Port Authority has accused bus drivers in its Harmar Division of distributing thousands of misleading leaflets warning about upcoming service changes, and threatened disciplinary action against those involved.

Spokesman Jim Ritchie said the drivers handed out brochures yesterday morning "with a lot of scare tactic information about what's going to happen on routes. I don't know how many routes got this but it is quite widespread."

A driver involved in the distribution, who declined to be identified, said 6,000 leaflets were handed out.

"Mass transit is being eliminated in Highland Park, Morningside, Stanton Heights, Lawrenceville, Larimer and East Liberty," said one brochure. Another made a similar assertion about service to Oakmont and Verona.

"That's not true. That's not close to being true," Mr. Ritchie said.

The authority board is scheduled to vote Oct. 23 on a service overhaul that will eliminate some routes, merge others and reduce the number of route variations and stops. Every route will be affected.

Authority officials say the changes will improve service by making it more reliable and easier to understand, that the number of daily trips will increase and that many riders will have more frequent service.

The drivers' leaflet disagreed, charging that authority CEO Steve Bland and County Executive Dan Onorato "brought in a hired gun to develop a plan to disguise their massive service cuts."

The fliers urged riders to contact state legislators, County Council, Port Authority Chairman John A. Brooks, Mr. Onorato and Mr. Bland to protest the service changes.

Port Authority ended its public comment period on the service overhaul and proposed Jan. 1 fare increases on Sept. 30. The agency had scores of hearings, community meetings and open houses and also invited comments on a special Web site devoted to the transit changes.

About 3,500 comments were received in the latest round of public input, Mr. Ritchie said.

As a result, minor changes are being made to the service overhaul, but "overall, we're not changing the thrust of what we've proposed," he said.

Extensive information about what is planned for each route has been posted for several weeks at tdp.portauthority.org. The authority has not decided or made public any information about where stops will be located on the revised routes.

When the board votes later this month, the authority will publicize a formula for determining where stops will be and a timetable for implementing the various route changes, Mr. Ritchie said.

The first changes will come in March, he said.

Mr. Bland, in an e-mail blast yesterday to 10,000 authority customers, community leaders and others, said "many riders may have received fliers detailing changes to their bus routes. These fliers were not authorized by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, and we believe they were created and distributed by a handful of disgruntled drivers.

"Unfortunately, these fliers contained errors and misinformation regarding proposed changes to Port Authority routes under the Transit Development Plan. This likely caused concern among riders who received a flier.

"Changes to routes were presented falsely and a full explanation of improvements and alternatives was not offered. And contrary to information contained within the fliers, the Port Authority won't be implementing any changes to service until at least spring 2010," Mr. Bland wrote.

The Harmar Division serves much of the North Hills, Allegheny Valley and eastern suburbs.

Drivers who participated in the distribution face disciplinary action, Mr. Ritchie said. He said officials were looking into whether the drivers union was involved in the activity.

Patrick McMahon, president/business agent for Local 85 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, could not be reached.

After the fliers surfaced, the authority also began checking buses that returned to the garage for fliers and broadcast orders over bus radios for drivers to cease distribution of the leaflets and throw any remaining ones away.

Onorato spokesman Kevin Evanto said the county executive "is the first elected official in 40 years to take on the challenge of fixing and improving Port Authority. Throughout the process he has acknowledged that change is difficult but that it's necessary. In the end, we'll have a better and more efficient system."

He said Mr. Onorato has worked to cut management costs, secure a dedicated funding source (the county drink tax) and hammer out a new union contract. Realigning service to reflect population and business changes is the last step.

"For anybody to say that the county executive is destroying the transit system or gutting service is just ridiculous," Mr. Evanto said.

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