PRT’s approved budget (download below) positions the agency to meet its legal obligation under the Second Class County Port Authority Act—to pass a balanced budget by July 1. It also preserves the flexibility to make amendments later in the fiscal year should state funding levels change, PRT reported June 27. Discussions are ongoing in Harrisburg, the state capital.
“We remain hopeful for a long-term solution to fund public transit,” said Katharine Kelleman, CEO of PRT, which offers light rail, bus and incline services. According to the Pittsburgh Union Progress, Kelleman “told the Board it can make changes as late as September for the cuts scheduled for February.”
“Transit agencies across the state are facing similar challenges because the state’s 10-year transportation bill expired two years ago and emergency federal funding awarded during the pandemic has run out,” the newspaper reported June 28. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, for example, approved its budget earlier in June, with 45% in service cuts coupled with fare increases, workforce reductions, and a 9 p.m. curfew for all rail services.
“With no guarantee of additional funding and facing a $117 million deficit for the new fiscal year, PRT prepared a budget to provide a reliable level of service over the next 10 years rather than cut a little at a time until money runs out,” the Pittsburgh Union Progress said. “SEPTA went with a five-year plan.”
The newspaper noted that PRT “has reserve funds of more than $460 million it could use to maintain current service for now and make cuts later, but the 10-year plan will allow it to stretch the same level of service over a longer period of time.”
According to PRT, the Board also signed off on a $187.9 million capital budget for FY26. That includes $38 million for new buses, $16.1 million to rehabilitate the Panhandle Bridge—the span that carries light rail vehicles over the Monongahela River—and $15 million to replace the tracks inside the Mt. Lebanon Transit Tunnel, which travels between Dormont and Mt. Lebanon.
Join Railway Age and RT&S at Light Rail 2025, our annual conference on light rail transit, to be held Oct. 1-2 in Pittsburgh. Click here to learn more about this event, which has been specially developed for transportation professionals in planning, operations, civil engineering, signaling and vehicle engineering. Among the speakers: Andy Lukaszewicz, Deputy Chief Officer Rail Ops, PRT.
