Transit riders and workers win $14 billion to keep their systems running during COVID-19. But more organizing will be needed in 2021.
We did it. With the stimulus package just ratified in the US. House and Senate, we have won $14 billion in emergency COVID relief for public transit. That will stave off the imminent transit cuts that were poised to pass with SEPTA in Philly and elsewhere across the Commonwealth. It is a down payment on transit to keep our systems and our riders moving, and something we can celebrate as this year comes to a close.
At a time of many hardships for transit riders and transit workers, it is an enormous relief that we are not also faced with critical cuts in access to food, healthcare and other needs, and nor facing imminent layoffs or supply shortages for transit workers due to funding.
Under this legislation, the Pittsburgh region will see an anticipated $162 million, and the Philadelphia region is set to receive $328 million.
For those of you outside of the Philly/Pittsburgh orbit, you can see a helpful detailed region-by-region breakdown and analysis of the federal legislation as it applies to transit on TransitCenter’s excellent blog.
This is the culmination of your workalongside thousands of other transit riders and workers across the country. It’s been a wild ride: from the beautiful 100+ transit rider call organized with our sisters and brothers at the Philly Transit Riders Union, to the statewide sign-on letter to our national delegation with more than 60 organizational signatories, to the Senator Casey Transit Town Hall with our ATU and TWU partners, and the TRUST Riders National Day of Action highlighting riders’ voices in 11 cities nationwide (check out this great video recap from PPT’s own Dean Mougianis!) Our friends at Transit Forward Philly and 5th Square also hosted a powerful Transit Forum in November to uplift the National Campaign for Transit Justice principles, which took us over the finish line.
The fact that our federal legislators recognized that public transit cannot become yet another casualty of the pandemic—that truly our lives, our livelihoods, our economy, our environment are all at stake—is a testament to how strongly you have made your voices heard.
So thank you. Thank you, too, to our Senate and House delegation who voted to #SaveTransit. There is more work to be done in the New Year to ensure that transit is fully funded to survive this crisis, and that federal transit funding achieves parity with highways and bridges, but for now, a chance to rest and celebrate.
Wishing all riders and workers a safe and restful holiday. Let’s continue to organize together in the New Year!
“Having the bus all week long gives me the freedom to move.”
Public transit has always been essential for workers and our city – 2020 proved it. Pittsburghers for Public Transit has continued to organize with communities through this pandemic. We are winning the transit service that changes lives – but we need you involved to build our momentum.
Last month, Port Authority began running new and permanent weekend service on the 20, 22, 29, 36, 39, 60, 74, 93 routes! The new service means victory for 6 communities that organized with PPT over the past three years. And now, Allegheny County has weekend service on NEARLY ALL LOCAL ROUTES!
This year, for our year-end fundraiser, PPT is telling the stories of the campaigns and the people who fueled them.
We hope that you will join us in supporting this work, because transformation does not come without being organized and making demands.
A message from Nora Kelly, PPT Member and Leader of the 39-Brookline Campaign:
My name is Nora, and I am a resident of Brookline. I work in a hospital in the City and am a lifelong Pirates fan. After a long week at work, I would like nothing more than to reconnect with family, catch up on grocery shopping, or relax at a Pirates game downtown (remember when we could do that! It will be back soon).
But without Sunday service on the 39 bus, we’re stranded. The closest public transit stop on a Sunday is a 40 min walk away, at the T stop in Dormont.
2 years ago, some fellow riders and I joined Pittsburghers for Public Transit in collecting signatures on a petition, asking for the Port Authority to reinstate Sunday service on the 39. We canvassed the businesses on Brookline Blvd and even testified in front of the Port Authority Board with a neighbor who is a bus driver!
Nearly 1,000 riders signed our petition and organized for expanded transit!
Our neighbors immediately connected with our demands. Seniors in the high rise that wanted to go to visit friends. Shop keepers and shoppers wanted to frequent the businesses on Brookline Blvd. Workers like me who can’t afford to take an Uber and who don’t always have Sundays off.
