Port Authority of Allegheny County to Open New Customer Service Center in 2018
To provide better customer care, resources, and amenities to riders, Port Authority of Allegheny County will open a larger, more modern Customer Service Center in Downtown Pittsburgh in 2018.
Port Authority's Board approved amending the agency's existing lease at the Heinz 57 Center on Smithfield Street to include a new 8,500 square-foot location, and extended the lease through 2030. The Authority’s administrative offices have occupied the building’s third and fifth floors since 2000.
"The new location will help to further Port Authority's mission of serving residents and visitors of Allegheny County by making it easier to buy products and get information," said Port Authority interim CEO David Donahoe. “The current service center has served the agency well, but an upgrade is long overdue.”
More than 500,000 people use the Downtown Service Center a year to buy fares and passes, and receive scheduling information.
The new service center, located less than a block away from the current location, will feature a bright and inviting lobby; digital screens that provide real-time bus and light rail vehicle information; a lost and found; additional customer service windows; a wheelchair-accessible counter; and a vestibule to provide access to a ConnectCard machine after regular business hours.
In addition to the Service Center employees who will work out of the new space, the Authority also plans to relocate its Customer Service representatives there. Port Authority’s Customer Service representatives field more than 1,500 phone calls a day.
“Logistically, moving to a larger space will work out very nicely for us,” Donahoe said. “We’ll be able to centralize all of our customer service employees in one location at street level and open up room on the third floor to move employees from our Information Technology department over from the North Side.”
Port Authority's Downtown Service Center has occupied a 2,100 square-feet storefront adjacent to Mellon Square since 2003. Although the lease at that location expires at the end of the year, the Service Center will remain in place until the new location is available for occupancy.