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September 27, 2007

Green light expected for Port Authority deal

Free bus rides likely are here to stay — at least for the next five years.

Pending final approval of a new five-year contract tomorrow, Sept. 28, by the Port Authority of Allegheny County’s board, Pittsburgh campus faculty, staff and students can continue to use their Pitt ID cards to ride Port Authority vehicles.

Last week, the Port Authority’s administrative and finance committee approved terms of the contract that the transit company and Pitt negotiators agreed to and recommended that the nine-member board accept it, which ordinarily is a formality, according to Port Authority spokesperson Bob Grove.

Pitt and the Port Authority had been operating under a two-month extension of the three-year contract that expired July 31. Under the extension, Pitt agreed to pay $323,942 per month for August and September, a 15 percent increase over terms of the expired contract. Those two months will count toward the new contract’s first year, Grove said. Pitt will pay $3.887 million, divided into 12-month installments for the first year. That fee will go up 15 percent in each succeeding year of the deal, which runs through July 31, 2012. (Pitt’s fees will be $4.47 million for 2008-09, $5.14 million for 2009-10, $5.912 million for 2010-11 and $6.798 million for 2011-12.)

Grove said the new contract includes a “re-opener clause” that would be triggered by the installation of “smart card” technology on all Port Authority vehicles. The transit company is exploring various versions of such a system.

“We are absolutely committed to installing this technology, but it is probably two to three years away,” Grove said. “When it happens, the fee process will change. Instead of Pitt paying a monthly fee, the University will be charged by ride as it is ‘scored’ by the smart card system.” At that point, the per-ride fee will have to be negotiated, he said.

Grove estimated the new system could cost as much as $20 million to cover the 1,000-vehicle fleet. It would replace the current process, where Port Authority drivers push a “Pitt button” as riders flash their Pitt ID cards.

The new system will eliminate human error and is expected to reduce or eliminate abuses such as the use of expired IDs, Grove noted.

According to Port Authority tabulations, the Pitt community accounts for some 5.88 million rides annually.

The new contract also contains a renegotiation clause whereby either Pitt or the Port Authority could request fee renegotiations by giving the other party at least 90 days’ written notice before the end of a contract year, Grove said.

Carnegie Mellon agreed to a similar five-year deal, Grove said, with its fees also rising 15 percent annually. Currently, CMU pays approximately $800,000 annually for about 1.5 million rides, he said.

University spokesperson John Fedele, associate director of news, declined comment on the Pitt-Port Authority negotiations this week.

Pitt’s fare-free program has continued uninterrupted since 1997. The University’s payment to the Port Authority is subsidized in part by the $90 per term security, safety and transportation fee that Pittsburgh campus students pay. The balance comes from the auxiliary operations budget of the Office of Parking, Transportation and Services.

—Peter Hart

Filed under: Feature,Volume 40 Issue 3

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