A clean start on transit
New Port Authority CEO, and auditor, get to work
Government generally leadership necessary to unlock needs to listen more and its full potential. The agency spend less time telling people needs a visionary — one who can what to do. The new pursue an ambitious agenda while Port Authorityrespecting the public’s right to know CEO, Katharine Eagan Kelleman, and right to have its input considered. has made a good first impression by proposing to gather public input that will guide the agency’s quest for excellence under her leadership. Riders should make the most of the opportunity Ms. Kelleman provides them.
If a campaign to solicit public input is one way to improve the Port Authority, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s plan to add two components to his next review of the agency is another. On Friday, Mr. DePasquale said his upcoming special performance audit will include a look at the agency’s hiring practices and how it manages routes.
As Ms. Kelleman astutely observed last week, the Port Authority’s goal must be nothing less than excellence; a good public transit system isn’t good enough for a city as dynamic and progressive as Pittsburgh. Th authority is more than the system of buses, light-rail cars and inclines that gets thousands of people to work each morning and home each evening in Allegheny County. A transit system’s appearance, performance and accessibility are barometers of a community’s cordiality and sophistication, factors that big employers take into account in deciding to invest in one city or another. If transit officials are asleep at the switch, as they were on a busy spring weekend six years ago when a staffing shortage resulted in long delays for passengers, the whole city looks bad.
On its website, the 62-year-old authority notes its role in promoting economic development. However, the authority often has lacked the inspired
No doubt Ms. Kelleman has her own ideas on how to move forward, and the Port Authority’s annual self-assessments, in which it compares itself with other transit agencies, provide ideas on how to improve. However, it’s important to get feedback from those who use and pay for the system, and Ms. Kelleman’s plan to hire a firm to conduct semiannual surveys is one way to do it. Importantly, she appears receptive to comments on a range of issues, from the cleanliness of the garbage cans to the pros and cons of the Bus Rapid Transit system that’s been proposed for linking Downtown with Oakland and other eastern communities.
To her credit, Ms. Kelleman also is reviewing a proposal to involve armed Port Authority officers in enforcement of a cashless payment system to debut later this year. Plans to use officers for enforcement were in the works before Ms. Kelleman arrived here. Riders should be happy to have more police officers on trains and stations, but some community groups have objected, prompting Ms. Kelleman to take another look at the issue.
Mr. DePasquale decided on his stepped-up review of the authority in consultation with county Executive Rich Fitzgerald. The audit will give Ms. Kelleman a chance to clear up any problems in hiring or route management that stand in the way of the agency’s improvement efforts. With a clean slate and open mind, Ms. Kelleman will be well-positioned to elevate the Port Authority’s role in Pittsburgh’s resurgence.