Port Authority contemplates service cuts

Port Authority still intends to cut transit service — the question now seems to be by how… Port Authority still intends to cut transit service — the question now seems to be by how much.

Jim Ritchie, Port Authority Director of Public Relations, said the Port Authority will either cut service by 35 percent in the next few months or make a smaller cut  — somewhere around 15 percent — at a meeting Wednesday. The Authority is deciding how to allocate $45 million in federal funding that Gov. Ed Rendell found to avoid the 35 percent service cut.

The authority has not finalized the plans for the potential 15 percent service cut, so how much it might affect Pitt students is still unclear.

“The staff is doing a lot of number crunching and route scenarios to come up with the best proposal that will be taken to the board,” said Ritchie. “They could vote to continue with the plan that’s already in place or adopt the proposal we put in front of them.”

For the past several years, state budgets — hurt by the state of the economy — have had little to spare for local transit authorities. The Port Authority in Pittsburgh now faces the decision of what bus service to cut and where.

By law, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, a regional planning committee, had to sign off on the $45 million. The commission approved the funding under the condition that the Port Authority would stretch it out as long as possible, said Ritchie.

The proposal has drawn criticism from a number of parties, including the local organization of transit users, known as the Allegheny County Transit Council.

Jonathan Robison, the president of the organization, is pushing for all of the money to be spent before the fiscal year is up on June 30.

Robison believes that making the cuts will display to the commission that the money was not needed and will be detrimental to low-income neighborhoods.

The 35-percent service plan cut was approved in November to be enacted in March by the Port Authority to offset a $47 million budget deficit.

The original cut would include reducing service on routes heavily traveled by students. The 71A, 71C, 71D to Shadyside, the 61D to the Waterfront, the 61A to Squirrel Hill and the 54C to the South Side would experience reduced service.

In regards to Pitt students, Robison said that “prepaid bus services doesn’t give you anything if there are not any buses. At existent routes you will have to wait longer and buses are likely to be full.”

The cuts will also come with increases in fares, Robinson reported. However, Pitt spokesman John Fedele said that students will not experience an increase in tuition or transportation fees as a result of cuts.

“There is no need for student fee increases in the near future. Once Port Authority has the smart card put on all transportation we will review this. However, that is still a ways away,” Fedele said.

Despite the one-time transfusion of funds, Rendell’s fix is not a cure-all unless the state fixes its funding laws, said Ritchie.

“The $45 million is very welcomed, but it does not fix everything forever. It is short-term, so the cuts don’t have to hit the community so hard,” said Ritchie.

If Port Authority does not make any cuts now and the state does not fix its funding, the 35 percent cuts will happen in the summer, said Ritchie.

“There is no dedicated stream of money in the state that funds transportation,” said Ken Wolfe, State Rep. Jake Wheatley’s legislative aide. “That is the problem.”

The money provided by Rendell is available from a buildup of the yearly $25 million set aside by the federal transportation department for the governor to use on transportation projects, according to PennDOT spokesman Steve Chizmar.