The first rule of capitalism is a lot of people need to work for not much money.

That's hardly a radical notion, but we generally don't say it out loud because it might scare the children. Still, with everyone suddenly noticing the wealth gap that's been widening for three decades, it seems safe to mention it.

That's the prism through which we should watch the agonizingly slow death of the Port Authority. Because if you're going to work for not much money, you need to get to work for a fraction of that. Otherwise, there's not much sense going.

Tens of thousands of budget-conscious people take the bus and T every day. Half of Downtown workers and one-quarter of those in Oakland use mass transit, as we hear every time there's a funding crisis, which is always. The day before Thanksgiving, authority CEO Steve Bland told his board that planning had begun for a 35 percent reduction in service hours by next fall.

If riders hearing that news felt like turkeys, you can't blame them. Cuts this spring eliminated 29 routes and trimmed 80 others. State transit funding is less than what it was five years ago, and if it doesn't increase next year, thousands more riders will see their buses go on the chopping block.

Like Caesar or that dude who got whacked on the Orient Express, the county's transportation system is dying from multiple wounds. Some of us blame the state, some the unions, some the management, and some blame all. But the threat now is to cut 30 to 40 of the remaining 98 bus routes within the year.

As government leaders in Harrisburg shrug, business leaders with city addresses will have plenty of time to think about leasing elsewhere. But where can they go?

One reason the city hasn't lost jobs even as it has lost residents is because so many people can get to Downtown or to Oakland easily via mass transit. Move to the suburban fringe and it's not so easy filling unglamorous but essential jobs, particularly since that's where bus service is most likely to be cut.

Mass transit needs mass. The farther apart the people are in your neighborhood, the less likely you're going to be served. Private operators can't fill the suburban gaps that are out there now.

Lenzner Coach Lines launched two routes in the North Hills last spring after the Port Authority cut lines, but Lenzner is dropping its Franklin Park run starting today. It carried only 33 daily riders on the same route that the Port Authority hauled about 275 daily riders, at least partly because Lenzner charged $1.75 more each way.

What's remarkable is that even with all the transit cuts this year, the Port Authority's average weekday ridership in October was down less than 1 percent from the year before. Ken Zapinski, senior vice president of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, credits authority management for paring wisely, and credits also the many riders who have sucked up the inconvenience of less frequent, more distant and more crowded buses.

That's not a trick easily repeated because we're down to the transit bones. Mr. Zapinski predicts any further cuts will impact all commuters whether they use transit or not. He compared it to a major bridge going out; commuters' adjustments put more cars on already clogged arteries. Bus cuts also will mean fewer parking spaces in places where demand already is sky high.

Early this year, the transit union offered to take a pay cut of 10 percent in an unsuccessful effort to stop the spring cuts. County Executive Dan Onorato said the proposed givebacks weren't enough; only an overhaul that dealt with post-retirement health care would do.

Union contracts are up for renewal next summer and, Mr. Zapinski says, it will take both additional money from the state and union concessions to stem further decline. If there's one without the other, the Port Authority will continue circling the drain.

I'm not sure how many in Harrisburg care about how Pittsburghers get to work. Although Downtown and Oakland are the second and third largest employment centers in Pennsylvania, you'd lose sleep about this only if you depend on that bus to get you around this county, and that eliminates pretty much everyone working in the state Capitol.

It wouldn't be a bad idea if bus and T riders got on the phone to their state representatives, senators and the governor, but it would be a better idea if their employers and office landlords made calls. Those are the people politicians are more likely to worry about.