Skip to Navigation
University of Pittsburgh
Print This Page Print this pages

April 5, 2001

Port Authority, Pitt confident "free" rides plan will be continued

Officials for both the University and the Port Authority of Allegheny County expect to reach an agreement to extend the ride-for-free service to Pitt I.D. holders before the current contract year ends July 31.

(See related story on page 8.) Pitt is in the second year of a five-year deal that went into effect Aug. 1, 1999. But in a Feb. 20, 2001, letter to Pitt officials, the Port Authority notified the University that it expects "an increase of 20 percent in our compensation rate from the University of Pittsburgh for the next scheduled contract year" beginning Aug. 1, 2001.

Under the contract terms, either side can insist on a renegotiation of fees if it gives 120 days' notice.

A 20 percent increase would hike Pitt's cost from $2.1 million to $2,520,000, an increase of $420,000.

This year the University is paying $1.9 million in exchange for county-wide free rides on Port Authority buses and light-rail vehicles for students and employees. Under the current contract, Pitt's fees were set at $2.1 million for each of the next three years, until July 31, 2004.

Pittsburgh campus students pay a $55 per term safety and transportation fee that partly subsidizes the Port Authority costs. The University administration pays the balance.

According to Donald C. Bell, chief operations officer at the Port Authority, the increase demand matches the across-the-board rate increase that went into effect April 1 for customers who are on any of several discounted fare programs — so-called "pre-paid instruments" — including discounted tickets, weekly and monthly bus passes and other contractual arrangements.

"All pre-paid instruments have been adjusted upward by 20 percent," Bell said. "Pitt, in effect, has the same benefit as a pre-paid instrument in the use of a valid I.D. card, hence the requirement of a 20 percent increase."

Pitt spokesperson Ken Service said, "Without question, we will reach an agreement. But the end of the contract period is four months away and we're still interested in gathering some statistical information on ridership. The more data we get, the better off we'll be when it comes to actual negotiations."

Service described the agreement as beneficial to both sides. He also said the agreement helps Oakland, because it relieves traffic congestion and parking shortages and improves air quality.

Service said Pitt had been in contact with Port Authority officials but that no negotiations were scheduled yet.

Bell said the Pitt administration had contacted him by phone during the week of March 19-23. "It was a cordial and amicable conversation," Bell said. "We did not talk specifics, but we fully expect that this deal will get done. There's no doubt it's a win-win situation for both sides."

Local media reports last month had suggested that Pitt was snubbing the Port Authority, but Bell said that was not true. "I was asked if Pitt had responded to our letters, and at that point they hadn't, so that's what I said.

"But Pitt called to say that was just a misunderstanding and they just wanted to 'crunch some numbers' before responding formally to our proposal."

The Port Authority contends that Pitt pays about 33 cents per ride, accounting for between 5.5 million and 5.7 million rides annually. (The transit company's total ridership was 76.6 million last year.) According to the transit service, about one-fifth of the riders pay cash. (The rate increase for those paying cash went up by 28 percent on April 1.) The rest use pre-paid fare programs that include free off-peak hours rides for seniors. The Port Authority maintains that on average they are reimbursed at 92 cents per ride overall.

Bell said the Port Authority currently is negotiating with Carnegie Mellon "on a similar rate raise [as Pitt's], which would bring an average ride for them to between 50 and 60 cents. Pitt is still making out on the [proposed] deal, because even a 20 percent increase puts them only at about 40 cents per ride."

The rate increase is the Port Authority's first in 10 years.

Pitt has said that ridership figures may be inflated due to the use of invalid I.D. cards, prior to the issuance of the new I.D. cards on the Pittsburgh campus. The new I.D.s went into effect Jan. 2 this year. The old cards did not have expiration dates.

Pitt further maintains that Port Authority numbers do not account for transfer passengers, that is, one person riding more than one vehicle to complete a one-way trip.

Bell said, "We've been counting the numbers the same way for the life of the agreement. For us, a ride is a ride is a ride. We provide a service for a passenger. If that passenger gets on another bus, we have to provide the service again."

Port Authority ridership figures indicate that, comparing January 2000 with January 2001, there is a drop-off of about 36,000 Pitt riders (497,606 vs. 461,889, or about 7 percent fewer riders).

Asked whether the 7 percent drop-off was significant, Bell said, "Honestly, no. We expected some leveling off in ridership over time, after it had increased during the trial year [Aug. 1-July 31, 1998] and the first year of the current contract. That number does not significantly raise our bottom line of what we get per ride."

–Peter Hart


Leave a Reply