April Events and more…

April 9th - several ACTC members were invited to participated to the Summer Solutions Festival by the Pittsburgh CORO Fellows and address the issue of public transportation funding.
The meeting details are featured here and one can view a short movie and pictures of the event on CORO’s Flickr site .

April 20th- We have invited Pittsburghers to pledge a day among transit riders in order to mark a year from the Deepwater Horizon explosion leading to the major eco-disaster that is BP’s gulf oil spill. A good transit system can be a major factor in reducing our need for oil.
About 10 people answered out invitation by posting pictures and comments on their Face book page. We hope more took a bus or T yesterday. Thank you all for your participation.

Allegheny County Council has formed a Special Committee on Public Transportation. County citizens and bus riders are invited to participate actively in the discussion. For more information or to sign-up : www.alleghenycounty.us/council/

During the General Meeting, ACTC chose its nominating committee for the June 2011 elections of Executive Officers. The role of the Committee is to find suitable candidates for the positions of President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. Committee members are Stu Strickland , Patrick Singleton and Ana Bayne.

Last but not least, News on the ConnectCard – the new tool for paying your Port Authority fares to be implemented by June/July 2012.

Simpler fare plan -once implemented the ConnectCard will also lead to a change in the fare plan. For some riders these changes will mean cheaper fares. For now Port Authority is looking at a way in which to eliminate transfers .

Reduce Fraud -the ConnectCard is designed to reduce fraud, e.g. people who use another person’s Medicare card to pay half fare or groups of people who manage using only one pass together. The Port Authority estimates its revenue loss due to be in the range of million dollars per year.

Streamlining the process

• For most customers, the ConnectCard will make easier to purchase tickets or passes –the smart cards are rechargeable and there will be several distinct ways to recharge them.
  



• For people who use their employer programs to purchase monthly passes and pay through paycheck deductions, their employers will be able to recharge the amount of a monthly pass each month. Employees won't have to worry any longer about getting the pass.

• For the employees and students of Universities participating in the free pass programs, the University will be managing the new cards from now on. Therefore, as of June 2012 , your student or employee ID will no longer be usable as transit passes.
  




• People who are entitled to receive half fare discounts, will receive special cards with a photo ID on the cover. Medicare cards will no longer be accepted once the new system is implemented.
  
  



• Senior Citizens will have to use their state issued free passes because , again, Medicare cards will no longer be accepted.