North Hills Among Those Targeted for Loss of Port Authority Services

Proposed Port Authority service cuts and route eliminations are the subject today at a hearing at the David L. Lawrence Convention that started at 8 a.m. and is scheduled to continue until 8 p.m.

The cutbacks target most surburban areas, and Ross Township and West View are not exempted. The list includes changes for the following routes: 

12 McKnight
13 Bellevue
17 Shadeland
2 Mount Royal
4 Troy Hill
8 Perrysville
01 Ross Flyer
012 McKnight Flyer
05 Thompson Run Flyer
P13 Mount Royal Flyer

Route 12 McKnight would be eliminated beyond Passavant Hospital and would have service reductions during the weekday. Saturday and Sunday service would be eliminated. 

Eliminated routes include the 05 Thompson Run Flyer, the 17 Shadeland, the 2 Mount Royal, the 4 Troy Hill and the P13 Mount Royal Flyer. 

The remaining routes on the list face unspecified service reductions. According to the Port Authority website, they could include reduced frequency, fewer daily trips, shortened span of service or the elimination of service to certain areas.

The proposed service changes would be effective Sept. 2. 

More than 300 registered to speak today, according to news reports.

Updated at 3:30 p.m. from the testimony given at the hearing:  

Hundreds of county residents—many of them people with disabilities or commuters—testified today against a Port Authority of Allegheny County plan to cut overall service by 35 percent and eliminate 40 of the agency's 102 routes.

Facing a $64 million projected deficit, the authority plans to scale back or eliminate its routes in a that will affect as many as 45,000 riders from across the region. The proposed reductions are the largest in the Port Authority's 47-year history. 

Agency officials have acknowledged the cuts would be "devastating," but they maintain the action is necessary to offset reductions in state aid that has comprised more than of the authority's revenue as well as increased fuel and employee retirement costs.

The plan would end all public bus service in some communities, including the North Hills area. The proposal also would limit the authority's ACCESS service for the handicapped to the minimum requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Under the reductions, the Airport Flyer bus will end all service beyond the Robinson Towne Center on weekdays and weekends. That would end outbound bus service to the Pittsburgh International Airport and possibly require a name change for the route, according to the authority.

Comments may be submitted until 4 p.m. March 9 through the Port Authority website or mailed to Port Authority Fare & Service Proposals, Heinz 57 Center, 345 Sixth Avenue, Floor 3, Pittsburgh PA, 15222-2527.

Among those testifying today was Eric Lindey. 

Lindey said looming cuts to Allegheny County public transportation will devastate more than 3,000 clients of Milestone Centers Inc., a Wilkinsburg-based nonprofit that provides services for people with mental disabilities. 

The impact might be greatest on those who live in the county's suburban communities, said Lindey, director of the center's intellectual and developmental disability services. 

"It's services, medical appointments, the grocery store," he said. "They depend on ACCESS (Paratransit) to get around, and this will only disenfranchise them more than they already are. Towns in eastern Allegheny will be decimated by this." 

More than 1,300 ACCESS riders could lose service under the plan, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

"It's a huge issue," Lindey said. "(Our clients) are concerned. They're upset. This is beyond a transportation issue."  

Greentree borough manager W. David Montz, in testimony today, said his community in recent years has invested more than $400,000 in transportation infrastructure, including the installation of new sidewalks and a Park-n-Ride lot with 182 permitted lots. 

"This will not only affect Green Tree, but the entire regional economy," Montz said. "Everyday you hear that the parkway is backed up from Green Tree to the tunnels. What's next: from Robinson to the tunnels?" 

Bus fare on multiple routes, including the cost of weekly, monthly or annual transit passes, will increase under the proposed plan. 

The authority's board is scheduled to meet April 27 to finalize the reduction plan and fare increases. In November 2010, the board authorized a 35 percent reduction cut, but then-Gov. Ed Rendell authorized $45 million in emergency aid, reducing the cuts to 15 percent.

Trevor Smith, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, said city bus routes enabled him to take on an internship before graduation. 

"So much of my education comes from outside the classroom, through the Port Authority and public transit," he said. "I use the bus to get to my internship, to training, to meetings.

"There are all of these opportunities that I wouldn't have without the Port Authority."

Stay tuned to Patch for updates on the day's hearing.