More of the same is where we are. It’s not serving us. Do we really think this short-term fix is what we deserve?
PennDOT has approved Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s request to flex capital funds from the Public Transportation Trust Fund (PTTF) to cover operating expenses over the next two years. The commonwealth’s transit agencies can request this capital funding flex annually under the state’s landmark transportation law, Act 89 of 2013.
PennDOT’s approval allows PRT to access approximately $106 million to maintain service levels and avoid fare increases and route cuts.
It’s a necessary move, but not a sustainable one.
Without this approval, PRT service levels could have dropped by as much as 35% as early as February 2026. Forty-one of its 100 routes would have been eliminated, with service curtailed on 34 others. The cuts would have been paired with a 25-cent fare increase.
Riders, employers, and anyone concerned about southwestern Pennsylvania’s wellbeing can breathe a sigh of relief – for now.
We are grateful to the Shapiro administration, PennDOT, and PRT for negotiating this short-term solution. But let’s be clear: nothing has been fixed. In fact, the opposite might be true.
The PTTF isn’t a slush fund. Every penny supports crucial, long-planned-for capital projects – like new buses, trains, and system modernizations – that our transit systems need. Reallocating these funds delays or cancels essential improvements. And it gives funds back to the federal government that we will never recoup. Peter’s robbing himself here, and we all deserve better.
This short-term “fix” does nothing to avert the long-term crisis transit faces. Without a stable, reliable funding stream from the state, we’ll be right back here in two years. This is the first time since Act 89’s passage that any agency has exercised this option. And now it’s happened once on each side of the state in the past two weeks. This is no way to run a railroad or a bus company.
So, where do we go from here?
We shouldn’t settle for a long, slow bleed of an organ our region so desperately needs. We need a vision for transit throughout southwestern Pennsylvania – one that is rider-centered, community-oriented, economy-building. Of course, do so with fiscal prudence. But we’ve prioritized cost-cutting over everything else for decades now and where has it led us?
Anything that doesn’t start with regional benefit first is simply more of the same in a new wrapper. It’s time to ask ourselves what we want – and it’s up to us to generate our own solutions and then make them happen.
At the same time, while we find our own way, we also can’t stop fighting – because we haven’t fixed anything yet. New vision or not, our elected leaders have a responsibility to support the systems that support the commonwealth. They must use this reprieve to craft a realistic, sustainable long-term funding plan.
We can do better. We deserve better. We hope that better emerges soon. The opposite is too much for our region to bear.
