Reduced transit fares would benefit county and the PRT
Pittsburgh Regional Transit is test-riding options to determine how best to create a sustainable fare system for low-income riders. It’s a smart and humane move in keeping with the mission of public transit.
If the pilot program is successful, permanent reduced transit fares would benefit the entire county. They would give poor people some relief from punishing inflation, increase ridership, and connect employees to jobs.
The city’s Department of Human Services is managing the 12-month pilot that will collect data from a test group of 14,000 Allegheny County riders. Some people are riding free; others get a 50% discount in fares.
Transportation is an essential cost for many, and recent inflation is taking an enormous toll. The $2.75 cost for a bus or light rail ride is unaffordable for people struggling to make ends meet.
A 2021 study noted that 40% of transit users are low-income. That means they probably must rely on public transit to get them to work, medical appointments, stores and other destinations. For them, reduced fares, which transit advocates have long pushed for, would mean more money in their pockets for essentials.
PRT charges some of the nation’s highest fares, but the agency has been reluctant, most likely due to lost revenue, to launch a reducedfare program. Fare revenue provides only a fraction of the agency’s budget.
Additionally, ridership has dropped significantly since the start of the pandemic. PRT received $108.5 million in fare revenue in 2019, but that dropped to $90.6 million in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.
Reduced fares could return some of that lost revenue by increasing ridership. The pilot program will help answer that question, and determine the impact of discounted and free fares on ridership and revenue. It should determine whether a 50% discount is sufficient to get more people riding, how many free fares the agency can afford to provide, and how many people getting discounted or free fares use their connect cards.
Free and reduced fares would also boost the local economy. As part of the pilot, the city should survey riders to determine how many of them are using transit to get to work.
Riders participating in the pilot program must be Allegheny County residents, between 18 and 64, who receive benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps. The Department of Human Services also oversees the SNAP program, which serves nearly 2 million people statewide, making it a natural fit for this discount program.
The city should collect the data it needs, then develop a permanent farediscount program as soon as possible, for as many riders as possible.