Pittsburgh Port Authority approves 15% service cut

Written by jrood

The Pittsburgh Port Authority Board approved a 15 percent service cut as a substitute for an earlier plan to slash service by 35 percent, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. They were able to do so because of $45 million in emergency funding provided by Gov. Ed Rendell. The action will eliminate 29 routes and cut weekday service on 47 others, worsening the overcrowding problems that have generated rider complaints during a two-year transit overhaul that was designed to refocus service on areas of high demand. It also will cut 270 positions from the agency's 2,700-member work force, causing layoffs of 180 existing union and management employees. Rail service will be cut. The Brown Line to Allentown will be eliminated and the Blue Line-South Hills Village will no longer operate on weekends. Weekday Blue Line and Red Line service will be reduced. Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie said in general, the trips most likely to be eliminated on bus and rail routes are on the "fringes" -- early mornings, middays and late at night. "The idea is to preserve the core of the service," he said. Patrick McMahon, president and business agent of Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union, called the cuts "an unnecessary mistake." "We are going in the wrong direction. If the region truly wants to attract emerging new industries, retain the amazing talent that graduates from our world-class colleges and universities and elevate the standard of living to a level competitive with any other major city in America, we need a public transit system equal to the challenge. We should be expanding, not shrinking, transit services,” McMahon said. In a year, the transportation-funding shortfall will have hit PennDOT and other transit agencies. "In 2012, it will most definitely be a Pennsylvania problem and then we'll have more of a base to work with," he said.

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