Community groups, riders calling on Pittsburgh Regional Transit to pause proposed service cuts
The conversation around Pittsburgh Regional Transit's proposed service cuts is heating up, with community groups and riders calling PRT to make a pause on the cuts.
With 35% of PRT service on the chopping block and critical state funding stalled in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the clock is ticking.
On Thursday, around two dozen riders and groups, including 412 Justice, Bike Pittsburgh and Lawrenceville United, joined together to call for a delay in the cuts, which are currently scheduled to take effect in February 2026.
"These kinds of catastrophic cuts cannot happen, particularly when there is a runway to winning on a state level," said Laura Chu Wiens, executive director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit.
Wiens and others urged PRT to tap into its limited reserves and postpone the cuts until October, giving advocates and legislators more time to secure a funding solution.
"We are calling on PRT to use some of their limited reserves, knowing this is not a long-term solution and postpone these consequences until October," Wiens added.
If implemented, the proposed service changes would significantly reshape transit access in the region. Forty-one bus routes would be eliminated, 54 routes would be reduced, the Silver Line would be discontinued, an 11 p.m. curfew would be implemented system-wide and fare price increases would take effect.
For many riders, that means a daily struggle to get to work, school and appointments.
"It's very stressful. It makes me disappointed that it comes down to this," said Kristen Greene, a PRT rider. "You would think transit would be the No. 1 priority."
"It's important to everybody to have these buses not be cut. Maybe reduced, but not cut," said Linda Warman, PRT rider.
While PRT leadership has not committed to a delay, they acknowledged it remains a possibility, though not without tradeoffs.
"Every delay has a consequence," said Katharine Kelleman, CEO of PRT. "The longer we wait, the harder the landing. We can push off cuts, but that shortens how long we can survive or makes the nature of what we must cut more draconian when it happens."
Advocates also called on PRT to release a cost estimate and plan to transition Allegheny Go into a full zero-fare system.
"It's a boon to PRT," Wiens said. "It will help grow ridership and provide fare relief in a time when costs are rising dramatically across all sorts of basic needs."
PRT says any decision to delay service cuts likely won't come until at least September.
