Latest news with #InnovatePGH
Technical.ly
15-05-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Proposed PRT service cuts threaten talent retention and economic growth, leaders say
Proposed cuts to Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) will affect commuters across the city – including local tech workers. The cuts will impact over 90% of bus routes, fully eliminating 40 of them, cutting service by at least 30% to 33 others and making smaller reductions to 20 more. The effects will be felt in neighborhoods important to Pittsburgh's innovation ecosystem, including 'Robotics Row' and 'AI Avenue' in areas like Oakland, Lawrenceville and Bakery Square. A significant percentage of employees working for new economy companies rely on PRT to get to their jobs, Sean Luther, executive director of InnovatePGH, told Proposed cuts would make it harder and more expensive, due to a proposed 25-cent fare increase, to get to work, possibly impacting the city's ability to attract young talent and going against the quality of life improvements local startups have been calling for. 'We've talked with growth-stage companies in the region and their desires aren't tax cuts or complicated policy meant to favor them,' said Charles Mansfield, who works closely with founders as InnovatePGH's startup ecosystem manager, 'but quality of life improvements for their employees. They want better main streets, transit, walkability and bike infrastructure.' At Duolingo, for example, potential transit cuts are a topic of significant concern among the workforce, said Kendra Ross, head of social impact at the popular East Liberty-based edtech company. The transit options are 'a key factor for us in attracting top tech talent to Pittsburgh,' she said at an April 15 hearing on the future of mass transit in Pennsylvania. 'The proposed service cuts will directly impact us as well as many other businesses in our community.' As public hearings continue and lawmakers debate solutions, local stakeholders are saying the cuts would have a greater ripple effect on Pittsburgh's economy, too. A hit to individual wallets — and the city's finances at large For many, simply buying a car instead isn't an option. Between upfront costs for insurance, gas and maintenance, the average cost of owning a car is over $12,000 a year, according to an analysis done by AAA. Not everyone can afford, or is interested in, that financial hit. It's especially true for the young people startups are looking to attract, according to Luther. 'I can point you to any number of founders at our Avenu locations in Oakland and Uptown who are in our coworking spaces explicitly because they are on the PRT's most robust transit lines,' Luther said. 'PRT service is particularly important for startups working with interns and recent graduates who are less likely to have or want a car.' Red represents route elimination, orange represents a major route reduction and yellow represents a minor route reduction. Unaffected routes are in black. Bright green neighborhoods are considered tech worker hubs, where offices and labs are congregated. More hurdles and higher costs to get to work can even keep some people out of the field. Accessibility to public transportation creates equal opportunity in the economy, said Chris Sandvig, founder and executive director of Mobilify, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the region's public transit systems. '[Local companies are] trying to hire folks from the community to help them get stable footing, Sandvig said, 'and people turn down jobs or actually rescind acceptance of jobs because they find out they can't get there.' All of these factors could add up to broader economic impacts for the city. For every dollar invested in public transit, $5 is generated in economic returns, according to research from the American Public Transportation Association. In Allegheny County, public transit employs over 2,500 workers who supply over 115,000 trips each weekday. These services add more than $3.2 billion in housing value to the region and more than $100 million in additional tax revenue statewide, according to data from PRT. Public transit is good for the culture, too Beyond impacts to work commutes, cuts to PRT services could diminish options for traveling to other major transit hubs and make it harder to connect with other parts of the city. 'When I chose to live in Pittsburgh, I did so because of its great first impression,' founder Armin Samii wrote in Pittsburgh Slack group. 'I landed at the airport, got on a bus, went to a hotel on Smallman Street, where I saw people biking and walking and frequent bus service. It felt like a modern, multi-modal, first-class city.' But an experience last year proved to be the opposite. Samii shared a story of waiting in freezing temperatures at the airport for a 'ghost bus' that never showed up. He finally got home around 1 a.m., two hours later than he would've if he had opted to call an Uber instead, according to a 2024 X thread. With the proposed service cuts, travelers wouldn't even have the option to bus home from the airport after 11 p.m., instead having to rely on owning a car, ride-share services or a helpful friend with a vehicle. Samii still uses PRT services to get around, like when he goes to shows in Pittsburgh's cultural district, he said, but service cuts threaten that experience, too. It is incredibly common for younger founders like Samii to rely on transit, according to Mansfield. Pittsburgh's transit system is one of the biggest talent retention tools the city has, as young people want a 'car-light lifestyle,' he said. 