Auditor adds components to Port Authority 4-year review

State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Friday that he will add two items to his required audit of the Port Authority: How it decides to expand or cut service and how it hires police officers and transit vehicle operators.

At a news conference Downtown, Mr. DePasquale said he added those items to the audit after consultation with Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. The agency is required to audit Port Authority every four years, and the review in 2014 found problems with excessive payments of moving expenses to new employees and supplier contract oversight problems that he said were immediately corrected.

Mr. DePasquale said this is the “ideal” time for the audit — a new authority CEO, Katharine Eagan Kelleman, took over the agency in January. If the audit finds problems, the new executive will have “a chance to clean anything up.”

He expects to release results by the end of the year.

The review of route changes will concentrate on how the agency makes those decisions and whether the decisions are aimed at lower-income communities. Auditors will look at whether those areas could be better served with vans or other vehicles rather than buses, he said.

“Moving people to work is a critical element for Port Authority,” he said. “If we see you’re adding service in Squirrel Hill and cutting in Braddock, I know what’s going on.”

The agency is facing criticism from Monongahela Valley riders who say the proposed Bus Rapid Transit system between Oakland and Downtown will cut service to some of the poorest communities in the region, but Mr. DePasquale said that can’t be part of his audit because it hasn’t happened yet. The authority has neighborhood meetings planned this month to discuss how to maintain service where it is needed.

Mr. DePasquale stressed that employees at companies such as Amazon, which local officials are trying to persuade to locate a second headquarters here, want a strong transit system.

“The people we’re attracting are demanding public transportation,” he said.

Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said the agency looks forward “to seeing what recommendations he has for improving service to our customers.”