As you’ve no doubt heard by now, on Wednesday the Port Authority of Allegheny County announced a possible 35 percent cut to transit services to close a $64 million budget deficit. On behalf of the business and civic leadership community, we are extremely concerned about the impact this cut could have on our region’s people, communities and economy.

The Port Authority has already taken important steps to reduce operating costs, boost productivity and contain legacy costs. The funding gap the agency faces is in fact part of a much larger transportation funding crisis confronting our Commonwealth.

We believe that there is a solution that we can move forward on today.

Last year, Governor Corbett’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission (TFAC) outlined a realistic and achievable framework for meeting the state’s transportation and transit funding needs, which the Allegheny Conference, the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and other business groups across the state have endorsed.

We are asking everyone to contact Governor Corbett and the General Assembly and ask them to tackle transportation and transit funding now.

We’re working together with the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP) and others on this issue. You can find more information on the PDP’s site (www.KeepPGHMoving.com) and on the Allegheny Conference website (www.alleghenyconference.org) including a sample survey for employers to use to determine the impact of the proposed transit cuts on their employees.

The Allegheny Conference and its affiliates are committed to working with partners across the region and the state to enact the TFAC recommendations and put an end to this funding crisis. Please join us.