I’m proud that our efforts with PPT paid off! Now that we have weekend service, I look forward to spending my Sundays how I please– to be able to go food shopping for a forgotten ingredient and to be able to attend church again.
Having the bus all week long gives me the freedom to move.
Wait until they hear about how residents are organizing to beat the Mon- Oakland Connector, and redirecting that funding to their neighborhood’s essential needs: increased public transit, sidewalks, bus shelters, bike connections, affordable housing, and small business support.
On Monday, 12/14, it became official when City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY to pull $4.1 million from the Mayor’s misguided Mon-Oakland Connector Project. The amendment put forward by Councilman O’Connor reallocates that money to invest:
$1.9 million for the city’s Housing Opportunity Fund
$1 million for bike and pedestrian infrastructure in Hazelwood
$500,000 to housing in federally designated areas
$420,000 to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s small business programs
$270,000 to the Avenues of Hope business district funding for historically Black neighborhoods
Check out these reports for more information on the amendment and vote:
Needless to say, Run residents were outraged. After doing nothing to fix the devastating flooding that had been plaguing their neighborhood for a decade, the City was going to build a road that would allow privately-operated shuttles to run every 10 to 15 minutes through The Run’s small streets – next to its basketball court and playground. It would also introduce vehicle traffic into a public park on what is now a car-free bike path running next to a heavily-used playing field. Then, in order to justify the project, the City declared that this boutique shuttle service – which would move an anticipated 180 riders per day to a single destination – was intended to help alleviate the long-ignored mobility issues faced by residents in neighboring Hazelwood. These issues, including lack of access to healthy food, are carefully laid out in the Greater Hazelwood Neighborhood Plan – which calls for extending bus service to all parts of the City as well as improved bike and pedestrian access and safety – none of which were part of the City’s original shuttle road plan.
Over the next five years, residents and community organizers in Hazelwood, Greenfield and Oakland worked tirelessly to expose the Mon-Oakland Mobility Project for what it is – a vanity project for the Mayor and a taxpayer-funded subsidy for big-donor special-interest groups, including Almono LP and the universities in Oakland. Residents wrote countless letters, filed Right-to-Know requests, spoke out at public meetings, staged community marches, testified to City Council, lobbied individual Council members, and published articles in local newspapers like the Hazelwood Homepage.
Our Money. Our Solutions.
Then in Dec. of 2019, with the help of community organizing by Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT), a community-led alternative plan to the shuttle road was published: Our Money, Our Solutions.
Following the report, PPT petitioned and won weekend service for the 93 bus running from Hazelwood to Schenley Park, Squirrel Hill, Oakland, Bloomfield, and Lawrenceville – connecting residents to critical employment, food shopping, and healthcare destinations across the City. Pressure from Four Mile Run has also resulted in tangible progress in flood mitigation by the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority.
As for the Mon-Oakland Mobility Project itself – budgeted at $20+ million – the City has done nothing over the past five years but spent an estimated $2 million on design and consulting fees for a shuttle road that residents never asked for and do not want.
At a recent online public meeting, nearly 200 people – including Councilman O’Connor – joined to speak out against using public dollars to help private interests and in defense of equitable infrastructure investments that meet the needs of residents today. We are now on the threshold of starting to defund the Mon-Oakland Mobility Project and reallocating that money to help residents and small businesses in our most vulnerable communities.
When we fight, we win.
There’s still a long way to go, but the bottom line:
Call your Councilperson and ask them to support O’Connor’s budget amendment to divest from Mon Oakland Connector and invest in the Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund
Councilmember Corey O’Connor announced on Thursday, 12/10, that he would introduce an amendment to the 2021 City Budget that would fund affordable housing, build safe sidewalks, and invest in black-owned businesses. His amendment would do this by divesting the $4.15 million that is proposed for the construction of the controversial Mon Oakland Connector roadway. This ammendment is a necessary move that provides vital resources to help our community combat the pandemic’s economic depression instead of building a luxury transportation option for the universities.
