University Times

Port Authority of Allegheny County has opened negotiations with Pitt to increase its annual fee in exchange for continued ride-for-free service for Pittsburgh campus employees and students. Pitt and the Port Authority have a renewable contract that runs until July 31, 2006.

Laurie Andrews, Port Authority chief operations officer, said that the transit company advised Pitt last fall of its desire to raise fees in upcoming years to be “more in line with the average fare we get per ride.”

She said that taking into account all sources of fare income including cash, discounted passes and other pre-paid fares, the Port Authority currently receives on average $1.10 for each ride. In contrast, the University’s payment, averaged out over Pitt ridership, comes to 46-47 cents per ride, she said.

Port Authority data indicate that ridership for Pitt customers accounts for some 450,000 rides per month, Andrews said.

In the current year of the contract, Pitt is paying $2.52 million from Aug. 1, 2002, to July 31, 2003. That fee was the annual amount agreed to through July 31, 2006, absent renegotiation.

The Port Authority raised its rates by 25 percent on all pre-paid fare packages last Sept. 1, but decided to wait until this year to approach Pitt about renegotiating future fees. Under terms of the contract, the Port Authority can request a fee increase any time it raises fees across the board on discounted fare programs such as Pitt’s, Port Authority officials said.

“We sent a letter in November, and had a meeting with Pitt [officials] in early January, discussing what both sides could and couldn’t live with,” Andrews said, declining to give details. “Right now, we’re preparing, for lack of a better word, a counter-proposal.” Andrews said she expects the proposal will go to Pitt in the next few days.

The gist of the proposal, she said, is that the Port Authority wants to receive above 80 percent of the overall per-ride fee of $1.10.

“We’d like to get them into the 88 cents [per ride] range. We’ve made the same request to [Carnegie Mellon]. But, understand, we’re not asking for this all at once, but on an incremental basis over the next four years,” Andrews said.

Port Authority spokesperson Bob Grove said yesterday that the governor’s budget proposal to cut the transit company’s budget by 6 percent did not affect the company’s goal with respect to Pitt. “The proposal does underscore our financial difficulties, but our goal stays the same, to get Pitt more in line with average fares,” Grove said.

Andrews said that by 2006 new swipe-card fare boxes will be installed in all Port Authority vehicles. At that point, the transit company is willing to bill the University monthly by the number of swipes recorded, instead of the annual flat fee.

Pitt spokesperson Robert Hill said, “Pitt and PAT are in negotiations. But in order to maintain the integrity of the process, the University will not comment on ongoing negotiations.”

Hill said Pitt’s fee to the Port Authority is subsidized in part by the security, safety and transportation fee that Pittsburgh campus students pay. That fee was raised to $75 per term from $55 by the Board of Trustees last June. The balance comes from the auxiliary operations budget of the Office of Parking, Transportation and Services, Hill said.

In order to terminate the contract, either party must give 120 days’ notice prior to the end of each contract year (July 31).

—Peter Hart