Minutes - Port Authority of Allegheny County

about four months from now, we are facing a $55 million budget deficit. Unless another gift falls from
the sky, we would have to reduce service to a level even more damaging than what we are looking at.
Likely more than the 35 percent this Board originally approved last November. If this Board was to
keep service the way it is now, and doesn’t reverse the cuts, it only postpones them and expands
them.
As Mr. McMahon alluded to, we are seeing this around the county and even the world. Here in
Pennsylvania, our new Governor and legislators are facing a $4.5 million budget deficit going into
next year. In states around the nation, we are seeing service being slashed.
Mr. Bland noted that it would be a gamble [a word he has heard used this morning] at best to spend
all of this money now and then adopt an unbalanced budget in June without a hint of hope that
something might be resolved in Harrisburg some time later in the year. If that gamble did not pay off,
we’d be facing service cuts even larger than the 35 percent originally envisioned.
Mr. Bland noted that it would be a very popular decision if this Board was to vote to reinstate services
scheduled for elimination at the end of March, but it would also be thoroughly irresponsible. We all
share these frustrations and the desire to keep on as many routes as we possibly can, but we cannot
gamble with this public asset. It is simply too important to too many people and our region as a
whole. He stated that we and he believes that he speaks for the Board in this regard, will work with
anyone, any group, any individual, any elected official and any elected body who wishes to fight for
public transportation and who may have viable solutions to the statewide transportation funding crisis.
Mr. Bland said, “I for one, hope that some of the folks who have been directing their energy against
this Board, would redirect their energies and join with us in this fight.”
He continued reporting that for the individuals who are most affected and frankly caught in the middle
of this, we feel for you, we hear you and we are going to continue to work with you and other interests
in this community to reinstate those services.
Mr. Bland noted that many people have lost track of the fact that in January when this Board adopted
the current service plan, the original resolution was amended to call these temporary service
reductions pending resolution of the statewide transportation crisis. My suggestion to people who
may feel motivated to direct their anger against Port Authority, let’s direct our collective energy, not
anger, and our creativity toward working with state legislators and Governor Corbett who have all
expressed the opinion that transportation and infrastructure is critically important to the success of
this Commonwealth and come up with real solutions.
For the 200 or so employees of Port Authority that we are being forced to lay off, it is one of the
issues that we take most seriously. We look forward to circumstances that will hopefully allow for
your speedy recall.
Mr. Bland ended his report by saying that as he continues to tell staff, even as we reduce the size of
our system, it does not relieve us of the responsibility to continue to improve the quality of our service,
the effectiveness of our service; the efficiency of our service and how we respond to our customers.
One organization this month recognized the efforts to improve the overall quality of public
transportation in Pittsburgh. Earlier this month, a number of Port Authority staff was privileged to
attend the annual meeting of Bike Pittsburgh, the regional advocacy group for bicyclists and
pedestrians in the region. Bike Pittsburgh, not always the biggest fans of Port Authority, in
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