The union representing Port Authority bus-trolley workers is demanding fewer service cuts, more input and more state help with the agency's deficit-ridden budget.

"The cuts are far beyond what is necessary or appropriate and we need everybody's help to rescind them," said Patrick McMahon, president-business agent of Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union, representing about 2,500 rank-and-file workers.

He called many of the proposals "unconscionable, ridiculous and inhumane," saying the loss of so much service will strand many people and require others to walk up to three miles to catch alternate service.

In a wide-ranging, 40-minute news conference yesterday, Mr. McMahon said:

Local 85 has begun working on an alternate plan to counter authority management's proposal to eliminate 124 of 213 bus routes, idle 150 buses and lay off at least 400 employees. Mr. McMahon said Gov. Ed Rendell asked the union to develop a plan that would be "less drastic."

Union officials held a breakfast meeting with state lawmakers from Allegheny County to present their side of the story that they claim unfairly blames them for much of the authority's money problems. Later yesterday, they were to meet with county Chief Executive Dan Onorato, who already has said deep cuts are long overdue to "right-size" the authority.

The authority did not engage Local 85 in the planning process nor seek ideas about where cuts might be made and how money might be saved.

"It was wrong and irresponsible not to include us," Mr. McMahon said. "If the union suggests it, then it must be wrong. Being labor, we're an easy target. It's always our fault."

The cuts and other operational changes are to take effect June 24 to help the authority address an estimated $80 million operating deficit for the 2007-08 fiscal year that begins July 1. A fare hike to either $2.50, or $2 if zones are eliminated, would take effect Jan. 1, 2008.

The authority will hold a series of public hearings about its proposals starting Jan. 22.

Mr. McMahon claimed officials are misleading people by saying many bus routes slated for elimination will cause only "minor inconvenience."

He cited a half-dozen examples, saying Brookline would be "wiped out" and senior citizens would have to walk at least a mile to alternate service; three Mon Valley housing complexes, with 7,000 residents, would be isolated; and only a few bus routes would survive in the Route 51, Route 28 and Parkway West corridors.

"All of these people, if they can get to another bus, will find the bus already crowded," Mr. McMahon said.

He also assailed assertions by Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Steve Bland and Mr. Onorato that the nation's 28th-largest county can no longer afford the nation's 15th-largest transit system.

"Do we want to be in a race to the bottom? Do we want to destroy this region?" he said. "It's not true that the system is broken. What's broken is the system of funding."

Local 85 officials called it misleading to say eliminating service is the only answer "when, in fact, there are alternatives," including restoring a former method to settle labor grievances without using attorneys and tightening rules that allow top managers to buy back public service elsewhere and apply it toward authority pensions.

"The bottom line is we need a source of adequate, dedicated state funding," Mr. McMahon said -- an issue that Local 85 and authority management have agreed upon and pursued for years to no avail.

He said the union's executive board and division officers are working "around the clock" on their alternative plan. He was unable to speculate if it would be ready and disclosed before the nine hearings get under way.

"Our biggest hurdle is getting the Port Authority to share information with us," Mr. McMahon said.