Although the amendment’s language will not be finalized until Monday, Councilman O’Connor intends to move the $4.15M that was intended for the Mon Oakland Connector to instead support the following essential needs:
$2 Million to the Affordable Housing Opportunity fund to help address the housing and evictions crisis compounded by the pandemic.
~$1 Million to fund sidewalks in Hazelwood, and to create a pedestrian and bike-only path along Sylvan Ave.
~$1 million to Avenues of Hope, a program to support small Black-owned businesses on 7 specific Main Streets in the City, including Irvine/2nd Ave. in Hazelwood. This is a vital investment as small-businesses are struggling and restaurant workers are losing work due to the pandemic.
Councilman O’Connor’s amendment would deliver clear and immediate benefits to his constituents and to communities throughout the city. This amendment is the type of decisive action that we need NOW in order to protect our families from the pandemic’s worst effects.
The amendment’s investment in the Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund also supports calls made by Pittsburgh United and other housing advocates to double the size of the AHOF in order to fight the housing crisis that the pandemic has only amplified. Investment in these programs creates far more equity in this City than DOMI’s Mon Oakland Connector project that has been met with nothing but years of community resistance.
CONTACT YOUR CITY COUNCIL PERSON NOW and ask them to support Councilman O’Connor’s amendment to get resources to PGH families that have been hard-hit by the pandemic, instead of building a luxury transportation choice for CMU.
Council District #1 Councilperson Bobby Wilson Neighborhoods served: Allegheny center, Allegheny City Central, Allegheny West, Brighton Heights, Brightwood, East Allegheny, Fineview, Northview Heights, Observatory Hill, Spring Garden, Spring-Hill City, Summer Hill, Troy Hill Washington’s Landing. Contact: http://pittsburghpa.gov/district1/feedback Office: 412-255-2135
Council District #2 Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith Neighborhoods Served: Banksville, Chartiers City, Crafton Heights, Duquesne Heights, East Carnegie, Elliot, Esplen, Fairywood, Mount Washington, Oakwood, Ridgemont, Sheraden, West End, Westwood, Windgap, Contact: http://pittsburghpa.gov/district2/feedback Office: 412-255-8963
Council District #3 Councilman Bruce Kraus (City Council President) Neighborhoods Served: Allentown, Arlington, Arlington Hts., Beltzhoover, Central Oakland, Knoxville, Mt. Oliver, Oakcliffe, South Oakland, South Side Flats, South Side Slopes, St.Clair. Contact: http://pittsburghpa.gov/district3/feedback Email: bruce.kraus@pittsburghpa.gov Office 412-255-2130
Council District #4 Councilwoman Anthony Coghill Neighborhoods Served: Beechview, Bon Air, Brookline, Carrick, Mt. Washington, Overbrook. Contact: http://pittsburghpa.gov/district4/contact Office: 412-255-2131
Council District #5 Councilman Corey O’Connor Neighborhoods Served: Glen Hazel, Greenfield, Hays, Hazelwood, Lincoln Place, New Homestead, Regent Square, Squirrel Hill, Swisshelm Park. Contact: http://pittsburghpa.gov/district5/feedback Office: 412-255-8965
Council District #6 Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle Neighborhoods Served: Perry Hilltop, Hill District, Northside, Uptown, Downtown, Oakland. Contact: http://www.pittsburghpa.gov/district6/feedback Office: 412-255-2134
Council District #7 Councilwoman Deb Gross Neighborhoods Served: Bloomfield, Friendship, Highland Park, Lawrenceville, Morningside, Polish Hill, Stanton Heights, Strip District. Contact: http://pittsburghpa.gov/district7/feedback Office: 412-255-2140
Council District #8 Councilman Erika Strassberger Neighborhoods Served: Shady Side, Squirrel Hill, Oakland, Point Breeze. Contact: http://pittsburghpa.gov/district8/feedback Office: 412-255-2133
Council District: #9 Councilman (Reverend) Ricky Burgess Neighborhoods Served: Garfield, East Liberty, Larimer, Homewood, Point Breeze, Friendship, Lincoln-Lemmington-Belmar, East Hills. Contact: http://pittsburghpa.gov/district9/contact Office: 412-255-2137
Mayor, City of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto 412-255-2626
“My grandmother always taught me to fight for what is right.”
