Pgh Council: PAT Needs More County, State Funding

Pittsburgh Council and the local transit union asked Allegheny County officials to give more funding to the County’s Port Authority yesterday.

In the same resolution, Councilman Doug Shields also urged state officials to stop allowing private transit companies to operate in the county.

Shields says private carriers, such as Lenzner, are raising bus fares and reducing service hours, while at the same time replacing union employees with cheaper workers.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 President Pat McMahon says the experiment to use private carriers is “blowing up in the test tube,” and the state legislature is more interested in “union-busting” than serving County residents.

McMahon says the Port Authority cut service by 15% in March, despite $18 million in concessions offered by his union.