Tayveon Kevin Smith from Whitehall is aware of the limitations of public transport.

That’s because he lived with them every day, whether it was struggling to get to his 6 a.m. job in West Mifflin, taking three buses to help care for his 90-year-old grandmother in Garfield, using buses to pick up his kids from school, or dealing with the changing of custody of his two children.

“It has become a burden in many ways,” Smith, 40, said of his dependence on public transportation.

Pittsburghers for Public Transit announced Wednesday its goal to solve these problems through a concept it calls the Allegheny County Campaign for Visionary Transit Service. The concept calls for Pittsburgh Regional Transit to ensure that every county resident has a public transit service within walking distance at least every half hour on weekdays (every 15 minutes on busy routes); service hours are at least 4:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.; and most services operate on weekends.

Currently, the agency only offers service from 4:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on a few routes, as well as limited weekend service.

Executive director Laura Wiens said the advocacy group is offering the visionary service concept as an alternative to redesigning the agency’s bus routes. The redesign has been in the works for over a year and aims to improve service between communities and expand coverage without increasing costs or the number of operators. Wiens described it as “moving the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

The transportation authority is part of an effort to provide dedicated funding for public transit, and the state legislature has committed to discussing the issue as part of the budget-passing process this fall.

“I think we are aware of the limited funds available,” Wiens said in an interview before the launch event. “We believe that if they don’t come up with an operating plan for growth, they’re not going to get anywhere. There’s no pressure if there’s no plan for how they would use the money.”

The group released a 16-page report listing declines in transit traffic not just since the pandemic in 2021, but since the turn of the century. It says operating hours fell by 575,000 (about 25%) from 2001 to 2022 and passenger trips fell 16% from 2000 to 2019, to about 63 million.

Currently, the study found, 48% of Allegheny County residents have access to public transportation within walking distance. Only 25.6% can access a stop every 30 minutes or less.

Wiens argues those numbers won’t change much when Pittsburgh Regional announces its bus route redesign, so she wants the agency to consider her group’s concept.

There is no price yet for PPT’s recommendations, but Wiens said the transit agency has agreed to conduct a cost analysis, which is expected to be available next month.

Adam Brandolph, a spokesman for Pittsburgh Regional, said the agency agrees with many of the advocacy group’s ideas, provided the appropriate funding is available.

“Our plans have to be based on reality,” he said. “We’re just happy to hear everyone’s suggestions. More service is better, but it has to be in line with the resources available.”

Currently, the agency is severely limited in its ability to expand because it needs another workshop and a new long-term maintenance facility, each costing hundreds of millions of dollars. It is also struggling to hire staff, which stakeholders say could be made easier by increasing starting salaries.

Tayveon Kevin Smith understands all this only to a point. He knows he lost his job as an electrical inspector because he was consistently five to ten minutes late, even when he tried to walk part of the way. And he has to dodge custody conflicts when a bus is late or doesn’t show up to take him to meetings with his wife or children.

“It was really good work. They make it hard, man,” he said.

Ed covers transportation for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette but is currently on strike. You can email him at [email protected].