Amanda Lorent and Zachary Buchleitner weren’t aware of the proposed Pittsburgh Regional Transit cuts while waiting for a bus outside Springdale Manor on Thursday afternoon.
But they did know that any alterations to the service would greatly impact their day-to-day lives.
“We use it daily,” said Lorent, of Springdale. “We would be screwed. (Buchleitner) works in Market Square.”
Proposed Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus service cuts — along with a 25-cent fare hike — would hurt Alle-Kiski Valley bus riders.
The agency is proposing route cuts that would eliminate many of the popular “flyer” routes that take riders into Downtown Pittsburgh each morning and return in the afternoons on weekdays.
“Part of the reason I moved to Aspinwall was the public transit system, because I could get to anywhere in Allegheny County by using public transit in a reasonable time,” said Steven Kochanowski, who said he uses PRT as often as seven days a week. “If you want Pittsburgh to thrive, how can you thrive if you don’t have a real public transit system?”
Proposed for elimination starting next year are:
• P10 Allegheny Valley Flyer: The route runs from Harrison through Tarentum, Springdale and Harmar.
• P12 Holiday Park Flyer: From Plum through Monroeville.
• P16 Penn Hills Flyer: From Harmar through Oakmont, Plum and Penn Hills.
• P67 Monroeville Flyer: From CCAC’s Boyce Campus through Monroeville.
Nadine DeBone of Springdale said she would not be happy if the Allegheny Valley Flyer were cut. She’s taken the bus to work Downtown since 1989.
“It’s really my only form of transportation at the moment,” she said. “It would be a major pain.”
The P78 Oakmont Flyer route, from Harmar through Oakmont, Verona and Penn Hills, would have roughly half as many runs each weekday, going from buses every 21 to 40 minutes during peak hours to buses every 41 to 60 minutes during those times.
The Freeport Road, No. 1 route, which runs multiple trips daily through Tarentum, New Kensington, Springdale, Harmar, Blawnox, Aspinwall and Sharpsburg, also would be cut back to trips every 41 to 60 minutes from nearly double that number currently.
The No. 1 route takes about 20 minutes longer than the Allegheny Valley Flyer from Springdale to Downtown, DeBone said.
That route also would have no service at all after 11 p.m. under PRT’s proposed cuts.
That provides a bleak outlook for the Alle-Kiski Valley, Kochanowski said. If the cuts go through, Route 28 will only get busier and more dangerous.
Additionally, the cuts aren’t taking a luxury away, Kochanowski said, but rather people’s basic needs — some people depend on PRT to get to work, or the grocery store, or a medical appointment.
“These cuts are going to be devastating,” he said.
The agency is facing a $100 million deficit in 2026 and a projected $1.8 billion shortfall over the next 10 years, CEO Katharine Kelleman told a board committee Thursday morning at the agency’s headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh.
Without drastic action, “we are talking catastrophic service cuts,” Kelleman said. “Pittsburgh Regional Transit has a deficit. This is not unique. This is not new. But this is critical.”
If ultimately approved by the transit agency’s board, the fare hike would take effect next year.
Single-ride fares would rise to $3 from $2.75 effective Feb. 1, 2026.
That would make fares among the highest public transit fares in the nation.
Proposed service reductions also would eliminate the transit agency’s light-rail Silver Line. In total, 41 of its roughly 100 bus routes would be eliminated.
It would also end all service after 11 p.m., spike rates for the elderly and disabled for the first time in 12 years and reduce service by at least 30% on 34 other routes.
Such severe cuts would be the agency’s largest service rollback in a decade.
“These are very, very significant, draconian cuts, cuts for people who have no other way to get around,” said Amy Silbermann, the agency’s chief development officer, who called the proposed cuts “brutal.”
The full board will contemplate the moves in an effort to plug a huge hole in the agency’s budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
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The agency dipped into its reserves to close this year’s budget gap.
Chief Financial Officer Dominica Brown said the proposed fare hike will make Pittsburgh’s public buses some of the costliest to ride in the U.S.
“Allegheny County already has some of the highest fares in the nation,” Brown said. “This fare increase will move us to the fifth-highest fare in the nation.”
The agency’s planning and stakeholder relations committee voted unanimously to open a public comment period from March 31 to June 18 to allow input on the proposed changes.
Next Friday, the full board plans to meet to discuss the proposal.
Silbermann said Pittsburgh Regional Transit has lost 36% of service over the past 20-odd years.
The proposed changes would reduce current service by up to 40% and boost both fixed route and paratransit fares, according to the presentation to the committee.
Paratransit service is proposed to decrease more than 60% while its fares increase by 20%, officials said.
The proposal also provides no funding for “special services,” such as overtime pay for employees during Pittsburgh Steelers or Pirates games — or the NFL Draft in 2026, which is expected to draw 500,000 people to the region, Silbermann said.
The advocacy group Pittsburghers for Public Transit warned of the profound impact on riders if the cuts as envisioned take effect.
“Pittsburgh Regional Transit is bleeding, and we need to stop the damage,” said Laura Chu Wiens, the group’s executive director, in a prepared statement.
She added: “This (proposal) would effectively kill public transit in our region — and the commensurate damage to our riders, our economy, our health care system, our road congestion and air quality is incalculable.”
State Rep. Jessica Benham, D-South Side, took to social media to call for more state funding.
“PRT needs more state funding to maintain and improve service,” posted Benham, who described herself as a transit rider like thousands of her constituents. “As more details are being announced this morning about the potential for cuts if state funding does not increase, it’s my commitment to continue to fight for the funding necessary to protect our transit system.”
Bus ridership in many cities nationwide was hit hard by the pandemic and has not bounced back.
Total Pittsburgh Regional Transit ridership topped 33 million rides in the last fiscal year, slipping slightly from a year earlier, the agency said.
Fare revenues, however, have dropped.
Officials expect Pittsburgh Regional Transit revenues to continue to decrease to an estimated $50 million by fiscal year 2027, down from about $57 million in fiscal 2024.
The agency received more than $500 million in federal stimulus funding to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, the agency said in its fiscal 2025 report.
But that money has run out, the agency said. And state funding, which the agency said has remained static for the past decade, can’t keep pace with expenses.
“Rising costs due to inflation, health care and other operational expenses have widened the gap,” according to the agency.
It is seeking a $117 million increase in funds from Harrisburg starting in the budget year that begins July 1.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has asked for a $300 million increase — about 20% more — in public transit funding in his budget proposal.
But Pittsburgh Regional Transit said even if the Legislature approves what the governor wants, it wouldn’t be enough.
”Even Gov. Shapiro’s proposal to increase the public transit share of the state sales tax, which could generate an additional $40 million for PRT, would fall short of what PRT needs to maintain current service,” the agency said.