Pittsburgh Regional Transit is facing a 35% service cut that could take effect as early as February 2026 due to a lack of sufficient state funding. In a worst-case scenario, PRT will have to eliminate 41 of its 100 routes and restrict service on 34 others. The cuts would be paired with a 25-cent fare increase.
A full list of cuts and reductions approved at PRT’s meeting March 20 can be found on the agency’s “funding crisis” webpage.
“The Port Authority said, rightly so, ‘the fat is gone, we’re now cutting into muscle,’” Mobilify Southwestern Pennsylvania Executive Director Chris Sandvig told WESA 90.5 FM. “This round of cuts, cuts into the bone. There isn’t much left.”
In an interview with WTAE-TV 4 (ABC), Sandvig added: “This is terrible. I don’t know how else to put it. It’s going to hurt so many communities, so many people and, you know, outlying communities especially. The funding bill that was created in 2013 was designed to put us where we are right now. And the reality is that we need to find a new, enduring solution for public transportation.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2025-26 budget proposes boosting overall state funding by $292 million in the first year and growing to $330 million by the 2029-30 fiscal year. As welcome as the governor’s proposal is, it still falls far short. And it still needs the legislature’s OK, which is no guarantee. Similar plans last session failed to win approval.
Sandvig said Mobilify will be working over the coming months to bring together groups to emphasize how important transit is to the vitality of the city and its suburbs, how essential it is to residents’ livelihoods, and to press for solutions that create adequate, stable funding.
“Sustainable, long-term investment in public transit is crucial to ensuring that our region remains accessible and equitable for all,” Sandvig told the Pittsburgh Business Times. “It’s also yet another roadblock to our region’s economic recovery at a time we can least afford it.”
