COVID put brakes on city’s bus, trolley service
Ridership on Pittsburgh Regional Transit plummeted by almost 50% and the agency’s revenue decreased by 45% in the past three years, according to an audit released Thursday.
The audit, released at an afternoon news conference by state Auditor General Timothy DeFoor, spanned the period from July 19, 2019 to June 30, 2022 and coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when people sheltered indoors and avoided public transportation.
Since the start of the pandemic, the authority also has struggled to maintain adequate driver staffing, resulting in canceled service hours, according to the audit. Operator shortages on bus and rail lines were about 18% below budgeted capacity.
From January 2022 through June 2022, PRT averaged some 5,500 hours of canceled services per month, as opposed to just 250 hours per month from the period of January 2019 to June 2019.
Financial and marketing strategies — including a name change from Port Authority Transit in June 2022 — helped to continue current operations, said Katherine Kelleman, CEO of the transit authority.
“... But future challenges remain because of evolving ridership trends,” the audit said. “PRT’s strategies include a name rebranding project, creating a shortterm 5-year strategic plan and a 25-year long-range transportation plan, and investing approximately $1.5 million for a bus network redesign project that began in June 2023.”
The performance audit had two primary objectives:
• Determine the full financial impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on PRT’s revenues and expenditures.
• Evaluate strategies and efforts to sustain operations through planning choices, and updating or adding new directives, policies and procedures.
The transit agency has corrected recommendations from the previous state audit in 2018 and is on a path to improving service for the region, according to the audit.
“One thing became very clear to our auditors,” Mr. DeFoor said. “PRT is aware of its future challenges and is using innovative solutions to face them head on. … Our auditors recommend that PRT continues its work to restore ridership to prepandemic levels and focus on maintaining financial stability for the future.”
According to the audit, the challenges of COVID did not increase PRT’s expenses, but the dramatic decline in its second largest source of revenue, rider fees, forced the authority to rely on subsidies from temporary stimulus funds. Ridership decreased by 31.7 million rides during the audit period and passenger revenue decreased by $45 million.
“The COVID- 19 pandemic had adverse impacts on operations,” according to the audit, “and unless ridership rebounds, Pittsburgh Regional Transit may face difficulty when its federal stimulus funds and deferred revenue are depleted.”
PRT will have received $502.5 million in combined federal stimulus funds at the end of June 2024. By then, all of it is expected to be exhausted. The authority will use approximately $350 million in deferred revenue to close budget gaps after the stimulus funds run out but projects that it will be depleted during the fiscal year ending in June 30, 2028, leaving PRT with a deficit.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit is the second largest public transportation system in Pennsylvania following the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which serves five counties in the Philadelphia area. Approximately 1.4 million residents live in PRT’s 745-square-mile service area with approximately 7,000 transit stops and stations. The 2018 audit found PRT’s on-time rate to have improved from 63.8% in 2013 to 67% in 2017. Fares include a full fare of $2.75 valid for three hours with unlimited transfers to a full day rate of $7.
The audit recommended that the authority develop formal monitoring procedures for reviewing and evaluating whether plans meet the bus line’s goals. PRT should continue to reprioritize projects and align resources to meet the needs of the community, the audit said, and make necessary changes to its services to ensure sustainability.