activist. He showed up to everything he could. He supported while still offering suggestions based on his experience and critique. I can imagine he did that with countless people. Paul was clear about the connections between systems of oppression and worked to forge solidarity between different struggles. I appreciate how he worked to weave together different groups of people essentially fighting for the same things.

Anyone in the PPT community is welcome to leave your words of remembrance below, and they’ll be added to this page:

Here are some prompts to guide your message:

• “My favorite story about Paul O’Hanlon is . . . “
• “I would like to thank/acknowledge Paul for the work he did with . . . “
• “The thing that always struck me about Paul is the way he . . . “
• “I will always remember Paul for . . . “