Allegheny County pilot program for low-income transit riders has high demand in 1st 6 months

An Allegheny County pilot program geared toward lower-income transit riders has experienced high demand in its first six months and advocates say the statistics make a strong case for expanding the program.

Nearly 16,000 people applied to take part in a program that provides free and discounted rides to people with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits. More than 9,500 people qualified for the program, which doled out free monthly Pittsburgh Regional Transit passes, discounted fare passes for half-off rides and ConnectCards preloaded with $10.

In total, about 14,500 Allegheny residents are participating in the program, including 9,500 adults and nearly 5,000 children, the data showed.

The 12-month pilot program started in November.

About 88% of the program applicants use public transportation to commute to work and to get around generally, and more than 82% of them said they didn’t have access to a private vehicle.

Patrice Aaron, of Pittsburgh, was selected to receive a free monthly transit pass. She is a working mother who commutes via three different buses from the Hill District to the Edgewood Towne Centre in Edgewood for work. She provided testimony to the county about how the free transit pass has benefited her.

“It has been so good. I use the bus 24/7,” she said. “I don’t have a car, and that saves me $97.50 every month. I am more calm, I don’t have to stress about not having the financials to get on the bus.”

Aaron said if the pilot program was permanent, it would help a lot of people.

Women and children have benefited from the pilot program the most. Children make up about 34% of the participants, and more than 72% of the adult participants are women.

Laura Wiens of transit advocacy group Pittsburgh for Public Transit said the statistics show the program is reaching its intended audience and has enough demand to warrant expansion.

“I think those numbers show that it is reaching the families that are most in need — the working poor, those who are taking care of children, those who need transit to take them to all the services they need,” she said.

Wiens said she was surprised to learn just how many of the applicants said they were paying cash fares and how many were spending more than $25 a week on public transit, which is higher than the cost of a weekly pass.

About 45% of applicants said they were paying cash to ride PRT vehicles, while 36% were paying more than $25 a week on transit, according to a survey of program applicants conducted by the county. And about 36% of applicants are paying over $25 a week on transit.

Wiens said the data show many more low-income riders would benefit from free fares and the program should become permanent and expand to capture them. She said it would benefit the county by helping to increase mobility and help PRT by boosting ridership, which has lagged since the pandemic.

More than 158,000 residents in Allegheny County are on SNAP benefits, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. More than 62% of the program applicants were Black and about 33% were white, according to the county survey.

The majority of program applicants were employed or are not working because of a variety of reasons, such as having a disability or being a homemaker, retired or a student. About 26% of the applicants were unemployed.