A message from Teaira Collins, PPT Member and Leader of the 93-Hazelwood Campaign:
My son Judah is the light of my life. He has down syndrome and we never know when we’ll need the 93 to get us from our home in Hazelwood to Children’s Hospital, but it doesn’t run on weekends! That route also gets me and my neighbors to the closest grocery store. We were confused when the City proposed a shuttle from the Hazelwood Green development site to the universities in Oakland. The shuttle wouldn’t give residents access to hospitals, grocery stores, pharmacies, or jobs in other parts of the city.
Together with PPT, my neighbors and I organized the ‘Our Money. Our Solutions.’ transportation plan
We called for those much-needed transit connections. We collected petition signatures. We held meetings and rallies. For months we testified, we made the news, we shifted the narrative – bus lines are lifelines!. Last August PAT announced that weekend service would be added to the 93 – and to nearly all other Local routes!
This would mean victory for us and 5 other communities that had organized with PPT!
You can help us keep up this momentum by getting involved with PPT. We can win more essential connections to healthcare, food, and jobs – but we can only do it by getting organized. Please support PPT and show that grassroots transit advocacy has the people power to change lives! Get on the bus
“When we expand public transit, we expand what is possible for future generations.”
We’ve always known that transit is essential for riders. But this pandemic has shown us that that we’re all reliant on transit–and how it keeps the riders moving that keep us fed, who care for our sick and do the essential work that keeps us all alive.
2020 has been a tough year. But progress is still possible: this past week, Port Authority began running new and permanent weekend service on the 20, 22, 29, 36, 39, 60, 74, 93 routes!
The announcement means victory for 6 communities that organized with PPT over the past three years. And now, Allegheny County has weekend service on NEARLY ALL LOCAL ROUTES!
We’re in Transit towards Transformation! This year, we handed out more than 2,000 cloth masks to transit riders; we held a statewide Town Hall with PA Senator Bob Casey and more than 300 riders calling for $32 billion in transit funding relief; we won permanent weekend service improvements on the 22, 39, and 93 (among others) and doubled the frequency of the 59 bus! We showed how we can mobilize against unused car-housing (vacant parking garages) and have those resources be allocated towards affordable housing and transit passes at the East Liberty Giant Eagle redevelopment.
Volunteers will get a free t-shirt designed by PPT Coordinating Committee Member, Christina Acuna Castillo!
We’re holding a series of phonebanks that you can participate in from the comfort of your home to connect with PPT’s amazing membership and encourage folks to contribute, as they are able. Volunteers will also get one of our awesome new t-shirts, designed by PPT Coordinating Committee member Christina Acuna Castillo!
Let’s keep up the momentum. Your involvement can help PPT reach our goal of recruiting 250 supporters and raising $12,000.
Graphic with a repeating banner reading “Housing Justice is Economic Justice is Transit Justice” with an image of the Giant Eagle. By Christina Acuna Castillo
Collectively, we have won some important housing, food and transit justice victories and set a new floor for what community benefit should be expected from development without the need for public subsidy.
Over the past year and a half, neighborhood residents and organizational stakeholders from Pittsburgh United’s Housing Justice Table, Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT), Just Harvest, and the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council (PFPC), have been organizing for a just redevelopment of the Giant Eagle Shakespeare site on Penn and Shady Ave in East Liberty.
We have shown that by building less structured parking we can free up millions of dollars to go towards real community benefits – affordable housing, transit investment, and expanded food access.
