More people are riding public transit in the Pittsburgh area.

Annual ridership on Pittsburgh Regional Transit increased by 5% to 39.1 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30. That’s the highest ridership total since 2020, but ridership remains about 25 million below the all-time high of just over 64 million in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic that was devastating to public transit ridership across the country.

The average weekday bus ridership in fiscal year 2026 was about 110,000 compared to about 177,000 in 2019.

PRT Spokesman Adam Brandolph said “it’s hard to say” if there’s any one reason the agency had a stronger year.

“We basically attribute it to higher gas prices, more people returning to the office and the lack of service disruptions we’ve had due to construction that allows us to provide a more reliable system,” he said.

In the previous year, the agency had several construction projects along its light rail lines that resulted in transfers and delays that likely caused some riders to stop using the system.

The ridership pattern that shows more people ride during the school year and fewer from April through August remained consistent last year, according to Brandolph. The difference was the numbers were up in each segment.

Overall, bus ridership continues to dominate with 34.7 million trips for the year ending in June, a 5% increase. Rail ridership, which suffered the most through the pandemic and has been slower to recover, was up 8% to 3.35 million.

In all, 74 of 99 routes showed increases last year.

The ridership bump was particularly strong in June, when the average weekday ridership was up 9.7% to 122,151 compared to June 2025. Weekend ridership was up 4.3% on Saturdays and 8.1% on Sundays across the system, and weekday bus ridership was up 11.3%.

CEO Katharine Kelleman has said many times in the past that the agency doesn’t expect to reach pre-pandemic ridership levels any time soon because riding patterns have changed. Brandolph said the agency is happy with last year’s increases.

“We are still down from the pandemic, but we are obviously making progress,” he said.

Other factors that may have helped were special services the agency established during the NFL Draft to carry thousands of visitors from the suburbs to Downtown Pittsburgh so they wouldn’t have to drive, and offering an alternative to driving during the 17-day closure of the Parkway East last month. Those events also build confidence in the agency, Brandolph said.

“Obviously, any time we are faced with a challenge, rise to the occasion and deliver above expectations, it’s good for us,” he said.

Expected changes over the next couple of years also are expected to boost ridership.

The long-awaited University Line, which will operate buses on exclusive lanes between Oakland and Downtown Pittsburgh, is expected to provide quicker, more reliable trips between the two employment hubs by taking buses out of rush-hour traffic jams. The latest segment through Oakland and Uptown is expected to open next year.

Also, the agency is holding hearings through mid-September on a revised bus system that will add service on the agency’s busiest routes, provide expanded service to Pittsburgh International Airport and make it easier to travel between adjoining communities. The changes would eliminate 20 routes, make major changes on 56 routes, minor changes on six routes and no changes on 13.

If those changes are approved, they also could begin in 2027.

Brandolph stressed that improvements will not continue if the state Legislature fails to increase the state subsidy for public transit. Last year, the agency postponed drastic cuts after Gov. Josh Shapiro and the state Department of Transportation allowed PRT to use capital funds for the next two years to pay for operating costs while efforts continued to push through a subsidy increase.

© 2026 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Visit www.post-gazette.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.