Pittsburghers for Public Transit has an ambitious vision for expanded service

Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) held its annual party last week to celebrate another year of organizing, elect new board members — and launch a new campaign aimed at reimagining local transportation.

“Allegheny County used to have a vision. We led the way with streetcars, with busways, with light rail, with inclines,” PPT executive director Laura Chu Wiens told a packed Olympia Shelter House in Mt. Washington. She said Pittsburgh had “lost our way” when it came to taking bold action to improve transit and that it was time to act as Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) prepares to reevaluate the county’s bus lines.

Wiens said this is a rare opportunity to push for change and even expansion of the PRT’s network.

“PRT is assessing our whole network of transit service with their bus network redesign and how people are going to move in our region for generations, and we have supportive leaders at all levels, maybe for the first time in history,” she said. “This is a political environment that is ripe for growth.”

While the tone of PPT’s party was exuberant, with locals dancing and laughing over Chicken Latino catering while a DJ played in the background, many attendees spoke of the challenges a lack of access to public transit had caused them.

Tayveon Kevin Smith, a PPT member who co-authored the organization’s Visionary Service Report, was furloughed from an electrical job at Alstom after inconsistent bus service in the early mornings made getting to work a challenge involving a two-mile walk. Smith told PPT members that poor transit can quickly become a quality-of-life issue — he has multiple children and also takes care of his 90-year-old grandmother.

“If transit service ran more often into more places, we would have the ability to be at her side to help her meet more of her basic needs,” Smith said. “It would change the landscape of elder care here in Allegheny County.”

He said better transit would enable more economic mobility and free up valuable time for education and recreation.

“Visionary transit will open … parts of the county where people like me, my grandmother, like my kids, like all of you, my friends in the service sector, like our friends with disabilities, can afford to live and to work and to play and not sacrifice our time, our safety, our relationships and our dignity,” Smith said.

Fred Mergner, a retired bus operator and service planner for what is now PRT, agreed. “A robust transit system will serve the needs of the people by providing access to all the county has to offer,” he said. “Particularly important is access to education and employment opportunities, to food and to medical care. All county residents need convenient access to these things.”

Mergner and others said PRT’s cuts added up to around a 40% reduction in service over the past decades, leaving Allegheny County with less dependable connections and, in some regions, no transit at all. Mergner says expanding the local network could create jobs and ultimately benefit the environment, something that dovetails with PRT’s plan to have a zero-emissions fleet by 2045.

Wiens said that, in concrete terms, visionary transit is largely about frequency and consistency.

“Here are the specifics: One, every resident in Allegheny County should have access to public transit within walking distance of their home,” she said to applause. “Number two: All buses and trains should come … every 30 minutes, with 15 minutes’ headway for higher-frequency lines … Lastly, transit should run at least from 4:30 in the morning, and we think there should be 24-hour service in a lot of highly active locations.”

Wiens said this plan emerged directly from their work in the community as well as data on service requests in PRT’s system. In addition to the broad-strokes steps Wiens, Mergner, Smith, and others outlined, PPT also solicited more ideas from the audience using a vision board. Those in attendance suggested a number of changes, including an end to fare, clockface scheduling — where buses arrive at the same times each hour — and the purchase of smaller vehicles for less populated areas.

PPT is planning to push harder for visionary transit service in coming months. Wiens said the organization will have a cost estimate for their plan soon so PPT membership can approach elected officials with specifics. She expressed optimism about Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s willingness to support sweeping change for the benefit of local residents.

“The last bus runs too early for downtown hotel workers, for nurses in Oakland, for our favorite bartenders in the Strip,” Wiens said. “What we are putting forward for today is something that reflects a long-term trajectory of riders of the community saying we deserve better.”