PA: Need a free bus ride? This Allegheny County organization might be for you

While Pittsburgh Regional Transit faces massive service cuts and fare hikes, some eastern Allegheny County residents will benefit from three months of free rides later this year as part of a nonprofit community transit program.

Braddock-based Heritage Community Transportation (HCT), whose fleet of buses serves residents in 16 communities, including McKeesport, Monroeville and Swissvale, is accepting applications for its courtesy rider card program, which it launched in 2021 for members of nonprofits, schools, and government-affiliated organizations.

HCT had been operating a version of the program for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank prior to the COVID-19 pandemic because some workers at the food pantries needed help with transportation, Paula G. McWilliams, Heritage's president & CEO, said in an interview.

"[The program] was so successful that we've now expanded it," she said.

HCT provided a total of 576 courtesy cards to the three nonprofits it selected last year: Catholic Charities Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA CareerLink and Auberle, which offers foster care services.

Applying organizations must be located within HCT's existing service area and describe their mission, the people they serve, and how the cards will help their clients, as well as how many total cards they are requesting.

The application deadline is Aug. 4 and courtesy card recipients will be announced on Sept. 1. The selected organizations must attend a training session to learn how to use the cards before the program begins on Oct. 1.

HCT began operations in 1998 as a part of Heritage Community Initiatives, which serves families facing challenges with transportation, education and nutrition. The service has provided over 1.6 million rides during its 27-year history.

HCT was initially federally funded through the Job Access and Reverse Commute ( JARC) program, but is now supported by Pennsylvania's Act 89, a law passed in 2013 that provides transportation funding, Ms. McWilliams said.

Although its services cover a smaller and less-populated area, HCT's rides are substantially cheaper than PRT's $2.75 fare per trip, which is already one of the most expensive in the nation and is set to rise to $3 next year.

HCT rides typically cost 25 cents for customers above 12 years old and 10 cents for disabled customers and riders between 6 and 11.

Children under 5 can ride for free, as well as adults over 65 who have a Commonwealth ID card, driver's license, Medicare Card or "Blue Card" issued by Heritage.

Heritage's approach is simple, Ms. McWilliams said: It fills a service gap that other transit agencies can't afford while keeping fees low to bring in as many customers as possible. About 54% of Heritage's riders have an annual household income of less than $25,000 and 78% do not have access to a vehicle, according to organizational data.

Ms. McWilliams hopes that the courtesy rider card program will entice people to become paying customers.

"We want to make sure that we're affordable [and] that we are going where they need to go," she said.

While Heritage does not publicly share its ridership numbers, Ms. McWilliams said that the organization is pushing to reach 50% of its pre-pandemic figures, like many public transit services across the country.

"We're absolutely on the upswing again," she said.

That positive trend is facing some uncertainty — 61% of Heritage's commuters use the service to connect with PRT, which would lose service in some form on 98 of its 100 routes in a worst-case scenario next year. Heritage would have difficulty bridging that service chasm by itself, Ms. McWilliams said.

"We don't have unlimited funding to [add] multiple vehicles to fill in gaps," she said. "We would work very closely with PRT to identify what the need points are and to see what we could do."

As PRT fights for additional funding from Harrisburg, HCT isn't facing budget challenges this fiscal year, although Ms. McWilliams isn't making any promises regarding its financial future.

She stressed that public transportation plays a "critical role" for both the region's economy and the people it serves.

"We're confident that our legislators understand the importance of increased investment in public transportation and the very clear returns one can see every day in that investment," she said.