Port Authority of Allegheny County provides a network of public transportation services to persons traveling within a 775 square-mile area, including the City of Pittsburgh and all of Allegheny County. Port Authority has a fleet of 861 buses, 83 light rail vehicles (LRVs) and 48 mini-buses. With the Monongahela and Duquesne Inclines and sponsorship of ACCESS, the nation’s largest paratransit program of its kind for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, Port Authority is one of the nation’s largest and most diversified public transit agencies.

Port Authority began operations in March 1964 following the passage of state legislation in 1959 enabling the consolidation of 33 private transit carriers, including the Pittsburgh Railways Company and 32 independent bus and inclined plane companies. By combining fare structures and centralizing operations, Port Authority established the first unified transit system in Allegheny County.

The Port Authority Board of Directors consists of nine members appointed by the Allegheny County Chief Executive and approved by the Allegheny County Council. Port Authority is funded by a combination of fare revenues and county, state and federal funds.

Port Authority’s 2,900 employees serve approximately 240,000 riders daily and more than 70 million riders annually via 183 bus and 5 rail routes and the Monongahela Incline. The Port Authority Board also authorizes operation of many other private carriers, including airport and hospital shuttles.

Port Authority provides service on three exclusive busways: the 4.3-mile South Busway; the 9.1-mile Martin Luther King, Jr. East Busway; and the five-mile West Busway. Port Authority also operates the T, a 25-mile rail system that features the popular Downtown Subway.

Port Authority has begun construction on the North Shore Connector, a 1.2-mile extension of the T to Pittsburgh’s North Shore scheduled to open in 2011. Pittsburgh’s North Shore is home to the Carnegie Science Center, the Community College of Allegheny County, Del Monte Foods, Equitable Resources, Inc., PNC Park and Heinz Field, among other existing and proposed cultural, business and residential destinations.

The transit agency also has launched an ambitious 18-month initiative to connect the region, its neighborhoods and resources, and Port Authority customers and employees. Called Connect ’09, this effort is a broad analysis of the Authority’s business practices designed to ensure the most efficient operations possible with available future funding.

The strategic goals of Connect ’09, which Port Authority hopes to achieve by calendar year 2009, include connecting neighborhoods through new service models and connecting the region by enhancing coordination of transit services and adopting a regional fare collection system.

A key component of Connect ’09 is the Transit Development Plan that will utilize extensive public input to redesign the way Port Authority provides service. The Transit Development Plan, which will focus primarily on Port Authority’s bus system, will engage both the public and regional operators in identifying the population characteristics of traditional and emerging neighborhoods and their most appropriate service models.

Port Authority has made great strides in modernizing and expanding its bus fleet. The Authority has placed into service 494 new buses in the past nine years, including 315 low-floor buses, 48 mini-buses, 60 35-foot buses, 40 suburban coaches and 25 articulated buses, reducing the average age of the fleet to 6.91 years. The Authority now operates six hybrid electric buses, the first of their kind in its fleet.

Port Authority continues to pursue an aggressive Park and Ride program, which has grown to 64 lots and more than 14,750 spaces.

Port Authority plays a key role in the economic growth and vitality of Allegheny County by serving those residents who choose public transportation for its convenience or because of its economic and environmental benefits.