A major sticking point throughout Pennsylvania’s budget impasse was getting more money for public transit, but no additional money was allotted for mass transit in the $50 billion state budget.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit said no new means means there is a major gap. It could lead to the transit authority making cuts or raising fares if not addressed in the long term.

“Right now, it’s hectic because you don’t know what kind of funding you are going to get,” Dobbie Wilson, of McKeesport, said.

PRT will get between $290 million and $300 million, but it was hoping to get another $100 million. It moved about $108 million from its capital funds, but it said that’s robbing Peter to pay Paul.

“Without funding this, it would probably cripple the city,” Terrance Davis, of Pittsburgh, said 

PRT CEO Katharine Kelleman said public transit agencies around the state work on a five- to 10-year operating formulas with state lawmakers. When talks needed to happen as the last one ended, the pandemic started and threw everything on its head.

“We’ve already taken 36% of our service off the street in the past 24, 25 years. Allegheny County deserves better than to be constantly shrinking,” Kelleman said.

Kelleman said no long-term investment means more cuts. She said every county benefits from some form of transit, as each runs van programs to get seniors, people with health needs and others around. While big buses and trains are more of a bigger city issue, those are the economic engines of the state.

“We spend money in every single county, so you don’t need to have a bus route on your street to have the economic benefits of transit coming back to your neighborhood,” Kelleman said.

Riders said Harrisburg can’t keep kicking the can down the road.

“They don’t got to worry about it because taxpayers are footing their bills. We gotta do what we gotta do to get from A to B,” Wilson said.

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