Lorena Pena said she loves living in Pittsburgh, but struggles with the stress of using the region’s public transit system, which she said is often unreliable.

Pena, who has lived in the city for about two years, gets up at 4 a.m. to make sure she has time to catch a bus to get to work. Sometimes she’s late to her job because of late buses, and sometimes she’s had to walk to work.

“While I enjoy taking public transportation, it can be challenging,” she said.

She said she often waits longer than expected to catch a bus, and she’s constantly stressed about whether the Pittsburgh Regional Transit buses she relies on will show up on time.

Pena was one of about 20 Pittsburgh Regional Transit riders who convened outside of Pittsburgh City Council chambers Wednesday to voice their concerns about the transportation authority. The group compiled a report outlining their concerns, which they voiced to the council members who joined them.

Last year, 38 of 105 Pittsburgh Regional Transit routes saw less than 50% reliability for at least a month, according to the organization’s report, which was compiled by volunteers with the group.

“More than half the time the bus that was supposed to be there to take you to work, to take you to school, to take you to a doctor appointment didn’t show up on time,” Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, said.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s on-time performance is currently at 70%, which is up from 60% in September, according to Adam Brandolph, an authority spokesperson. Their out-of-service numbers are at about 1%, down from 4% to 5% last April, he said.

“It’s no secret that the global pandemic has had a long-lasting negative impact on the public transit industry and it has taken time for ridership to stabilize and develop patterns that we can plan for,” Brandolph said. “Thankfully, the steps we’re taking are clearly working.”

Brandolph said Pittsburgh Regional Transit is continuing “to work toward improving service and reliability throughout Allegheny County.”

Warwick said city officials should partner with county officials and Pittsburgh Regional Transit to improve the transportation authority’s schedule management, better communicate changes and service disruptions and ramp up recruitment for drivers.

“Bus lines are life lines,” she said. “Building a better public transit system is about building the Pittsburgh of the future.”

Laura Chu Wiens, executive director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit, said she feels quality public transit is necessary for economic, labor and racial justice. She highlighted the struggles people face when they risk being fired or missing out on important medical appointments because they don’t know when or if the bus will come.

“Transit is not reliable,” she said.

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