Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette
	A map displaying current routes and service cuts is on display at the Port Authority board of directors meeting yesterday at the authority's headquarters on Sixth Avenue.

By Joe Grata
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Port Authority riders will see a record 15 percent cut in service effective June 17, representing the elimination of 29 weekday bus routes but sparing 95 other routes originally targeted to be abolished.

	Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Steve Bland addresses the media during a 15 minute recess at PAT's board of directors meeting. Click photo for larger image. Related Links Bus riders still finding plenty to worry about with cutbacks Officials fear more cuts could be on the way An overview of the changes at the Port Authority Port Authority's detailed route-by-route proposal (in .pdf format)
	Board member Eddie Edwards Jr. listens to comments from Mr. Bland at the board of directors meeting. Click photo for larger image.

The latter may soon be gone, too, if the state and Allegheny County fail to solve the agency's funding problems in time for the 2007-08 budget, Chief Executive Officer Steve Bland warned.

"We've gone as deep as we can go without cutting into the meat and bones of the system," he said yesterday while recommending the 15 percent "Phase 1" changes designed to save $35 million.

A potential second phase, involving an additional 10 percent cut in service, would go into effect Sept. 2 if more government money isn't forthcoming. This would cover the remaining $45 million in the agency's projected $80 million deficit.

"If we do not get reliable, dedicated and predictable funding, we will not be able to sustain what you see today," Mr. Bland said of the June 17 and potential Sept. 2 service cuts. "Our problem continues to grow."

The nine-member board of directors is expected to ratify yesterday's staff recommendations at Friday's monthly meeting.

The authority said the original plan was modified to preserve as much service as possible, as long as possible, based largely on input from more than 13,000 people at meetings and through phone, e-mail and written comments.

While fares still are scheduled to increase Jan. 1, the authority is delaying a decision on the type and amount until it studies the impact of the first round of changes.

Nevertheless, the nation's 15th- largest transit system is certain to drop in ranking and the region will feel the blow.

The June 17 changes, eliminating a total of 7,574 trips, will result in an estimated 4 percent loss of ridership, or more than 2.5 million rides annually.

These neighborhoods will lose all public transit service: Cranberry, Wexford, Eastmont in Wilkins, Chestnut Ridge in Oakdale, Robinson-Forest Grove in Robinson, Virginia Manor in Mt. Lebanon and Sharps Hill in Aspinwall.

About 300 authority employees are to be terminated or laid off. They include 150 to 175 operators, 85 maintenance workers and 56 management and nonrepresented personnel.

While all ACCESS paratransit service will be kept, the minimum ADA fare will be increased 21 percent, to $2.25. The "65-Plus" fares will remain unchanged instead of raised.

Weekend cuts, while also less extensive than originally proposed, are still significant. Seventeen Saturday and seven Sunday bus routes will be eliminated.

After repairs that have closed the light-rail bridge crossing Route 51 are finished in September, the number of trips will be reduced on the 47S South Hills Village via Overbrook; the 42M Mt. Lebanon Short route will be eliminated; and two bus routes will be restructured to become "feeder" routes to light-rail stations, where riders can transfer to travel Downtown.

If the Legislature doesn't act and increase transit subsidies, board member Richard Taylor said, the Port Authority could run out of money by June 2008.

"Lots of people don't believe how critical our situation is," he said.

The 15 percent service reduction, albeit less than proposed in January, represents the largest service adjustment in the authority's 43-year history. However, Mr. Bland said that the Port Authority still will be providing 97 percent of the service hours of 10 years ago.

Specific schedule and route information is still being developed, but maps and information about all routes are available on the Web at www.portauthority.org.

In a news statement, Mr. Bland said: "[This] revised plan represents our best effort to manage operating costs over which we have control and to begin to address our financial challenge in a way that affects the fewest customers."

He also said the changes, along with pension and retirement reforms affecting about 300 nonunion and management personnel, address restructuring recommended last year by Gov. Ed Rendell's Transportation Funding and Reform Commission.

County Chief Executive Dan Onorato also has lent his support, citing the need to limit county funding and to "right-size" the agency to bring expenses in line with revenues.

The routes proposed for elimination in January and going into effect June 17 include some of the least-patronized routes in the system, including the 25C Hankey Farms, 30 riders on 15 trips on an average weekday, or two per bus, plus a half-dozen "express" buses serving suburban commuters.

Some low-ridership routes are being retained, including the 60B Jenny Lind in the Mon Valley, 228 riders on 38 trips, or six per bus, although the number of trips will be reduced and times adjusted.

On the other hand, the authority has decided to keep the 28X Airport Flyer, reducing the number of trips but using full-size buses instead of minibuses. Had it been eliminated as first proposed, there would have been no low-cost public transit to and from Pittsburgh International Airport.

The 28X service triggered an overwhelming public response for retention -- 1,240 comments, mostly from people who work at the airport or the Mall at Robinson, an intermediate stop.

Other routes that had been proposed for elimination but will be saved, at least through summer, are the 46B Baldwin Manor, 1F Millvale, 46D Curry (1,120 daily riders) and ML Millvale-Lawrence Flyer.

Mr. Bland said a "service scorecard" developed last year -- a methodology to rate service -- played a helpful role in determining which routes to cut. He also said the changes reflect suggestions from Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 2,600 bus-trolley operators, mechanics and other rank-and-file workers.

"What we heard loud and clear is the need to preserve the core system and not to isolate neighborhoods," he said. Other considerations included combining routes to gain efficiency and experimenting with more "truck and feeder" service, including interfacing buses with T service.

Mr. Bland said he will make a recommendation about whether to implement Phase 2 cuts in June, not only because the 2007-08 fiscal year begins July 1 but because of the lead time necessary to prepare for them, by printing schedules and enabling Local 85 workers to pick work assignments.

Earlier this month, he outlined a series of initiatives to reduce internal costs, including eliminating 20 management positions, increasing health care contributions, freezing pay for senior managers this year and all non-represented employees next year and tightening up pension rules about "buy backs" of past service and early retirements.

Board committees approved those recommendations yesterday and are poised to finalize them on Friday as well.