For Moon Area Alum, ACCESS Transit is Her Key to Independent Life

Like most 20-year-olds, Leslie Farley has spent the years since high school graduation adjusting to life as an adult: She’s learned how to tackle household chores while taking classes at Allegheny County Community College.

Farely, who has spina bifida, said that her hard-earned independence might be lost if the Port Authority of Allegheny County goes through with a 40 percent service reduction that would drastically cut the authority’s ACCESS paratransit for the disabled.

The Moon Area High School alum on Thursday attended the Port Authority’s public hearing at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center with the fellow members of the Spina Bifida Association to protest the move.

“There’s no way in heck we are going to let this happen without a fight,” she said.

Port Authority officials said declining state funding and rising fuel and retirement costs for the agency mean it must eliminate 40 of its 102 public transit routes, in some communities including Moon, Sewickley and Coraopolis.

The plan will also reduce ACCESS service to the minimum requirements that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act mandates. The reduction would impact more than 1,300 county ACCESS users, including Farley.

Hundreds of Allegheny County residents testified before the authority’s board of directors,  for the agency to maintain its transit service to handicapped residents in the face of a projected deficit. 

Farley said she found the outpouring of support for ACCESS service at the hearing to be heartening.  

“It shows that these people are not going to give up,” she said of the hearing. “Just to see them all working to keep the bus, it was really gratifying.”

One face she was hoping to see at the hearing was that of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, formerly of Shaler. He did not attend.

“The one person who we wanted to hear was Tom Corbett,” she said. “He didn’t show up at the meeting, and it showed me he just doesn’t care.”

Farley, who moved from Moon Township to Wexford two years ago, said ACCESS transit service has been instrumental in allowing her to live independently. She said she is a daily ACCESS rider.   

“I use [ACCESS] basically for anything and everything, “Farley said. “I use it for doctor’s appointments, the grocery store, for going out to dinner with friends, to go to school. ACCESS is a 24/7 thing for me. It’s a part of my life.”

Public comments may be submitted regarding the reductions until 4 p.m. March 9 via the Port Authority website or can be mailed to Port Authority Fare & Service Proposals: Heinz 57 Center, 345 Sixth Ave. Floor 3, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2527.

The agency’s board is expected to vote April 27 to finalize the cuts.

Without ACCESS Farley fears she might have to give up her independent lifestyle—something no young adult wants to do, she said.

“I’ve worked my butt off to be more independent for myself,” she said. “I don’t want to be cooped up in a nursing home or have to move back in with my parents. It’s sickening to think that I might have to do that at 20 years old. This could take away all the independence that I’ve gained.”