Ember Duke | layout editor

In a glittering alternate universe, Pittsburgh has perfect air quality, fixed rent prices and a seamless, sleek public transit system. Everyone is happy. Everyone rides the bus.

In real life, Pittsburgh Regional Transit, the public transit agency in Allegheny County, has proposed aggressive new cuts that are ultimately one of many death rattles for anything good this country is supposed to stand for. Service will be eliminated from roughly 41 of 100 bus routes, according to PRT’s website. Most remaining lanes will see major reductions and increased wait times due to less frequent service.

Nineteen neighborhoods and municipalities including Troy Hill, Mckeesport and Brookline will lose service. In an interactive map on PRT’s website, you can see which areas will be affected and how the veins of public transit that pump life through the city will be torn apart, leaving most service through Oakland and Downtown. Even the airport flyer is taking a hit, terminating in Carnegie rather than its current terminus in East Liberty.

Single-ride fees would rise from $2.75 to $3, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but that $0.25 adds up quickly. Assuming a person rides transit two times a day five days of the week, they can expect to spend an extra $130 per year.

Want to take the bus back from a night out? Want to get home or go to work late at night. You won’t be able to. Service for all lines will end promptly at 11 p.m. Work late? Many residents in Allegheny County will have to rely more on personal vehicles or notoriously expensive rideshare apps to get around, making transportation more expensive and worsening traffic by adding cars to the road. Now is the perfect time to be a used car salesman in Southwest Pennsylvania.

PRT is facing a $100 million deficit for the 2026 fiscal year. Up to fiscal year 2025, they were able to (barely) sustain themselves with pandemic subsidies, but state funding has dried up leaving everyday Pittsburghers holding the bag. Amy Silbermann, chief development officer for PRT called the cuts “draconian,” and “brutal,” according to TribLive, an admission that indicates that even PRT sees this decision as less than ideal.

If approved by the PRT board, the changes will take effect next year.

For the average working individual, this is not just an inconvenience, but an affront to their livelihood — an absolute show of disrespect from Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. and hard evidence of the decline of what little fairness we show the average person in this country.

People who don’t own cars, live below the poverty line and dwell in inaccessible neighborhoods will be hurt the most by this. But, of course, that is what the capitalist oligarchy wants — for poor people to stay in their lane, out of sight and out of mind.

Pittsburgh is not an easily traversed city. Engineers had to design highways around steep mountains and over wide rivers, limiting the scope of much of our transportation infrastructure. The notion that any neighborhood outside of the East End and Downtown being walkable is laughable. Plainly, it’s near impossible to get around here without using a car or our already underfunded public transit, so people who rely on the bus to get to work, doctors appointments, school or to get groceries, will be left to find alternatives that require they spend more money that they may not have budgeted for on transportation and parking fees.

A government that defunds education, public transit and subsidies that benefit the everyday person is not one I am proud to be governed by — and you shouldn’t be either.

State and federal funding should go to maintaining enjoyable or at the very least, liveable communities. Cutting bus lines makes the burden of life much harder for most people.

Many of the neighborhoods that will be affected have disproportionately high poverty rates. While it’s nice to have buses in Oakland, it is a quasi-walkable neighborhood, whereas areas in the South Hills, Carrick and Troy Hill are cut off from the rest of the city without public transit.

Further, the dying environment and horrific air quality of Pittsburgh, will be worse off with more cars on the road. Travel times, which are already mind-numbing, will only get worse, so plan to tack an extra 20 minutes onto your commute.

The cuts will also be a detriment to PRT workers, who stand to lose overtime pay for Steelers and Pirates games. Fewer operating hours and lines likely mean a bloodletting of PRT staff as well.

A $100 million deficit is no easy thing to come back from. I’m not sure what the solution is precisely, but I know it is not cutting a vital transit system that most of the city relies on. As a taxpayer, it’s disheartening and infuriating that the people in my community who need aid the most, at every turn, are the ones who are hurt the most by government apathy, stupidity and sometimes, just plain cruelty.