Take action now to support the newly proposed PRTner Pass to establish a permanent employer and developer transit fare program that could mean free transit for workers and tenants in Allegheny County!
We at Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) celebrate the opening of the public comment period for the long-awaited bulk employer and developer discount fare program, or the “PRTner Pass.” At the July 26th Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) board meeting, PRT announced the proposal of a new fare program for employers, schools and developers to purchase bus passes for all their employees, renters and students, at the deeply discounted cost of $28/month per person.
This program has the potential to provide working class people across the county unlimited transit passes- freedom of movement- that will both save money on their existing transit trips and incentivize more travel by transit. Moreover, it will increase the amount of dedicated operating revenue for the agency, through new transit fare payments by corporations and developers, large non-profits, and even municipalities like the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
For too long, Pittsburgh Regional Transit has relied on regressive user fees for operating revenue to run transit service: at $2.75 a trip, fares can be a huge cost burden on riders, many of whom are low-income or working class, and the high cost of fares lowers ridership because many passengers cannot afford to pay for all the trips that they would otherwise choose to take. It’s a no-brainer for PRT to sell bulk transit passes at a discount to employers, particularly because there is excess capacity on buses and trains- PRT gets new revenue and new ridership, with no added costs.
It’s time for our transit agency to stop leaving this money on the table. In the Seattle region, more than half of the Sound Transit total fare revenue comes from bulk discount employer fare purchases similar to the PRTner Pass.
If you are a renter, a worker, an employer, and school board representative, a developer or anyone else that could benefit from the availability of a bulk discount fare program, we need you to share your story about why we need the PRTner Pass!
Support the PRTner Pass program by submitting your comment here, or by registering to speak at the PRT Public Hearing on Thursday, September 12th from 1-3 pm!
This proposal is a win that came from years of organizing, now it's time to make it real!
Here in Allegheny County, a bulk fare discount program has long been a demand of riders. We have known that there is a big demand by employers, schools and developers to buy transit passes, to provide a benefit similar to the student pass programs at CMU, Pitt and Pittsburgh Public Schools. Since 2019 and the launch of our Fair Fares Platform, PPT has called for Pittsburgh Regional Transit to offer common-sense fare products (we called them “fare incentive programs”) that would increase both revenue and ridership for the agency.
We have envisioned opportunities for large employers like UPMC to purchase passes for their workers, helping ease some of the transportation costs on our region’s healthcare staff and reducing the need for shuttles and parking lots that increase congestion and disallow more housing or commercial developments in the city. For service employees like those at Giant Eagle or janitors in the downtown office buildings, monthly transit passes could be a substantial commuter benefit, but it could also be used for all sorts of necessary trips outside of the workplace- for recreation and childcare, for grocery shopping and healthcare appointments.
At the Giant Eagle Shakespeare site at Shady and Penn, we have organized since 2018 for bulk passes to be purchased for all renters in the future housing development, to reduce the demand for structured parking, and to increase transit usage in one of the most transit-rich corridors in the County. This demand was included in our 100 Days Transit Platform for Mayor Gainey in 2021 and our Riders Demands for the Next County Executive in 2023. And in February of this year, we made bulk discount employer fares- like this PRTner Pass proposal- a cornerstone of our goal to have elected officials play their part to fund transit at all levels, by calling on the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County to purchase passes for their employees.