The financially strapped Port Authority next week plans to announce the largest fare increase and most far-reaching service cuts in its 40-year history.

The agency will propose up to a 75-cent increase in the $1.75 base fare; elimination of weekend and holiday bus, trolley, incline and paratransit service; elimination of all weekday service after 9 p.m.; and elimination of an untold number of weekday routes used by commuters.

"The Port Authority would be a shadow of itself," Chief Executive Officer Paul Skoutelas said after yesterday's monthly board meeting. "It's a situation we hope can be averted, but only if we get help from the Legislature and governor's office."

He said the authority has no choice but to prepare a worst-case scenario to address a projected $30 million deficit for the 2004-05 fiscal year, which is into its third month with no relief in sight.

Last year, when the authority faced a $20 million deficit, the agency was able to postpone a threatened round of fare increases and service reductions, thanks to a special $10 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, $5 million in administrative cuts, and restoration of cuts in state operating funding.

Skoutelas called it a "one-time fix" that is not in the offing this fiscal year.

"We dodged the bullet last year, but we're back in the soup," he said. "Given the magnitude of the shortfall we now face, the actions proposed the last time will have to be deeper this time."

Port Authority officials will hold a news conference next week to announce details and explain options in their financial plans. Public hearings will be scheduled for October, with plans to implement the changes early next year.

Skoutelas said the authority understands the hardships that would be imposed on its patrons, who account for 235,000 rides on an average weekday and many of whom have no other means of transportation.

"The public needs to realize the magnitude of the situation," he said. "We need their support."

Skoutelas said the only hope of postponing the most drastic moves in the Port Authority's 40-year history rests with the state and early passage of companion bills in the House and Senate. The legislation would lift the cap on the percentage of sales tax revenue dedicated to public transit, making $262 million available statewide.

The Port Authority's share would be $63.5 million in the first full year, more than enough to maintain the status quo in fares and service and pay for growing costs such as $14 million in higher insurance premiums and $6 million more for higher diesel fuel prices.

Frozen or reduced operating assistance forced the authority to raise the base cash fare from $1.25 to $1.60 in 2001 and to $1.75 in 2002, as well as cut service.

More than 70 other small and large transit systems across Pennsylvania are facing similar funding problems this time, including Philadelphia, the nation's fifth-largest city. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, serving a five-county region, is proposing cuts similar to Port Authority, including increasing the base cash fare to $2.50, reducing weekday service by 20 percent, eliminating all weekend bus, rail and paratransit service and cutting 1,400 jobs.

SEPTA's cuts are to take effect Jan. 1 unless the state rescues it from a projected $62 million budget deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30.

At least 20 percent of the Port Authority of Allegheny County's approximately 3,000 employees could lose their jobs in a scaled-down transit system.

Skoutelas said a fare increase and service cuts would also adversely impact the business community, which relies on the authority to provide transportation for employees as well as customers.

"The problem has to be addressed in Harrisburg," he said. "We regard this as crucial to the future of Pennsylvania. Time is growing short."

When the last fiscal year ended June 30, the Port Authority board did not adopt a new budget for the 2004-05 fiscal year. Instead, it is operating on a "continuing resolution" that carried the $282.7 million spending plan into the current year, despite the fact that revenues are to come up $30 million short.

The operating budget is separately developed and funded from the capital budget, which finances improvements like the purchase of new buses and trolleys. Money from the capital budget cannot be used for operations.

For example, the $363 million light-rail extension to the North Shore and convention center, a project now in final design, is being funded 80 percent by the Federal Transit Administration, 16²/₃ percent by the state and 3¹/₃ percent from Allegheny County long-term bond issues.