(The following article by Tom Barnes was posted on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website on January 4.)
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Port Authority’s proposed bus route cuts and fare increases are seen as a small but positive step toward eventually winning aid from the Legislature for mass transit in Allegheny County.
Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona, minority chairman of the House Transportation Committee, praised Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and authority Chief Executive Officer Steve Bland for being willing to take difficult steps.
“They’re definitely putting out the right smoke signals. What they’ve said this week is a great first step,” he said yesterday, while cautioning there is still a long way to go before the state enacts a dedicated source of funding for mass transit, such as a higher personal income tax or realty transfer tax.
The Port Authority “needed to make structural changes a long time ago,” meaning paring bus routes with few riders and removing other inefficiencies, said Craig Shuey, executive director of the Senate Transportation Committee.
“This readjustment [by the Port Authority] is critical for the assembly to go forward” with aid for mass transit, Mr. Shuey said.
“The public shouldn’t be surprised that the assembly expects transit to operate more efficiently if it wants more state dollars. It would be irresponsible to simply throw more state funding at the transit problem.”
Many legislators, both Republicans and Democrats, are from rural areas or small towns without transit systems and don’t want to increase taxes on their constituents in order to pay for riders from the two big cities.
These lawmakers were upset in February 2005 when Gov. Ed Rendell, the former mayor of Philadelphia, used more than $400 million in federal highway and bridge money to keep the Port Authority and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority running. That meant that some road and bridge projects around the state couldn’t be undertaken.
That federal money ran out Dec. 31.
Many legislators say they won’t approve a dedicated source of funding for mass transit until both the Port Authority in Pittsburgh and SEPTA in Philadelphia initiate changes in work rules and reduce service.
A study committee named by Mr. Rendell reported in November that $1.7 billion more in transportation funding is needed.
Mr. Geist is hoping a package of bills relating to highway/bridge repairs and aid to transit could be ready for legislative action by March or April.