It's no surprise that the Port Authority and Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 2,300 bus and trolley operators, mechanics and other hourly workers, have been unable to negotiate a new contract.

It's an Allegheny County tradition.

Even fact-finding failed, leaving the union with few options other than to accept the financially troubled transit agency's offer or threaten to strike, its last resort in the bargaining process.

Local 85 has scheduled a membership meeting next Sunday to empower the union's executive board to call a walkout at any time if significant progress isn't made soon. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year, was quietly being targeted as a strike date.

Now Dan's the man.

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato announced last week that he and representatives of Gov. Ed Rendell's office, and the governor himself, if necessary, would put both sides in one room and make them look each other in the eye, if not see eye-to-eye.

Mr. Onorato said there was nothing that can't be resolved now that won't be resolved later, averting a job action that would hurt commerce, cost the authority and union employees goodwill as well as money and, more importantly, disrupt the lives of people who account for 240,000 rides a day.

I'm optimistic.

When he led a marathon bargaining session last weekend to solve a weeklong strike at the Philadelphia-based Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Gov. Rendell set the parameters for a deal here.

Sticking points at the Port Authority are wages, paying part of health insurance premiums for the first time, the pension program and outsourcing time-honored union jobs to private firms.

Wages. SEPTA workers, whose pay for top operators is $21.54 an hour, will receive a 3 percent wage increase in each year of a four-year contract.

The Port Authority, whose pay for top operators is $21.53 an hour, has offered 1 percent in each of the last two years of a four-year contract. Local 85 opened talks, asking for a series of increases that would leave wages $5 an hour higher by the end of the three-year pact. The fact-finder recommended increases totaling 4.5 percent and up to 30 cents in cost-of-living adjustments over three years.

A wage settlement close to SEPTA's is now an expectation, not necessarily an unreasonable one. Workers who are the guts of the nation's 15th largest transit agency might not keep up with inflation, but they don't deserve to fall further behind.

Health insurance. SEPTA workers, who ante up co-pays for doctor visits and prescriptions, will contribute 1 percent of their base pay toward health insurance, or about $450 a year.

Local 85 members, who also ante up co-pays for doctor visits and prescriptions, have expressed a willingness to pay a part of health insurance premiums. The question is: "How much?"

The fact-finder recommended 1 percent of base salaries. The authority wants at least 5 percent of overall wages, including overtime.

Health insurance for the entire agency cost $38.8 million in 2004, an expense held low because of a special, three-year Highmark Blue Cross agreement that has expired. It will cost $51.9 million this year and an estimated $67.4 million next year.

The authority wants more than 1 percent because it pays full health insurance for retirees, many of whom leave in their 50s, while SEPTA's average retirement age is 60. As of last week, the authority had 2,964 people on pension, almost exactly the number still working, management included.

The average pay for Local 85 members is $49,429 a year, including overtime and premium shifts.

Whatever share the union ends up paying toward health insurance, the authority board has a moral obligation to require management to make the same contribution.

Pensions. All employees contribute 4.5 percent of their salaries toward a pension program which enables them to retire after 25 years of service, with a benefit based on 2.25 percent of wages multiplied by years of service. At the Port Authority, it's becoming more common for workers to walk out the door at age 55 with a $30,000-a-year pension.

At SEPTA, employees can retire at age 55, but pensions are reduced by 4 percent a year for each year under age 62.

For years, investments performed so well that the authority didn't need to contribute to Local 85's pension plan. That has changed, largely because of the growing number of retirees who leave with higher pensions. The authority's contribution toward the Local 85 pension fund that was $0 several years ago is projected to be $14.6 million next year.

Nobody in their right mind would give up such a lucrative, liberal pension plan. To keep it, Local 85 might be forced to go along with what the fact-finder proposed: Increasing the employee contribution by 0.5 percent, to 5 percent, starting Jan. 1, 2007.

Privatization. While it's a growing trend, that's worse than the f-word in union-strong Pittsburgh.

The two sides might be better off to concentrate on a new contract and drop the subject for now, then await recommendations from a special nine-member state task force exploring long-range transportation funding and cost-savings issues.

I offer these details to give you a better understanding of the crux of this highly-publicized fight.

Half the people who work in Downtown and Oakland, the economic hubs of the region, get there by public transit. Without it, getting around would be even worse for people who already drive congested roads and pay outlandish parking fees.

Public transit is a lifeline as much as it is an option for some people.

Public transit is as much a necessity as a convenience in urban areas.

Public transit is a regional asset.

Go for it, Dan.

Talk turkey.

Elsewhere. The Red Rose Transit Authority has opened an $8.3 million transit center in Lancaster. The facility includes 11 bus berths, a public meeting room, a sales-and-information center and 14,000 square feet for transit-oriented private development.

Believe it! One person died an average of every 12 minutes in 2003 as a result of motor vehicle accidents on our nation's highways.

Plate du jour. Jack Samuels spotted the Pennsylvania personalized license plate ICU LOKN on a vehicle on Fort Couch Road near his Bethel Park residence. DOU CME?