Port Authority CEO to tackle pressing issues immediately

Port Authority CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman, who took office in January, expects to deal with two major issues she inherited in the next month: whether to use armed officers to enforce fare payment on the light-rail system and proposed service cuts in the East End and Monongahela Valley as a result of the Bus Rapid Transit system.

Ms. Kelleman told the authority board Friday her staff is reviewing data on fare evasion and found 98 percent of lightrail riders tap either their prepaid ConnectCard or a day pass. It’s unclear whether the others are failing to pay or just forget to tap, which she said she has done herself if she’s greeting the operator or engaged with passengers when she gets on.

Regardless, the agency doesn’t have a major problem with fare evasion, she said, so staff is reviewing whether armed police officers should enforce payment as a criminal matter or use civilian enforcement officers and treat it as a civil matter. The agency expects

to switch to cashless payment on the light-rail system later this year but no date has been set while it works out problems with equipment to issue ConnectCards and works out the enforcement issue.

“We have all the parameters in place, but we don’t have a final answer yet,” she said. “We are comfortable we have the right information to work with.”

A coalition of community groups has been lobbying for the past year to treat fare evasion as a civil matter. They fear confrontations with students, riders who don’t speak English and those who have mental health problems could turn deadly with armed officers.

The authority hired 10 additional police officers over the past two years in anticipation of using them for fare enforcement, but Ms. Kelleman said she is reviewing withthe department whether that is their best use.

Officers do fare enforcement now by randomly riding the light-rail system as part of their regular duties. Staff will review whether that needs to be stepped up when the system goes cashless or if the agency would be better served by having officers continue their current duties, which include being ambassadors to help customers use the system, Ms. Kelleman said.

It’s unclear whether the issue will require a vote by the authority board, but Ms. Kelleman said board members are being kept up to date on staff discussions.

As far as the Bus Rapid Transit system is concerned, Ms. Kelleman said meetings will begin at 6 p.m. April 12 at the Rankin Christian Center to renew the discussion of service changes. Residents in suburban communities, especially the Monongahela Valley, say local service is being reduced to the area’s poorest communities to set up the proposed BRT between Oakland andDowntown Pittsburgh.

The new, $195 million system is awaiting a decision on its request for a $100 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration but expects to proceed with or without that money. The project involves using electric vehicles on exclusive lanes outbound on Forbes Avenue and inbound on Fifth Avenue, as wellas wings serving Wilkinsburg via the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway and Highland Park and Squirrel Hill with extra lanes near intersections to allow buses to bypasssome traffic.

The system will take about two years to build.

Ms. Kelleman said she believes the agency can cut service hours in the East End and Mon Valley from about 3,800 to 3,660 a week as proposed and still meet neighborhood needs. That can be done by adjusting service times to reach as many riders as possible, she said.

The agency will have specific recommendations to address concerns about reducing service, whether riders will have to pay to transfer in Oakland and if some direct service to Downtown from those communities can be maintained. The agency expects to hold six to eight neighborhood meetings but others haven’t been set yet.

“It’s time for us to reconvene in the communities and show them what we’re thinking and hear what they have to say,” Ms. Kelleman said. “Our goal is to preserve as much as we can.”

Laura Wiens of Pittsburghers for Public Transit said she’s happy the agency is willing to reconsider proposed changes. The group presented the board Friday with a letter signed by more than a dozen elected officials who represent municipalities in the Mon Valley, as well as businesses and organizations there. “My hope is they’re not proposing to change to a traditional 9-to-5 model,” she said. “There is an unusually high amount of people in those areas that use transit at off-peak hours.