[BrianTH]

PAT has never before cut service to the degree it would be cutting this fall if its state funding isn't restored. That is because of the sheer magnitude of the funding cut this time, plus the fact that each round of cuts most go deeper dollar for dollar as the least efficient routes are eliminated in prior rounds of cuts.

Of course the Pittsburgh Metro won't stop functioning entirely. It will "just" experience slower growth and lower prosperity in future years because of increased transportation costs (in both time and money) to get to its top employment centers, and it will also experience more concentrated poverty and related social problems, and lower air quality and have higher medical costs, and so on.

Edit:

By the way, in recent years PAT's management has done a lot to trim its labor costs and improve its operating efficiency. More can and should be done, but ironically the more efficient PAT becomes, the more service must be cut as a result of state funding cuts. And unfortunately, current state law prevents PAT from doing anything about its legacy costs.