PA: Inadequate transit funding has Harrisburg officials pointing fingers

While Pittsburgh Regional Transit may not face a financial crisis like the one at Philadelphia-based SEPTA, that agency's $240 million budget deficit has led to high-level finger-pointing in Harrisburg over funding all transit agencies in the state, including PRT.

SEPTA's money problems recently caused the state's biggest transit agency to propose a 29% fare increase effective Jan. 1, and one of its top executives said it faces a "fiscal cliff." Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro told an audience this week the situation could be blamed squarely on the Republican-controlled Senate, which Mr. Shapiro said has repeatedly refused to advance transit funding sought by Democrats.

"The ball is squarely in the Senate's court. They have refused to move forward on it," Mr. Shapiro said.

Sen. Joe Pittman of Indiana County, the Republican majority leader in the chamber, put the onus back on Mr. Shapiro.

"With an issue of this magnitude requiring a funding source that won't place additional burden on taxpayers, as well as addressing the need to put more dollars not only in mass transit but also in transportation infrastructure, it takes a governor to lead," Mr. Pittman said in a written statement.

PRT's chief executive, Katharine Kelleman, told state lawmakers in September that if state government fails to deliver more money to public transit, people may eventually "have to have a car to live in Pittsburgh."

PRT operates 700 buses, the heavily used ACCESS paratransit service, the Monongahela Incline and light rail. Early this year, Mr. Shapiro unveiled a budget proposal that included a $283 million increase for transit and related systems — including $39 million for PRT. Months later, the agreed-upon budget contained only a fraction of Mr. Shapiro's proposed increase, with $11 million for PRT.

State Sen. Jay Costa, of Allegheny County, the minority leader in the chamber, said PRT's funding needs at this point are not as severe as SEPTA's, which is where "the immediate crisis" is happening. Even though the House and Senate will not be back in voting session until early January, Mr. Costa said transit has been discussed recently. He did not want to be specific.

The minority chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Sen. Marty Flynn, D- Lackawanna, said transit funding is at a crossroads.

"Already, both SEPTA and PRT report that their average fare is well above the national average," Mr. Flynn said. He said that during hearings held earlier in the fall, the committee "heard from rural, suburban, and urban transit systems alike that a failure by the General Assembly to act on transit funding will result in a fiscal cliff, triggering higher fares and service cuts."

Mr. Shapiro told the audience earlier this week "I will not let SEPTA fail" and that he likely would have "more to say" about helping the agency sometime soon.

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