Port Authority predicts “devastating” cuts

After months of delay, Port Authority officials are ready to fight the $30-million deficit the… After months of delay, Port Authority officials are ready to fight the $30-million deficit the company faces — at the expense of their customers.

Faced with “no other choice,” according to spokesperson Bob Grove, Port Authority officials are preparing plans to increase fares and drastically cut service.

“These are last-resort actions,” Grove said. “These cuts are going to be devastating. We understand the magnitude of the situation and cuts to our customers. We don’t want to do this.”

Port Authority officials are preparing a proposal, similar to one presented in the summer of 2003, for public hearings that they expect will be held in early October. The exact dates and times will be announced later this week.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Saturday that Port Authority has plans for a 75-cent base fare increase, raising single zone trip fare from $1.75 to $2.50.

Grove denied that officials had decided on the reported 75-cent increase.

“We haven’t come up with a figure yet,” he said. “But we are looking at severe fare increases, and it will be steeper than what was presented in [2003].”

The plan presented in 2003 for the 2004 fiscal year detailed a 25-cent fare increase to $2 for one-zone trips and a 20-percent service reduction. That reduction would eliminate service after 9 p.m., decrease Saturday service to the level of service on Sunday, and eliminate all Sunday service.

That plan gave the public transit system 12 months to overcome a $20-million deficit. Because Port Authority’s fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30, the public transit system is playing with borrowed time. With the plans not set to be implemented until January at the earliest, it leaves the system six months to overcome a $30-million budget deficit.

“That just exasperates the problem,” Grove said. “We have to have a balanced budget. When we finalize plans, they will probably be more severe than [the one presented in 2003] on all counts. We can’t raise $30 million from just fare raises or just service cuts. It needs to be some combination of the two.”

According to Grove, Port Authority most likely would implement the fare increase in the beginning of January, but would wait until February or March to cut service, because of when service plans are instituted.

Grove added that, in the past year, the system has made more than $5 million in internal cuts by freezing jobs and wages, slashing the administrative workforce and cutting 150 jobs. Those cuts are added to the $145 million in internal cuts that the public transit system has made in the past seven years.

The service cuts and rate increases will be discussed at public hearings next month, and Port Authority officials invite customers to speak out about the plan.

There is one option that would deter the cuts and fare increases: a bill in state Congress would allot approximately $282 million each year to Pennsylvania public transit systems, including $64 million to Port Authority.

Pennsylvania’s public transit systems receive 1.22 percent of specific sales tax revenue, and that 1.22 percent is split among all statewide transit systems. Legislation places a $75-million cap on the amount of revenue public transit systems can receive from sales tax revenue.

The proposed bill would not only increase that percentage to 2 percent, but would also eliminate the revenue cap.

Identical legislation was introduced to both the state Senate and House of Representatives mid-June, but it was not approved before the legislature recessed for summer.

Port Authority is not the only transit system in dire straits. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Agency, a public transit system twice the size of Port Authority, is currently facing a $62-million deficit for the 2005 fiscal year, and is scheduled to release a restructuring plan soon. That plan includes the loss of 1,400 jobs and drastic service reductions for the Philadelphia-area public transit system.

Grove acknowledged the severity of the problem statewide, and emphasized its effects in Allegheny County.

“Transit is very important to this region — it is critical to help these people work, play, socialize and get to school,” Grove said. “That’s why we don’t want to do this, and we’re doing everything we can not to. But we have to be preparing ourselves for this.”

Pitt renewed its contract with Port Authority in late June, securing another three years of transit service for students and faculty who show valid Pitt ID cards. The contact came with increases of about 6 percent this year and 5 percent in each of the following two years.

Shortly after the University renewed the contract, Pitt spokesperson John Fedele said Pitt does not plan to increase the student transportation fee.