PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Regional Transit has announced plans for a 35% cut in service and a 25-cent fare increase to take effect in February 2026 to address a projected $100 million budget deficit.
According to the plans released March 20, light rail cuts would include the elimination of the Silver Line, ending service to 12 of the system’s 53 stations, and reduced service on the Red Line. Forty bus lines would also be eliminated, while service would be reduced on 53 others. There would be no service after 11 p.m., and the agency’s contracted paratransit service would see a 62% reduction of its service area and a 20% increase in fares.
PRT said the cuts are because state funding is “no longer able to meet the needs” of the agency.” While state legislation passed in 2013 provided for long-term funding, PRT said its share has not increased in more than decade in the face of rising costs. PRT used its reserve fund to fill a $50 million gap this year, it says, but that will no longer possible with the larger deficit. And federal COVID-19 relief funds have been exhausted.
“This truly is a sad day for our region. Public transit is a lifeline for communities throughout and we are not taking this proposal lightly,” agency CEO Katharine Kelleman said in a press release. “We have warned that we would face service cuts and fare increases without new funding for the past year, and we remain committed to continuing to fight for the service Allegheny County deserves. “This isn’t just a Pittsburgh problem. This is an issue facing transit agencies across the Commonwealth. We are not asking Harrisburg to bail us out. We’re asking state lawmakers to ensure that the taxes they receive from Allegheny County come back to Allegheny County.”
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the agency has already cut service four times between 2021 and 2023 as it dealt with a 50% loss in ridership. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed significant funding increases in his last two budgets, and while those have been approved by the state House, with a Democratic majority, the Republican-controlled Senate has not followed suit. Shapiro has proposed an additional $293 million in statewide transit funding this year.
Last year, Shapiro moved to transfer $153 million in federal money for road projects to address a funding shortage for the Philadelphia area’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority [see “Pennsylvania governor’s move averts SEPTA fare increase, service cuts,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 23, 2024]. But the SEPTA funds will run out at the end of June, meaning that agency, like PRT, is facing a major shortfall in its next fiscal year.
State Sen. Majority Leader Joe Pittman told the Post-Gazette that the state is spending more than $3 billion per year beyond what it is taking. He said it is “critical” for mass transit agencies to show they are running efficiently and that riders and local governments “are paying their fair share.” He also said road and bridge projects “must be part of any consideration of additional state funding for transportation.”
The PRT board will be asked at its March 28 meeting to approve the start of the process to prepare for the cuts, which would see the agency begin soliciting public feedback March 31 and hold public hearings in April, May, and June, ahead of the board setting the budget for the fiscal year that begins in July. “We started this process early to make sure riders have a voice and a say on these service cuts and fare increases,” Kelleman said.
PRT says the cuts will eliminate service to 19 municipalities and three Pittsburgh neighborhoods. More details on its plans are available here.
Take note, the Washington Junction (WJ) is the “Times Square” of the PRT Light Rail system. Due to lack of density In “off hours”, the Silver Line runs shuttle transfer moves into WJ. Also not noted or displayed in the map and article is that the PRT Light Rail yard and maintenance facility is at the end of the line at South Hills Village.
Pennsylvania is notoriously cheap when it comes to funding transit. SEPTA has done better at recovering riders but their travel is down too. One factor is that Center City employment is down.
A separate rant is why did Pittsburgh go to colors instead of descriptive names for their lines. With colors nobody knows where they go. SEPTA was bringing in a manager from Boston so they colorized the lines. He fled back to Boston after a week and the rapid transit lines still have their names.
Metra, read this announcement and take good notes, you may be next.
Hate to see the Silver line shut down. On the Library end it is like stepping back in time to the days of Interurbans. And I agree that it makes more sense to shut down the Blue Line and keep service to all stations.
Why is the silver line being shut rather than the blue line? The red and silver lines serve all the stations in the system.
The answer is to address the problem. Tax companies for each employee that isn’t within walking distance of their place of employment. Give the employee a transit/commuter pass and the tax is doubled if pass isn’t used. Tax increases based on salary and benefits. This will encourage redevelopment in the cites and get entitled suburbnites off the roads with their ugly pos luxury cars and environment killing “EVs”.
1. I never understand those who believe their way is the only approach to how all people should live their lives.
2. Going after private industry to force them to pay for what is essentially a government created problem never works. If a burden is too much for the local private businesses, they either leave for a more business friendly local/state location or they cease to exist. Either makes things worse for the local government.
3. If the transit ridership is down, its because something has changed so the number of workers/shoppers it serves is considerably down. The first step is to find out if it is reversible. If not, service cuts are the answer.
Rail transportation in USA has been collapsing for the last decade. Trump and Musk will be blamed, because Trump and Musk inherited the fruits of Democrat mismanagement.
There is no way that any of these systems can continue in operation with a 50% drop in ridership, at a time when costs are skyrocketing.
I don’t know and can’t guess how much help Pittsburgh will get from Harrisburg, or what help Chicago will get from Springfield, or what help Los Angeles will get from Sacramento. Here is what I do know: the days of the federals backstopping every state and local deficit have come to the end.
In reply to my own post, the drop in ridership is not just a result of Work From Home. It’s also a backwash of COVID where we were force-fed the fear of being among other people. Only twelve on a bus, stand in opposite corners of an elevator (like that would stop the flow of air??), be six feet away from another person. To this day, the METRA web site gives the projected crowding level of each train in its schedule.
I have always believed that the healthiest life style is to be out among the people. Crowded buses and trains have never bothered me, or crammed elevators or any other such. Not even during the depths of COVID was I afraid of human contact.
With half our population frightened to be next to another human being, public transportation has no future.