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PRT has released its final draft of the Bus Line Refresh. Now is your last chance to support a plan that benefits all!
A network redesign like the Bus Line Refresh could be used as an opportunity to win the funding and service PRT riders deserve. With this final draft, PRT has a choice: set riders up for success in the future, or lock Allegheny County transit into managed decline.
Your voice has been critical in making sure the Bus Line Refresh really benefits Pittsburgh Regional Transit riders. After over 20,000 comments from riders, the public’s last chance to provide input on this major change will be between August 17th and September 30th of this year.
Our BLR blogs have advocacy demands, resources and maps to understand impacts, the full collection of opportunities for you to give feedback:
New blog with advocacy analysis & how you can speak up [[link removed]]
Transit riders and supporters call on Pittsburgh Regional Transit to use the BLR to:
1. Name and plan for a specific, visionary growth possibility, so that PRT can win the money it urgently needs. Decades of disinvestment and rider organizing have made it clear that current service levels are not meeting riders’ needs; if PRT designs under the assumption of no new service, Harrisburg will have no reason to fund it.
2. Minimize harm for existing riders. With a cost-neutral redesign, any service improvement in one community will come at the expense of another community. PRT must minimize cuts to communities who have no other option (stay tuned for our analysis of which communities could be harmed the most under this final draft).
3. Name clear, specific goals and metrics to demonstrate that the Bus Line Refresh increases ridership, reliability, and rider satisfaction. PRT aims to increase all these metrics under the refresh, and riders agree! By clearly naming and regularly reporting on success metrics like rider satisfaction, ridership increase, and service reliability, PRT can ensure this major change actually accomplishes what it sets out to.
Read more and uplift the demands [[link removed]]
PPT's member-led Research Committee has been analyzing the BLR final draft continuously since it was released. Here's some of what the Committee found:
* Less service area, but more service frequency where it exists.
Since the BLR is cost-neutral, the final draft eliminates service in several outlying communities in order to increase service frequency in areas that currently have higher ridership.
* The Busline Refresh plan overall would provide more service for high equity communities- except for older adults.
Service gains go more frequently to areas with more Black, Brown, car-free, and lower-income residents. Conversely, service losses are more frequently found in whiter, more suburban areas. Older adults (65+) are the group which will lose the most service.
* Buses would be scheduled at much more predictable and regular intervals.
Currently, buses are scheduled in odd and unpredictable intervals. Under the Bus Line Refresh Draft 3.0, buses are scheduled in intervals like every 15 min, 20 min, 40 min, or once an hour.
See more about the impacts & use our tools [[link removed]]
Now is the time to speak up for change - and the committee created tools for that too:
* Join Pittsburghers for Public Transit to learn more!
* Attend Organizer Office Hours on Wednesday, September 2nd ( in person [[link removed]] or virtual [[link removed]] ) to learn more about the draft, and practice shaping your feedback to PRT
* Attend the PPT Monthly Meeting on Wednesday, September 9th [[link removed]] to learn more about the draft and prepare for the public hearing the next day
* Attend the advocacy press conference before the public hearing on September 10th!
PRT needs to hear from you about how the final Bus Line Refresh impacts your community. Join transit riders at the public hearing Downtown on September 10th to give your testimony. [[link removed]]
* Comment on the draft!
There are lots of ways to comment on the BLR. The Bus Line Refresh is a massive, confusing proposal, and it can be hard to draft comments. That’s why we made a Mad-Libs-style comment template, to help youcraft a comment for PRT [[link removed]] . Check out our tool, make a copy, and customize it to show how the Refresh impacts you, alongside the things our system needs as a whole.
Now is your last chance to speak up [[link removed]]
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Image Description: PPT members pose in front of a PRT bus, raising fists and doing thumbs up with the operator
Love talking to your neighbors? Apply to be a Bus Captain!
PPT is launching a first-of-its-kind canvassing program, designed to meet transit riders where they are: the bus!
As a Bus Captain, you'd meet, develop relationships with, and build an intentional community with fellow transit riders. You'd hold 1:1 conversations with bus operators and transit riders on their specific routes, in order to identify shared issues and organizing opportunities to make this public good work better for its primary stakeholders—you!
If you want to bring the wisdom of riders on your routes to PPT's organizing, apply to be a Bus Captain today! [[link removed]]
Apply to be a Bus Captain! [[link removed]]
The Bus Captain pilot runs from July 2026 - December 2026. Participants will be required to spend 3-5 hours per month on their chosen bus routes, complete data entry tasks after each session, attend every monthly Organizing Committee meeting and be in regular contact with a PPT organizer.
[[link removed]] [[link removed]] Pittsburghers for Public Transit is a grassroots union of transit riders, transit workers and neighbors. Get involved with PPT: Come to an upcoming event [[link removed]]
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Pittsburghers for Public Transit
5119 Penn Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
United States
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