With only about a dozen voting sessions remaining this year, the state Legislature is racing to fulfill a promise it made when it passed a $47.6 billion budget in July: revisiting funding for public transit.
Gov. Josh Shapiro had proposed adding $282 million a year for five years to boost transit funding, the first increase in more than 10 years. With the budget adoption already beyond the June 30 deadline and Republicans and Democrats unable agree on a long-term solution, legislators agreed to a compromise that granted $80 million in additional funds this year and the promise to deal with the issue this fall.
Now, they are scrambling to develop a long-term plan before the term expires at the end of the year with a traditionally short number of sessions remaining in a presidential election year.
The House Transportation Committee has held seven hearings across the state in the past few weeks — including one in Pittsburgh on Wednesday — and has several more set. The committee is listening to transit agencies, riders and advocates as it tries to chart a course for more transit funding.
Transit agencies across the country have been struggling since the pandemic sharply reduced ridership and changed work patterns so that many can work from home several days a week.
At the start of the pandemic, federal officials provided massive subsidies to keep agencies afloat, but now that money is running out at different times for each agency. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which serves five counties around Philadelphia, has said it could run out of money in the next year and would go into a “death spiral” without a dedicated source of funds.
Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll, who has testified at each of the hearings, said Wednesday he has “grave concerns” about the economic impact it would have on the state if agencies had to make substantial cuts in transit service. He stressed the importance of putting a plan together before the session ends.
“The calendar is not in our favor,” he said. “The runway is short. The need is great.”
Katharine Eagan Kelleman, CEO of Pittsburgh Regional Transit, acknowledged the ridership drop but noted the agency still provides about 120,000 daily trips. Now, busy trips are slightly overcrowded rather than “horrifyingly overcrowded” like they were in the past, she said.
“Public transit isn’t just about getting from here to there,” she said. “Transit is access to opportunity.”
Without a change in funding, Kelleman said, the agency could have to “shut the doors” when federal money runs out in 2029.
Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre County and the committee’s minority chairman, asked what PRT has done to help itself. Kelleman said the agency’s base fare of $2.75 is among the highest in the country, and it is in the process of redesigning its decades-old system of bus routes to better meet the needs of riders.
Service in Allegheny County already has dropped about 40% in the past 20 years, Laura Wiens of Pittsburghers for Public Transit told the committee, despite the fact that it provides the only transportation for about 30% of residents. She said it is important to provide funds to expand the system, not just avoid more cuts.
“Ridership follows service,” she said. “There is enormous demand for more service in our region.”
Wiens noted that last year PRT received 216 requests for service changes and the agency recommended 161, but it only had funding to implement five of them.
The biggest problems the Legislature faces are the source of new funding and how to satisfy legislators in other parts of the state. Although there are 31 transit agencies that receive state funding, 87% of the state subsidy funds go to PRT and SEPTA. When it approved $80 million in interim funding for transit this year, legislators also authorized an extra $80 million for the Department of Transportation to help local communities across the state pay for bridge and road repairs.
Shapiro had proposed funding increased money for transit by using an additional 1.75% of money in the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Trust Fund, slightly smaller than the 2% increase the state House had unsuccessfully pushed last year. That money comes from a portion of the state sales tax.
Other potential sources of funding could include taxing skill games that have grown substantially in bars, stores and social clubs.
Committee Chairman Ed Neilson said he is “hopeful” a transit package will be approved by the end of the session because the committee is making a bipartisan effort.
“We’re desperate,” he said. “We need to get something done.”
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.