Port Authority tweaks increases to service for next week
Port Authority will return to full service on 39 routes Monday as it tries to anticipate ridership levels as Gov. Tom Wolf eases COVID-19 restrictions in Allegheny County.
But the return to service will be less than the agency proposed earlier this week, and vehicles won’t increase the maximum number of riders. Weekend service has remained the same.
The agency submitted its draft proposal earlier this week to the Allegheny County Health Department and the Amalgamated
Transit Union, which represents more than 2,000 union employees at the agency, before announcing final plans.
The agency plans to return 39 neighborhood routes to full service Monday, but that will not include the 61A, B, C and D or 71A, B, C and D routes. The reduced service on 32 commuter and rapid routes and the light rail system implemented in March due to the virus emergency will remain because the governor has asked all workers who can work from home to continue to do so.
The draft had proposed increasing the number of riders on each type of authority vehicle by five, but that will not happen yet. The capacity will remain 10 passengers on 35-foot buses; 15 passengers on 45-foot buses; and 25 riders on 60foot articulated buses and light rail cars.
Operators have been instructed to pass riders once they reach capacity.
The authority had cut service to about 75% when ridership dropped by more than 75% due to the state’s stay-at-home order. The changes Monday will return service to about 88%.
Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph would not say why changes were made. All of the agency’s safety protocols — sanitizing vehicles daily, requiring riders and operators to wear masks, and boarding through the rear doors — will remain in place.
“We’re asking riders to distance themselves as much as possible” on vehicles and at stations and bus stops, Mr. Brandolph said. Riders should allow extra time to get to their destination in case a vehicle has to pass then because it is too full.
“This plan of action will allow us to safely and responsibly resume regular service while continuing to make sure our riders and employees feel safe, comfortable and protected,” CEO Katharine Kelleman said in a news release.
The agency will monitor ridership and try to make adjustments as needed, although it noted in a news release that “absenteeism remains at higher-than-normal levels” due to the virus.
“We will do our best to match our service to the ridership levels we are seeing,” Mr. Brandolph said.
The routes that will return to full service are:
1-Freeport Road; 2-Mount Royal; 4-Troy Hill; 6-Spring Hill; 8-Perrysville; 11-Fineview; 12-McKnight; 13Bellevue; 14-Ohio Valley; 15Charles; 17-Shadeland; 20 -Kennedy; 22-McCoy; 24West Park; 26-Chartiers; 27Fairywood; 29-Robinson; 31Bridgeville; 36-Banksville; 38-Greentree; 39-Brookline; 40-Mt. Washington; 41Bower Hill; 43-Bailey; 44Knoxville; 48-Arlington; 53L-Homestead Park Limited; 54-North Side-Oakland-South Side; 56-Lincoln Place; 57-Hazelwood; 58Greenfield; 74-HomewoodSquirrel Hill; 75-Ellsworth; 79-East Hills; 82-Lincoln; 86Liberty; 87-Friendship; 88Penn; Y46-Elizabeth Flyer.