Pittsburgh Regional Transit said it is facing a 35% service cut that could take effect as early as February 2026 due to a lack of sufficient state funding.
If enacted, the cuts are a massive blow to the system that could shut down more than one-third of its current routes, spike fare rates on the surviving routes and drastically reduce service for riders with disabilities.
In a worst-case scenario, PRT will have to eliminate 41 of its 100 routes and restrict service on 34, said Chief Development Officer Amy Silbermann.
Nearly all routes — 98 of 100 — would have a service impact in some way, and the proposed cuts would result in a 40% overall decrease in service and a 9% increase in fixed-route fares, officials said Thursday. Nineteen municipalities and three city neighborhoods — Banksville, Ridgemont, and Swisshelm Park — would lose all PRT service.
PRT would need a $117 million infusion of funding next year with compounding annual increases to support its current service levels for the next decade, said CEO Katharine Kelleman, who described the situation as “critical.”
“This has been a long time coming, and Allegheny County deserves better than us constantly ... shrinking down,” she said. “You haven't heard us before — consider our voices raised.”
PRT lost 50% of its ridership from 2001 to 2023, officials said. It cut service four times during that period, although none of the cuts were larger than 15% — a far cry from the 35% cut it is currently facing.
One side of ‘a very large coin’
Reactions in the Capitol on Thursday to PRT’s announcement highlighted a longstanding partisan divide on transportation funding.
A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, Manuel Bonder, said the Republican-controlled Senate “has repeatedly failed to act” on his mass transit funding proposals, which have made it through the Democrat-controlled state House. Proposed transit increases in Mr. Shapiro’s past two budgets have been “historic” in scope, Mr. Bonder said, but the funding cannot be delivered without legislative approval.
“Gov. Shapiro will continue his work to bring legislators together to secure meaningful investments in mass transit,” Mr. Bonder said.
Republican Sen. Joe Pittman, of Indiana County, majority leader in the chamber and point person for Republicans in budget negotiations, said the state is spending $3 billion-plus more each year than it is taking in.
“It is critical for our mass transit systems to demonstrate they are running as efficiently as possible, and that riders and local governments who benefit from their services are paying their fair share,” Mr. Pittman said.
He called transit funding one side of “a very large coin.” The other side, he said, is the critical infrastructure projects on roads and bridges that “carry millions of commonwealth residents daily and must be a part of any consideration of additional state funding for transportation.”
The last time PRT’s funding was stabilized was in 2013 through Act 89, a bill that supported public transit statewide. At the time, the agency and the state government in Harrisburg agreed to reconvene after 2023 to discuss more transit funding, Ms. Kelleman said.
But in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out ridership and revenue overnight.
Pandemic relief funding from the federal government was able to prop up PRT through 2024 even as operating expenses rose, officials said, but the agency had to delve into its emergency reserve fund to cover a $50 million deficit this year. In 2026, that annual deficit will rise to $100 million.
‘We don't have that in the bank’
In early 2024, Mr. Shapiro proposed a $283 million increase for state money flowing to transit systems, with PRT getting about $39 million. Ultimately, the budget deal had an increase of only $80 million, including $11 million for PRT.
Late in the year, Mr. Shapiro announced a “flexing” move that would let $153 million of federal money intended for highway projects instead be used to bolster the finances of the Philadelphia area’s SEPTA, the biggest transit agency in the state. That money was only intended to last through June 30 of this year, meaning SEPTA — like PRT — faces a big financial challenge in the 2025-26 fiscal year that starts July 1.
This year, Mr. Shapiro has proposed a statewide transit increase of about $293 million.
PRT has been “thrifty” as ridership has tanked, cutting services, freezing salaries and shutting garages, but even its reserve balance won’t be nearly enough to make up for the $1.8 billion shortfall it is facing in the next 10 years, Ms. Kelleman said.
“I don't care how healthy the reserves are, we don't have that in the bank and it will not be there,” she said.
The chairperson of the Senate Transportation Committee, Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, said the money woes at PRT and other systems are from decreased ridership and increased costs. She, too, said any talk of more state spending has to take into account the “multibillion dollar structural deficit.”
Rep. Ed Neilson, D- Philadelphia and chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said on Thursday that lawmakers want a “comprehensive solution” ahead of the June 30 budget deadline.
In the past nine months, there has been talk of using revenue from the proposed regulation of “skill games” that have popped up in convenience stores, bars and clubs across the state to help fund mass transit. On Thursday, Mr. Neilson shook his head at the concept, saying, “Gaming is one issue; transportation funding is another.”
‘Very concerned’ about looming cuts
PRT’s top priority is preserving its highest-ridership routes. If it were to start cutting those, it would create a “death spiral” as fewer and fewer riders turn to public transit, Ms. Silbermann said.
Ms. Silbermann presented an eight-point plan detailing what PRT would have to cut depending on how much funding it receives, with best-case and worst-case scenarios. The first thing to go would be “very low-efficiency routes,” which are mostly commuter routes that only operate during rush hour and are therefore costlier to maintain, she said.
Local and commuter routes that have significant service overlaps would then be eliminated, followed by service to Pittsburgh International Airport from Downtown and Oakland.
PRT is “very concerned” about the size and scope of the cuts, Ms. Silbermann said. All remaining routes would have to end service before 11 p.m. and operate with reduced service frequencies.
The 11 p.m. service cutoff would mainly affect workers in the service industries, security and hospitals who have late shifts and are responsible for keeping Pittsburgh safe and clean overnight, she said.
Most “low efficiency” routes and some “moderate efficiency” routes would have to be eliminated, devastating service to “equity communities” that rely on PRT the most, she said. PRT had sought to preserve service for the top 25% of equity communities but discovered that it would only be able to safeguard the top 10%.
PRT’s bus fares are set to rise from the 10th highest in the nation to the fifth highest, Chief Financial Officer Donminika Brown said.
In the agency’s proposal, cash fares will increase from $2.75 to $3; day passes from $7 to $7.50; seven-day passes from $25 to $27; 31-day passes from $97.50 to $106.50; and annual passes from $1,072.50 to $1,171.50.
PRT calculated the fare increases by anticipating that a 35% decrease in service would result in a corresponding 20% decrease in ridership across the system, Ms. Brown said. Even with the changes, PRT is projecting that fare revenue would decrease from $57.1 million in 2024 to $53.9 million in 2026 and $49.3 million in 2027.
PRT’s service area for disabled riders currently extends to the borders of Allegheny County but would decrease by 62% in 2026, falling to the minimum levels required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to Karen Hoesch of Access Paratransit.
“Unlike now, where there are no trip denials for ADA eligible trips and the ride must be provided within an hour of the request, people may be told ‘There's no vehicle available to take you at all today when you want to go,’ ” she said.
Fares for paratransit riders would also increase by 20%.
PRT is planning to hold three public hearings between March 31 and June 18 to receive input and testimony on the proposed changes.
First Published: March 20, 2025, 2:11 p.m.
Updated: March 21, 2025, 2:54 p.m.