Black people deserve reparations, and trading car housing for affordable housing is one way to get there. East Liberty has been a site of violence against Black families. Once a thriving center of Black commerce and community, the last two decades of URA, City and corporate-led redevelopment has led to the displacement of thousands of Black residents– a trend which has only accelerated in the last few years.
The Giant Eagle Shakespeare is situated at one of the most transit-rich intersections in the City, with the renovated East Liberty busway stop and a dozen bus lines.
It’s important to remember that it isour public investments in things like great transit service that makes the Giant Eagle Shakespeare site so profitable, and helps generate demand for the proposed housing units. So we’re not asking for charity. We’re calling for developers to provide some community benefit in return for the profits that our public investments have helped them collect.
Our Coalition’s Most Important Gains So Far:
The reduction of 600 proposed parking spaces to 420, which means better air quality, safer streets for transit riders, pedestrians and cyclists, more incentive to take the 12+ bus lines to and from the site, a shorter parking structure and ~ $6,300,000 that can go to community-serving amenities below like more affordable housing, complete streets and transit passes.
10% of housing units will be rented at the 50% Area Median Income (AMI) for 35 years, and the owner will accept Housing Choice Vouchers. The affordable units will be indistinguishable and intermingled with the non-subsidized housing and will help address the need for deeply affordable homes in a city that has a shortfall of 20,000 affordable units. We celebrate that this is a higher standard of mandatory affordable housing units than the Inclusionary Zoning legislation that was won in Lawrenceville (10% of rental units at 50% AMI, with no obligation to accept housing choice vouchers). Most importantly, the developer will not use tax dollars or abatements through programs like the LERTA, TIF or TRID, so 10% quality affordable housing with a commitment to accept Housing Choice Vouchers should be considered a new floor for developers to provide affordable rental units without public subsidy.
$50,000 will be set aside towards bus passes for the housing units. Along with the reduction of structured parking, free bus passes should incentivize transit usage as a default mode of transportation in one of the most transit-rich neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
Assurances to provide culturally responsive foods in the new Giant Eagle with an equivalent or greater selection and variety of fresh produce and other healthy foods, and a commitment to staffing the rebuilt store from the community. Advocates and community partners continue to participate in good-faith negotiations with the company about subsidized delivery and/or transportation to consumers who are reliant on this grocery store during the proposed store closing/redevelopment period. Both delivery and shuttle services for consumers without convenient food options can help ensure equitable access to food shopping while the store is closed for construction.
We’re not done yet, and we’ll need your help to see this work across the finish line.
We need you with us to ensure that the Giant Eagle Shakespeare is an equitable transit-oriented development that doesn’t lead to further East Liberty displacement. We need to ensure that our neighbors maintain and expand their access to healthy, affordable, culturally-responsive foods during and after this redevelopment.
We are circulating an organizational sign-on letter to call on Giant Eagle to fulfill our remaining demands, listed below. If your organization would like to sign on, or if you would like to join in the Giant Eagle Shakespeare Campaign, please reach out to Joshua Malloy, PPT’s community organizer, at josh@ppt-test.jimkeener.com or at (412) 607-7726.
What’s Left to Win:
For Housing Justice: The rents on an additional 5% of the units (which will be rented at 80% AMI) should be lowered to meet the Housing Choice Voucher Payment Standards, so that 15% of the apartments are truly accessible to low-income residents. Moreover, we are asking for a commitment that if the developer should choose to take public subsidy or a tax abatement in the future, that any affordable housing commitments should be in addition to existing commitments.
For Transit Justice: The set-aside for transit passes should be increased from $50,000 to $123,337.50 to ensure that all housing units receive a full year transit pass, for 2-4 years. We are additionally calling on the developer to do an annual impact assessment of the transit passes on transit usage, parking demand and effect on the demand for rental units.
