Image Description: text reads "press statement" with logos of Transit for All PA! coalition and photo of transit advocates smiling and holding signs.

Transit riders, workers, and advocates denounce the legislature’s abject failure to raise new revenue and pass a budget to meet the mobility needs of communities across all 67 counties in the Commonwealth. No budget is complete without addressing freedom of mobility, particularly for our older adults, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable populations.

Confronted with the catastrophic costs of transit funding inaction [...] the Governor, Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate had all agreed that public transit funding was a top priority in this year’s state budget negotiations. But when push came to shove, transit funding got dropped.

Instead, SEPTA and Pittsburgh Regional Transit were forced to use their limited capital resources to fund transit operations, which delays critical accessibility and safety improvements. The forced transfer of capital funds to operations also did not address the mobility crisis facing smaller communities across the state. Within the next 18 months, the already austere transit system budgets in the Lehigh Valley, Lancaster, Westmoreland County, State College and more will hit their fiscal cliffs and begin cuts, harming Pennsylvania’s workers and vulnerable populations.

Pennsylvania’s legislature and Governor have also entirely ignored the crisis facing our statewide shared-ride services, serving disabled and elderly populations in our most rural communities.

The Transit for All PA coalition has grown exponentially since the beginning of this year; we have built a movement of over 45,000 transit advocates who hail from all 253 legislative districts in Pennsylvania.

Over the next 7 months, Transit for All PA will amplify the voices of transit riders across our Commonwealth in support of sustainable, expanded transit funding. The coalition’s message: our legislators must get back to their jobs so that PA workers can get to ours.

From Pittsburgh to Harrisburg and all across PA, 2025 has been a year of stunning growth for our movement for Transit Justice. It’s time to celebrate the love-filled community that makes it all possible—with yummy food, music, dancing, and the best company around.

Pittsburghers for Public Transit is a grassroots union of transit riders, transit workers and neighbors.