Credit: The Pennsylvania Capitol
The clock is ticking.
Pennsylvania state lawmakers must finalize their balanced budget by June 30, leaving less than a month for legislators to compromise on transit funding solutions before SEPTA begins the process of cutting almost half of its service.
Back in February, Governor Josh Shapiro proposed a 1.75% increase in the share of sales-tax revenue already allocated to public transit. According to the Shapiro administration, the increased share would bring $292.5 million in annual revenue for transit across the state, easing some financial pressure off of SEPTA’s $213 million budget deficit.
House Majority Leader Matthew Bradford (D-70), of Montgomery County, led House Democrats in passing House Bill 1364 three times. Yet consistently, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-41) declined to take up Shapiro’s proposal.
While SEPTA’s service cuts are anticipated to affect hundreds of thousands of daily riders, many Senate Republicans argue that Pennsylvania residents–especially those dozens of miles from the nearest SEPTA station–shouldn’t be responsible for bailing out the transit company.
“This burden should not be placed entirely on Pennsylvania taxpayers, most of whom do not live within the service region and do not realize any benefit from SEPTA,” said Sen. Pittman in a statement.
Albeit, SEPTA is not the only public transit service that needs extra support. Without additional funding, Pittsburgh Regional Transit projects a $100 million budget deficit and plans to cut service by 35%. LANTA, Lehigh Valley’s bus system, has also budgeted for service reductions and a 25% fare increase.
“There were people from all across Pennsylvania who were in my office in Harrisburg today, fighting for transit for all,” said Senator Amanda Cappelletti (D-17), who represents parts of Montgomery and Delaware Counties. “In the Southeast, in Allegheny County, up in Erie, in Lackawanna, there are agencies everywhere providing these services, and this bill [HB 1364] increases support for all of those agencies.”
As the main players in budget negotiations, Gov. Shapiro, Rep. Bradford, and Sen. Pittman must get creative to please all parties involved. This could entail revising Shapiro’s original proposal, presenting alternative sources of state revenue, or some combination of the two.
Senator Timothy Kearney (D-26), of Delaware County, supports Shapiro’s bill, but sees it as the first step of a comprehensive transportation funding package.
“The legislature needs to come to terms with reality–$292 million is now an outdated number and won’t cover the needs of our state’s transit agencies,” said Sen. Kearney. “If we want to prevent a self-imposed economic slowdown, we need to talk about new revenue sources that can fully fund transit as needed.”
If the state's upcoming budget does not include a Hail Mary for public transit, 5 SEPTA Regional Rail lines and 50 bus routes will be eliminated by January, adding an estimated 275,000 vehicles per day to Philadelphia-area roads.
“When we talk about transit funding, we're really talking about folks’ daily lives,” said Senator John Kane (D-9), who represents parts of Chester and Delaware Counties. “Workers who rely on SEPTA to get to their jobs, seniors and patients who need reliable transportation to medical appointments, and commuters whose alternative would be joining already congested highways…We need to ensure stable, long-term funding for SEPTA to protect these vital services for all Pennsylvanians.”