'Public transit creates density in our ecosystem by making it functionally easier to travel to the different specialized neighborhoods,' Mansfield said. 'Instead of creating separated silos of resources, transit is what turns it into a collective machine.' Years of flat funding leave PRT no choice but to cut to 'the bone' State funding for PRT has remained flat since 2013, forcing PRT to make cuts, like reducing services by 40%, over the last few years. PRT's budget deficit, which will be $100 million in July, was temporarily relieved by pandemic-era funding in 2021. Since that's run out, though, it now needs $117 million in new state funding, plus compounding annual increases, to maintain current service levels over the next decade, according to the agency. '[PRT] has tightened its ship in a lot of ways,' Sandvig said. 'There's no fat left to cut. There's practically no muscle left to cut. We're going into the bone here.' PRT gets about half of its revenue from the commonwealth, which is also cutting funds for services in Philadelphia. Philadelphia's public transportation system, SEPTA, will be forced to cut services by 45%, reduce its workforce and increase fares in 2026 if it cannot secure additional state funding. PRT service cuts are not set in stone yet. PRT is collecting public comments and holding public hearings as Harrisburg finalizes the budget. Republicans have been reluctant to approve additional funding for public transit, with some calling for the transit agencies in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to consider privatizing some services, but there is some movement. A bill to increase the share of state sales tax revenue for transit by 1.75% was recently approved by the Transportation Committee and now awaits a full House vote. Beyond budget lines and legislative debates, transit cuts threaten to disrupt daily life for some commuters relying on certain routes or schedules, according to Sandvig of Mobilify. Late-night services allow people to enjoy the cultural aspects of a city without daring them to drink and drive, he said. Those buses are also the force behind getting many crucial night-shift workers to their jobs. 'I would like to come to work at a clean office in the morning,' Sandvig said, 'but how can we expect folks to do that if we don't have [public transit].'
Business Journals
25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Field AI expands to Oakland with new office amid robotics push
By submitting your information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and User Agreement . A California-based AI startup is planting roots in Pittsburgh's tech scene, with plans to expand its presence in a new Oakland office. Story Highlights Field AI expands to Oakland with new office space. Company develops Field Foundation Models for robotics and AI. InnovatePGH supports Field AI's growth in Pittsburgh. Look for a new California tech startup to grow its Pittsburgh presence with a new office in Oakland as it works to develop a new initial-named technology in the field of robotics and AI. The company is called Field AI, based in Mission Viejo, California, and backed by $100 million in capital and touting a leadership with experience at such firms as Boston Dynamics, DeepMind and others. Field AI is working to continue to develop what it calls Field Foundation Models, or FFM, the company says are able to incorporate context and safety awareness over just incorporating data to enable robots to better function in unknown conditions. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events While the company has been working out of small space on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, InnovatePGH reports that FieldAI has leased its largest space at its Avenu coworking space on Meyran Avenue in Oakland and is working to move into what will be its first independent office in next 30 to 45 days. "They're a really exciting company," said Mike Madden, a vice president of InnovatePGH and the Innovation District Director, calling the company's technology "a marriage of robotics and AI." The company will be taking about 1,500 square feet up to 2,000 square feet and is striving to grow to a staff of about 12 to 15 people. It's an ideal kind of company for InnovatePGH to target and work with as it helps Field AI to set up shop in its Oakland space with the goal of enabling it to scale into a larger presence in the relative near future. "We want to see them take root in Avenu but outgrow us," added Madden. It's the kind of trajectory InnovatePGH recently experienced with the global Japanese conglomerate Fujitsu, which recently opted to move out of an Avenu space into the redevelopment of the Kings Court building on Forbes Avenue where it was able to lease more space for a larger staff. Bethany Wallace, the communications director for InnovatePGH, added the organization is working to make sure Field AI's new space is outfitted with the kind of server capacity it needs as it continues to work to develop its technology. Doing so, she added, is an example of "the flexibility we're able to provide to them that might be hard to find in other coworking spaces."
