Pittsburgh Regional Transit approves shifting funds to keep service running, but problems remain
A major move from Pittsburgh Regional Transit on Friday morning had the board voting to shift millions of dollars in order to keep transit running.
All of the PRT board voted yes to approve moving money from the capital budget to the operating budget to put a stop to service cuts temporarily.
"Let's make no mistake, it's a band-aid, but there's still another wound on the other side," said Pittsburgh Regional Transit CEO Katharine Kelleman.
The decision will impact projects essential to keeping PRT's infrastructure and systems up and running. The decision asks PennDOT to reallocate $106.7 million from the capital budget, a large chunk of money that was not meant to be used for operations.
Earlier this month, PennDOT approved the request, and today's vote was the final step.
"We are thrilled we're protecting service, we're thrilled we're protecting the good jobs," Kelleman said. "We are thrilled that fares aren't going up, but this conversation is not over."
Transit advocates are backing the move, but are still pushing hard for a permanent fix, and remain focused on saving service.
"It's not a solution; we have nearly traded one set of problems for another," said Laura Chu Wien.
"We need something that's actually sustainable long-term and is permanent," added Ryan Matthews. "That's what we've been asking for for the last several months."
However, without this vote to move the money, riders were facing a 35% service cut as well as a 9% fare hike.
"Make it so we can have sustainable service, fully," said Brian Hatgelakas. "It seems like now we're trying to rob Peter to pay Paul."
It remains uncertain what could be impacted by this plan when it comes to future projects, and PRT is still waiting on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's budget proposal to see if any money will come their way in the future.