MMVTA to reduce bus trips to and from Pittsburgh

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

Riders who use the Mid Mon Valley Transit Authority will soon see a change in bus routes.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic and low ridership due to more people working from home, the authority has decided to temporarily reduce its Commuter A and Express weekday and Saturday bus routes to and from downtown Pittsburgh beginning Oct. 10.

The cutback will be similar to the COVID-reduced schedule that occurred between March and June this year.

The Commuter A route currently makes stops in Donora, Monessen, Charleroi, the Mid Mon Valley Corridor and downtown Pittsburgh, with trips beginning as early as 4:25 a.m. and going as late as 11:48 p.m.

The COVID-reduced schedule eliminates various stops, with the latest stop taking place at 10:08 p.m.

According to the authority, the Commuter A route had 61,759 riders from April to August in 2019, but this year’s ridership through the same time frame was 27,232.

The authority said empty buses now travel half the route and turn around to return to the garage due to the lack of riders.

MMVTA Executive Director Ashley Seman said total ridership on the Commuter A and Express is 227 per weekday.

“Obviously, there’s people not going to work in Pittsburgh,” Seman said. “It might be that they’re teleworking like we’ve heard from some of the riders.

“This commuter service is really affecting us. Why run empty buses to and from Pittsburgh when this reduced schedule worked out well for us a few months ago? I know we’ve been talking about it the last few months and we’ve been hesitant to go back to that reduced schedule, but based off of these numbers, it’s just not feasible for us.”

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