Pittsburgh deserves better air quality

You recently published an article about Port Authority’s transit planning for the next 25 years (July, 27, “Port Authority hosts first in-person open house for NEXTransit feedback”). I was at the event — in fact, you even published a photo of me. What the image doesn’t show is my alarm about the very casual progress the Port Authority is making toward transit electrification.

As anyone breathing the air in Pittsburgh in recent weeks should know, global warming is upon us and the threat is existential. Pittsburgh must do its part to reduce emissions and our government agencies should be taking the lead.

Port Authority’s proposed date of fleet electrification (2045) is slower than its peers. New York City has committed to buying no new internal combustion engine vehicles after 2028 and Philly’s transit agency, SEPTA, has already transitioned its entire fleet to 100% hybrid and electric buses. (Would you believe me if I told you that Shenzhen, China, has already transitioned its 16,000 buses to all electric?) Pittsburgh — a city/region known for its dangerous air quality — deserves better air quality now, and we all deserve a livable planet.

Port Authority is already a regional leader in improving air quality by getting people on buses. Let’s encourage the Port Authority to do even better by expediting its plans to electrify and by providing firm details about how it intends to do it.

The time is now.

GREG SCHAFFER Bloomfield