Latest Posts
Dear Supporter, Thank you for visiting Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s site! We’re excited that you want to join us in the fight to protect and expand Pittsburgh’s public transit system. Here’s how you can help! · Come to a PPT meeting! They are open to all and anyone with an opinion or idea […]
ALERT! County Council Meeting on Transit 3/30, 4pm Rally!
To All Activists: On Wednesday 3/30/2011 (tomorrow) Jim Burn President of Allegheny County Council will be holding a special session of Council at 5:00 pm. We need everyone who can make it in such short notice to come to Grant street in front of the County Courthouse Tomorrow AT 4:00 PM to show we are […]
The Union Makes Pittsburgh Transit Better
by Jonah McAllister-Erickson The Amalgamated Transit Union is a crucial part of the solution Pittsburgh transportation crisis. It is because of the ATU — not in spite of it — that Pittsburgh has a safe and reliable mass transit system. It is because of the union that the women and men who clean, drive, and […]
What the Port Authority Faces: Budget Crises
by Alicia Wlliamson photo by Dawn Jackman-Biery Port Authority Transit’s budget comes from a variety of sources at the city, county, state, and federal levels and its levels of funding is inconsistent. PAT has direct control over some financial cost variables like fares, employment and route efficiency, but are operating expenses that they cannot control, […]
Keep Pittsburgh Green, and Make It Greener
by Alicia Williamson photo by Dawn Jackman-Biery Pittsburgh is trying to establish itself as a “green city,” leading the way in innovative environmentally-friendly jobs, technologies, and policies. Cuts to public transit would be a major step in the wrong direction. The Federal Transportation Administration and Environmental Protection Agency’s 2010 study of mass transit and climate […]
Elizabeth Miller’s Story
Elizabeth is a Port Authority bus driver facing layoff. “I have been working for Port Authority for almost 2 years I received my furlough paperwork in January telling me that my last day of work would be March 26. I am a single mother of two girls ages 14 and 10. I have been working […]
Dan Horgan’s Story
Dan lives in Bloomfield and works at the airport. It takes him two buses to get to work.It’s pretty convenient to use public transportation to get to work, especially financially. Some people can’t afford to drive all the time and gas prices are going up. “What I’ve always understood about public transit is that it […]
Connie Muldrow’s Story
Connie Muldrow, age 68, lives in senior citizen housing in the Hill District. The Hill District lost most of its transit service last September. “We the elderly of the Hill District need public transportation. From Sugar Top down to Bedford Avenue and Center Avenue, transportation is needed very urgently. We have three high rises up […]
Anne Hodapp’s Story
Anne Hodapp is a single mother who lives in Pitcairn, a small borough just a few miles south of Monroeville. Her 10-year-old daughter has several disabilities and has seizures, but ACCESS has said she is not disabled enough to qualify for their door-to-door transport service for seniors and the disabled. The Port Authority has announced […]
The Myth of the $100,000 Bus Driver
There have been rumors and misinformation heard from time to time that Port Authority drivers are paid huge salaries of up to $100,000 a year. These attempts to blame the hard-working drivers for the cuts in bus service don’t stand up to the facts.The starting hourly wage for a PAT driver is $16.05. The top […]
Keep the ‘Public’ in Public Transit: Privatization is a Bad Deal
by Andrew Wagner photo by Dawn Jackman-Biery With the Port Authority of Allegheny County in financial trouble, we’re hearing the call for “privatization” from some powerful political and business interests. These privatizers include some of the same politicians whose failure to adequately fund transit helped create the crisis, and they include business people who see […]
Transportation is Our Need – and Our Right
photo by Dawn Jackman-Biery by Mel Packer Imagine, Dear Rider, that you go to your usual bus or trolley stop and find that it is strangely silent, that others have been standing for quite a while and no bus has been seen. You ask another rider who tells you that the news says that the […]