For Food Justice: We want those assurances around product selection and variety to become public commitments. Giant Eagle should provide free grocery delivery and subsidized shuttle services to alternate stores for residents who are most at risk at losing food access during the renovation. There should be serious consideration given to providing a pop-up fresh food access point for pickup and delivery in Larimer and Homewood, and an on-going process and direct outreach to shoppers to solicit feedback as the redevelopment progresses.
Port Authority’s Quarterly Service Changes that go into effect this Sunday, November 22nd, will add weekend service to nearly all local routes in its system. This is an enormous victory and is the culmination of years of riders organizing neighborhood service campaigns with PPT over the last four years!
Additionally, Port Authority plans to DOUBLE service frequency on the 59-Mon Valley route, responding to another call that riders have been making since the start of the pandemic!
Service frequency will also be increased on the 1, 12 and 51.
The 1, 12, 51 and 59 are some of the local routes that have maintained high ridership throughout this pandemic. These changes make it more possible for transit-reliant communities to access their essential needs and jobs, AND for riders and transit operators to stay safe and socially distant while on the bus.
Congrats to all the riders who organized to win these permanent service increases!
22 – McCoy
Terri Minor Spencer, from West End POWER, led public meetings and a petitioning effort with PPT to push for more service on the 22 McCoy
93 – Hazelwood
Tieara Collins of Hazelwood led community organizing for the “Our Money. Our Solutions.” community transportation plan. The plan calls for service increases on the 93 as part of a holistic list of improvements such as sidewalk repair, bus shelters, street lighting, and expansion of the 75.
Hundreds of 39 bus petition signatures gathered by Brookline transit riders Nora Kelly, Sheron Duff, Tish Newman, Bob and Jackie Cohn, Pat DeSimone and transit operator Tom Conroy!
“Without access to the 39 on weekends our neighborhood’s next closest transit access is a forty-minute walk to the T stop in Dormont. This means a lot for my community.”
– Nora Kelly, Leader on the 39 Brookline Neighborhood Service Campaign
…Although these service improvements are to be celebrated, the proposed temporary service reductions to other routes pose a serious concern.
The Port Authority has also included in this round of service changes some very significant frequency reductions on some routes that raise our concern. While these changes are intended to be temporary, service reductions without a clear timeline for full reinstatement can lead to permanent cuts, particularly coupled with the uncertainty around state and federal funding during this pandemic. We know that reduced service means reduced ridership, which in turn leads to reduced service… and this transit death spiral would be catastrophic for us all– for our riders and workers, for our air quality, our business community, and the region as a whole.
To keep these service cuts from becoming permanent, we have to continue organizing for a just and full recovery from COVID-19. We stand with transit riders across the country for a $32 billion dollar federal stimulus for our nation’s public transit systems, and a fair federal formula for transit. PA legislators must pass a progressive and sustainable dedicated transit funding source to keep riders moving through this pandemic and beyond.
Read more about this quarter’s changes on the Port Authority’s website or scan through the notes on changes below that were compiled by @PGH_BUS_INFO (a volunteer-run resource for your Pittsburgh transit service questions!)
Notes on Service Changes from the @PGH_BUS_INFO Hotline
Hey folks it’s service update blog time with your friends from PPT and @PGH_BUS_INFO Hotline. It’s been a long and trying year and quite a while since one of these blogs as traditional Port Authority changes haven’t been occurring in these non-traditional times of the pandemic.
This unorthodox round of changes is pretty darn big with a mix of good, bad and ugly!
Changes include a mix of service cuts, redistribution and improvements to some places.Below are some points we want to highlight about this quarter’s changes. See Port Authority’s website for the full rundown.
Service revised on weekends and Holidays, weekend service after doing the current weekend loop of MILLVALE and the strip have been extended to Shaler, Mt Royal Blvd and North Hills
The Pros – More service to N Hills and folks in Shaler can go places on weekends
The Cons – Service still ends too early and they axed 1 trip on weekends to presumably accommodate the weekend extension
Service via 9th Street Bridge restored after bridge work was completed. “Peak/ Rush Hour” Service reduced
The Pros – not seeing many pros.
