Hundreds protest Port Authority cuts

People from blocks around could hear the shouts and cheers of more than 400 people protesting… People from blocks around could hear the shouts and cheers of more than 400 people protesting planned Port Authority service cuts in Squirrel Hill this afternoon.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, which represents Port Authority bus drivers, helped organize the permitted protest, along with Pittsburghers for Public Transit and other organizations. Police prohibited parking on Murray Avenue from noon to 2 p.m. for the protest, which marched from Beacon Street to the intersection of Forbes and Murray avenues.

Drivers honked horns and the crowd cheered each time a passenger exited a Port Authority bus, until police shut down traffic on Murray Avenue and the protesters stepped off the sidewalks at Beacon Street to march north.

The crowd piled onto the lawn and steps of the Sixth Presbyterian Church — some spilling onto the sidewalk — at Forbes and Murray at around 12:30 p.m. for a rally.

Speakers decried the Port Authority’s planned March 27 cuts, which will reduce service by 15 percent across the county. The Port Authority will also eliminate 29 routes entirely and reduce service on a number of others, including 71 routes.

The cuts came after $45 million in federal funds directed by then-Gov. Ed Rendell were meant to prevent service cuts of around 30 percent. The Port Authority’s Board of Trustees approved the smaller, 15 percent cuts in January — partially because of a lack of dedicated funding.

The rally on the church lawn petered out after 1 p.m., when speakers turned off the bullhorn after a promise that they would continue protesting at Friday’s Port Authority Board meeting Downtown.