Katharine Eagan Kelleman’s compensation as CEO of Pittsburgh Regional Transit has pushed past $350,000 after the agency’s board approved a bonus of $54,533 on Friday.
Kelleman’s contract, which lasts through 2025, calls for a 5% annual raise, which pushed her salary to $297,144 for this year. The board also awarded her a bonus of 19.2% based on her performance last year, just below the maximum of 20% under her contract.
Kelleman joined Pittsburgh Regional in 2018 from Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority in Tampa, Florida, to bring new ideas to an agency recovering from years of financial difficulties. Her team revamped plans for the Bus Rapid Transit system between Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland — it started construction in September for exclusive lanes to improve service between the two job centers — by eliminating reductions in suburban service and the requirement for massive transfers in Oakland.
She also led a long-term plan called NEXTransit to set future goals. One of the major goals of that plan, revamping the agency’s 91 bus routes to reflect new job and housing patterns in Allegheny County, should recommend the first of a series of changes early next year.
On the downside, the agency also is dealing with hiring problems that have plagued the transit industry nationally and have led to higher canceled trips and reductions in service so the agency can meet scheduled service.
The agency also is dealing with reduced ridership following the pandemic. Its recent annual report showed that only 57% of pre-pandemic riders have returned.
The agency also could face financial problems in the next two or three years once federal stimulus money awarded to agencies as a result of pandemic ridership declines is spent.
Kelleman signed an extension of her initial contract in May 2022 to keep her at the agency through 2025.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.