The Cons – Reductions in “peak/rush” service. Also unfortunate that this was one of the only Local routes that wasn’t included in the weekend service increase and they still lack service on Sunday. Not cool.
The Cons – Oh look more rush hour reductions, which are only compounded to greater restrictions w the COVID capacity limits. Totally makes sense during a pandemic.
A MASSIVE WIN for riders in the Mon Valley. Service increased to every 30-minutes for most of the day on weekdays (up from 60-minutes!). This is a huge improvement because the 59 has consistently had some of the strongest ridership of any route in the entire system. Lets build on this and spread it to the 55 thats intertwined with this route – and to every route across the system!
A rider victory! More service to the people with the addition of Sunday + Holiday Service. Port Authority had mistakenly announced that weekend would be added a few quarters back, but more buses never made it to the street. Now we need to see more weekend service.
Peak service reductions. The pros? [Error 404 not found]. Riders, the writers of this blog and some others might need an aspirin, a drink, and something for that feeling in the pit of our stomachs!
Sunday and holiday service added for the first time in over 20 years! This is much-needed and long-overdue. People can finally use the connections the 74 provides year-round. Unfortunately, the bus only runs once an hour and stops too early and the tight schedule encourages drivers to either speed or just be late.
Another big win for riders in Hazelwood who have been organizing for improved transit service. Saturday service re-introduced for the 1st time since the Route was practically new! Sunday + Holiday Service established for the 1st time ever on the route. This is especially important because the 58 and 65 had big cuts this round.
But unfortunately, weekends drop to hourly service. We have to do better.
Significant service reductions. In case anyone wasn’t already thinking this, we must fight for dedicated transit funding at the local, county, and state levels.
Significant service reductions. This feels like one step forward two steps back after it was announced last year that service would be expanded to CCAC…
Both P1 and P2 are seeing service reductions. This is really not good news. The east busway was previously our most efficient transit asset. And there is still a decent volume of riders onboard here.
Service added on all days. Most ( but not all ) trips extended to Forbes Regional Hospital. This will be the ONLY Transit route that’ll directly serve Forbes Hospital and is a big deal for Mon Valley riders who have been calling for access to healthcare and jobs.
Comments Submitted to the Transportation and Climate Initiative from Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Philly Transit Rider’s Union 10/30/20
Dear Governors and Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) Leaders:
Transit rider member organizations have participated in the TCI MOU discussions for several years, and have constituencies that include frontline communities in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh region. We, Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) and the Philly Transit Riders Union (Philly TRU), hope to strengthen the equity language in the MOU, to both ensure that those with the most at stake have a strong voice at the table to determine how the TCI resources are allocated, and to ensure that they will receive a clear and measurable benefit from the cap-and-invest proceeds.
We recognize and appreciate the steps taken to include a minimum investment for “overburdened and underserved” communities, and the need to have state-level equity advisory bodies to oversee implementation. We also appreciate the acknowledgement that complementary policies to the TCI must be deployed, as market-based schemes do not themselves address carbon emissions due to transportation, and may, in fact, increase emissions and create worse outcomes in communities already heavily burdened by power plants.
PPT has been a signatory and collaborator in the Green for All Policy Design letter for an Equitable Clean Transportation Program, the TCI equity toolkit and subsequent letter submitted in response to the draft MOU in March 2020. We support and echo the Green For All recommendations submitted on 10/23 around the equity commitments, and would like to further elaborate on a few specific points.
Our comments regarding the equity commitments for the MOU are as follows:
1. Proceeds must put into a ‘lock box’ not to be raided for general funds. This is a high priority, because TCI runs the risk of becoming a regressive tax on low-income and Black and Brown communities if substantial resources are not protected and set aside to be directed by frontline communities. A TCI MOU approved by the governor by executive order could be modified or overturned by the legislature or subsequent governors. TCI without substantial resources allocated to “underserved and overburdened communities” is worse than no TCI at all.
