Source: Levittown Now
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis on Tuesday called for immediate action from the Pennsylvania Senate to boost funding for the state’s 52 transit systems and said that public transportation, including SEPTA, is key to the state’s economic well-being.
Davis’ remarks came shortly before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a transportation funding bill, 107-97.The funding bill includes $292 million in state funding for public transit. The bill would slightly increase the amount of sales tax funding allocated to transit, including road and bridge projects, without raising the overall sales tax.
“I’m proud that my former colleagues in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives today are expected to take action to pass transit legislation,” Davis said during a press conference at a SEPTA Regional Rail Station in Croydon. “Now it’s time for my colleagues in the state Senate to take action.”From the Levittown area, state representatives Tina Davis, a Democrat; Joe Hogan, a Republican; Jim Prokopiak, a Democrat, and KC Tomlinson, a Republican, voted in favor of the transit funding.
Davis, the son of a union bus driver, stressed the need for public transit for the one million Pennsylvanians who rely on it daily.“Every single dollar invested in transit generates $5 in economic activity,” Davis said. “Big events this year and next year across Pennsylvania that are coming to this region and across the state from America 250, the World Cup, MLB, the All Star Game are huge revenue generators. We need public transit to get visitors where they need to go.”
SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth Lawrence, who is also a Montgomery County commissioner, detailed the dire situation facing the transit agency.“Right now, SEPTA is facing a $213 million structural deficit with the end of federal COVID funding and rising costs,” Lawrence said. “Without passage of a statewide transit funding plan, SEPTA will have no choice but to move ahead with a budget that will cut service by 45 percent and increase fares by 21.5 percent.”
These cuts would eliminate 50 bus routes and service on five regional rail lines, including the Trenton Regional Rail Line that serves the Croydon station. All rail service would also end at 9 p.m. SEPTA reported that the Trenton Regional Rail Line and numerous bus routes in Bucks County could face elimination over the next year without state help.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat who represents part of the area, that transit funding benefits all residents and not just riders.“If you’re living here in Bucks County, in my district, and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘I don’t take the train into Philadelphia, I don’t take a bus anywhere in Bucks County or in the Philadelphia region. Why do I care about this?’ Well, you might work in Philly and you might drive on 295 and 95 every day,” he said. “If these lines start to be reduced in capacity or one day, perhaps even cut, you’re going to see the traffic on those highways increase exponentially.”
Joe Coccio, secretary and treasurer of Transit Workers Local 234, underscored the urgency of the situation.“This isn’t just another rally on another day. This is D-day,” Coccio said, noting the limited legislative days remaining in the month.
Stephen Noll, executive director of transportation nonprofit TMA Bucks, countered the idea that public transportation funding is “throwing good money after bad” and called it “an investment that pays enormous economic dividends.”Noll stated that SEPTA contracts with businesses in 39 counties across Pennsylvania, totaling over a billion dollars between 2019 and 2023.
“Public transportation means access to meaningful employment instead of welfare for countless families, it means access to quality medical care and treatment across Bucks County,” Noll said. “It means attracting new and retaining existing businesses and jobs in our communities.”
Davis told reporters the issue is not about urban versus rural Pennsylvania or roads and bridges versus transit.“Let’s be clear. The governor and I have said loud and clear that we need both,” Davis said. “There’s always room for compromise in Harrisburg. But let me be clear. There is no room for inaction.”
When asked if the Shapiro-Davis administration would sign a budget without adequate funding for mass transit, Davis responded that it is a top priority for the administration and that “inaction is not acceptable.”
Davis, whose father is a union bus driver in Pittsburgh, warned that a lack of funding could turn upcoming major events into “a disaster because people aren’t going to be able to traverse the city and the region for these large events.”