Capacity restrictions on Port Authority buses, trains will end next month

The Port Authority of Allegheny County will begin a two-step process for lifting bus and train capacity limits starting May 31, officials said Monday.

Masks will still be required, as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week.

The new mask guidance declared that those who are fully vaccinated can go mask-free in all but the most crowded places. The exceptions include mass transit and transportation hubs like airports.

Beginning Memorial Day, capacity will increase on all buses and light rail cars. It’s the same day that Gov. Tom Wolf has said nearly all mitigation measures across the state will expire. The state’s mask mandate will remain, mirroring the guidelines set by the federal government.

The May 31 capacity changes are:

• On 35-foot buses, capacity will increase from 10 riders to 15;
• On 40-foot buses, capacity will increase from 15 riders to 25;
• On 60-foot buses and light rail cars, capacity will increase from 25 to 35

The limits have been in place since April 2020.

The Port Authority’s Room2Ride tool will remain in operation. Launched in June, the tool on the Port Authority’s website uses historical data on ridership to let people know how crowded they can expect their bus route to be at any given time.

Both weekday and weekend ridership have been slowly increasing so far this year after plummeting amid the pandemic. Though bus ridership for March 2021, the most recent month for which data is available, is still down 45% from March 2020, the numbers have increased each month.

Average weekday ridership right now sits at about 65,000 on buses and 5,000 on the T. That’s up from less than 55,000 and 4,100 respectively in January.