(The following story by Dan Geringer appeared on the Philadelphia Daily News website on June 27.)
PHILADELPHIA — Cash-strapped SEPTA’s board of directors is expected to approve two drastically different survival plans tomorrow: one a modest 11 percent fare increase for existing service, the other a “doomsday” plan – raising fares 24 percent while cutting service 20 percent, which could devastate low-income workers, fixed-income seniors, the physically disabled and students.
If the state Legislature comes up with $100 million this summer to fill the chronically underfunded transit agency’s budget hole, then the “doomsday” plan will be ditched, and only the 11 percent fare hike will go through.
But if the Legislature fails, riders will be forced to foot the bill by enduring longer waits for fewer buses and trains, and by paying much more for service:
SEPTA’s base cash fare would rise from $2 to $2.50, tokens from $1.30 to $1.80, a TransPass from $18.75 to $25 weekly and from $70 to $95 monthly, and one-way Regional Rail fares would rise by as much as $1 during peak times and $2.50 off-peak.
State Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Phila.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told the Daily News yesterday that the House will vote today or tomorrow on a $700 million statewide transportation bill that addresses SEPTA’s crisis.
The bill would generate $250 million statewide for mass transit, including $101 million to solve SEPTA’s crisis.
The new funding – which also provides $450 million to repair the state’s crumbling roads and bridges – would increase annually for mass transit until it reaches $463 million statewide in 2016.
Evans has been saying for weeks that no state budget will be passed without a new transit-funding stream.
“No transit, no budget,” Evans said. “It’s very elementary. Nobody should be confused. I’m not moving the state budget without this transportation bill.”
The bill relies on new funding streams from county and municipal taxes – .25 or .5 percent sales taxes, a hotel-room rental tax of up to 1 percent, a car-rental tax of up to $2 per day, and an earned-income tax of .25 or .5 percent.
Evans knows that new taxes will be a hard sell, especially when the bill goes from the Democrat-dominated House to the Republican-led Senate.
Other funding proposals being bandied about range from leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to charging tolls on Interstates 95, 80 or 76.
“This is heavy lifting,” Evans said. “Some people say, ‘Let’s wait until after the budget process. I need more time to think.’ No. They’ve been saying that for 10 years. Nothing happened. We need to get this done now.”
Vukan R. Vuchic, a professor of transportation engineering at the University of Pennsylvania who testified before the House committee that Evans chairs, agrees.
“We have an extremely short-sighted view of transportation,” he said. “We want to not pay much for a cheap, inadequate system. So what we have is patchwork. We can’t go on like this. Everything – roads, bridges, mass transit – is falling apart.”