2. The term “overburdened and underserved” should identify a specific and defined community across all the participating states. That might be a term in line with Title VI law, or “Environmental Justice” communities. This definition should encompass BIPOC residents, people with disabilities, low-income residents, older adults, and communities who experience poor air quality due to transportation, power plants, or other manufacturing emissions.
3. The percentage of dedicated investment dollars should be increased beyond the 35%, and the allotment should be determined relative to the percentage of overburdened and underserved communities in the state. We understand that PA is looking at the “underserved and overburdened” communities as those defined as EJ communities, which represent about a third of the state. Under that framework, the 35% represents merely an equal share of the proceeds, not a larger or more equitable share to help repair historic and current wrongs. Many other states apparently have an even higher percentage of EJ communities, which would be poorly served by a less-than-equal share of the revenue. We are calling for the carve out for “overburdened and underserved communities” to be a minimum of 150% of the state percentage of those communities. For example: if “overburdened and underserved” communities (defined according to Title VI or EJ standards) represent 35% of the state, then 52.5% of the TCI proceeds should be allocated for that constituency.
4. A significant percentage of TCI funds that are not part of the equity allotment should be dedicated to funding the expansion of public transit. Funding frequent, affordable, high quality public transit is a critical investment for addressing transportation emissions at the same time that it increases equity in our transportation systems.
Regarding the Community Advisory Body:
1. We believe that those who are targeted for the equity allotment should be the ones at the table to allocate resources and to design metrics to assess their efficacy. These Community Advisory Bodies must have the majority of seats filled with representative residents from disproportionately affected communities, who both live in that community and represent the demographics which define them as such. Representatives for the Community Advisory Body should additionally be chosen through an independent selection process, in concert with community-based organizations, and established as independent, non-political authorities.
a. The role of the Community Advisory Committee should include defining metrics for equitable outcomes, (including air quality monitoring and data tracking, changes to household income, public health impacts and increased jobs/services access). They should also advise on the RFP process and proposal evaluation criteria, and ensure communities are robustly engaged in all proposed infrastructure investments and programs.
2. Community Advisory Members should be paid for their time, local expertise, and reimbursed for travel. Moreover, community organizations should receive capacity grants for community outreach and education on the TCI program and develop their own proposals, including technical assistance. Funds for both of these should not be derived from the equity allotment, but be in addition.
Complementary policies we recommend:
1. At a minimum, TCI must do no harm to frontline communities already suffering from the emissions from electricity generation. We are deeply concerned about the disproportionate attention given to electrification as a remedy for transportation emissions, which will necessarily result in greater impacts on power-generation communities, and believe that it is unjust to secure resources for some underserved and overburdened communities at the expense of others. States must, in the MOU, commit to enacting, during the adoption of the TCI program and not at a later date, a complementary policy (such as California’s AB 617) that would guarantee significant emission reductions in disproportionately polluted communities.
Workforce development goals:
We uplift the calls for workplace development and job training, especially for workers affected by the transition to cleaner vehicles and for communities who are under-employed. There should be provisions for ensuring that these jobs pay prevailing wage and commit to union-neutrality.The TCI program should include supplier diversity goals to encourage proposals from women and minority-owned businesses.
Ensuring that the TCI Investments are Equitable and Effective:
1. The Participating Jurisdictions will annually review and report the impacts of each Participating Jurisdiction’s individual program, including with respect to equity. Annual reports will specify how TCI program proceeds are spent by each Participating Jurisdiction and include lists of projects and programs supported by TCI proceeds and the levels of investment received by each. We would especially call for a critical eye towards investments in electric-charging stations, for them to be weighed against investments in transit-supportive infrastructure like bus rapid transit corridors in terms of equity, efficacy in reducing transportation emissions and number of residents served.
Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to on-going conversations around TCI.
