Latest Posts
Make sure YOU are counted in the 2020 census
Public Transit relies on you taking the census! Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) has joined the Keystone Counts Coalition to help ensure a fair and accurate count of the upcoming 2020 census, which is data that guides many decisions for the upcoming decade. There is a lot at stake in this Census, and historically-marginalized communities […]
PAAC moves to farelsss transit + rear door boarding amid Covid-19 outbreak
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Dan Yablonsky, Communications Director, Pittsburghers for Public Transit (551) 206-3320, dan@pittsburghforpublictransit.org Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) applauds Port Authority’s recent decision to protect the health and safety of front-line transit workers, by having riders board through the rear-doors and by implementing a fareless transit policy. Since Saturday, more than 315 riders […]
Covid-19 Resource Lists, and a Moment for Transformation
As the Covid-19 outbreak spreads through our communities, we are seeing firsthand how years of disinvestment, defunding, and deregulation are leaving our neighbors struggling to find the essentials they need: transportation, food, housing, healthcare, education, and more. This struggle is real, and our communities are coming together to support each other through our moment of […]
Join the SWPA Covid19 Community Response Phonebank to support our neighbors
Join PPT to connect with our neighbors and make sure their needs are met during this time of Covid-19 The Covid-19 outbreak has laid bare the longer-term crisis of poverty and inequality in our country. Now, more than ever, we need protections for the 140million poor and dispossessed people in the U.S., not billions in […]
Transit Rider’s Open Letter: Transit Still Moves Our City
Public transit = healthcare, food access, jobs. COVID-19 must not threaten our system. Pittsburghers for Public Transit is joining transit riders across Pennsylvania and the nation to call on our elected representatives to pass a robust transit stimulus package. We need to protect and expand our public transit system during these challenging times so that we […]
Port Authority’s Q1 Service Adjustments, with comment from @PGH_Bus_Info Hotline
Each quarter the Port Authority adjusts its transit schedules and routes to account for rider’s requests, ridership shifts, construction, road closures and/or all of the other unexpected hiccups that might affect Pittsburgh roads. Additionally, Port Authority’s new Bus Stop Consolidation program aims to eliminate 20-30% of stops in the entire system. PPT’s feelings about this […]
"We already know that there's an issue right now with bus overcrowding and pass-ups on certain routes, particularly routes that are going through Black and Brown communities, lower income communities...[Port Authority] needs to modify their schedules to accommodate the people that are currently riding," Wiens said.
"We've been pushing them the last several months to re-allocate service to where the ridership still remains robust and move it away from where the routes that are currently not seeing very many riders, because that is likely to continue in this fashion through the duration of the pandemic."
www.wtae.com/article/port-authority-pandemic-related-driver-shortage-behind-some-missed-trips/330...
Port Authority pandemic-related driver shortage behind some missed trips
www.wtae.com
"Obviously, this has huge impact on riders if the buses they anticipate coming don't show up," Laura Chu Wiens, executive director of Pittsburghers For Public Transit, told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.This is the kind of leadership we like to see 👏🙌:
"Public transportation is an essential public good, but for too long we have not funded it like one. That’s why we are calling on Congress to pass our Freedom to Move Act, bold federal legislation to incentivize transit agencies to offer fare-free service and make long-overdue investments in public transportation for low-income and historically marginalized communities."
Thank you to US Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Senator Ed Markey and Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu for leading the effort to ensure expanded transit service that prioritizes under-invested communities, and free transit for all riders!
www.masslive.com/opinion/2020/07/freedom-to-move-act-would-increase-mobility-connect-communities-...
www.masslive.com
Instituting fare-free transit is a commonsense solution to some of the most pressing challenges our region faces.How to make mask-wearing easy and protect riders and workers? Transit agencies in Oregon and California have started giving out masks directly to riders. transitcenter.org/making-mask-wearing-on-board-the-easy-choice/
Making Mask-Wearing on Board the Easy Choice
transitcenter.org
Universal mask-wearing on transit will be fundamental to managing COVID-19's spread. Portland’s TriMet and San Francisco’s BART provide an early look at how agencies are managing this shift.Shoutout to PAAC for new data transparency! This tool can help riders who have the flexibility in their schedules - although not everyone does. We still need to look at shifting some service to assist those who keep getting passed up on crowded routes: ow.ly/zTdx50AhSTd
New Port Authority tool will give riders even more information about full buses, crowded routes
ow.ly
Port Authority hopes the Room2Ride page on its website will help riders plan trips to avoid crowded buses that could pass without stopping.“The devastation that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic is both social and economic. Those hardest hit are our low-income neighbors, whose financial precarity is exacerbated by the crisis.” said Bethany Hallam, Allegheny Councty Council Member, At-large: ow.ly/s5By50AhJfs
Officials seek low-income fares for Port Authority transit riders
ow.ly
City, county and state legislators in the Pittsburgh region published a letter on Tuesday calling for the implementation of emergency low-income fares...