Public transportation funding continues to remain a top issue during the new legislative session. SEPTA, the country’s sixth largest transit agency, faces an annual $240 million budget shortfall.
Pennsylvania House Democrats highlighted the need to fund public transportation and help Philadelphia’s struggling mass transit system after Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremonies at the Pennsylvania state capitol.
Lawmakers gathered in Harrisburg on Tuesday to kick off the new two-year legislative session, and funding public transportation will remain an issue throughout this upcoming term.
“I look out at the mayor of [Philadelphia], and I know if we don’t deal with transit, it’s not just a problem for the mayor of [Philadelphia]. It’s a problem for the southeastern region that many of us come from,” House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery) said during his opening speech.
“It is a region of our commonwealth that provides so much of the revenue and business activity that funds this entire commonwealth. We would be wrong, we would be remiss, we would be missing our duty if we don’t deal with transit.”
The Associated Press reported that the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SPETA), the country’s sixth-largest mass transit system that serves Philadelphia and its collar counties, faces an annual structural budget shortfall of $240 million.
Funding for SEPTA and the commonwealth’s 57 transit agencies was held up by Senate Republicans at the end of the previous legislative session. State Sen. Frank Farry (R-Bucks) proposed taxing and regulating skill games, which are similar to slot-machines, but those efforts fell short, according to Spotlight Pa.
Gov. Josh Shapiro threw the struggling transit agency a one-time lifeline last November. He diverted $150 million in federal highway funding to SEPTA to help stave off service cuts and large fare increases.
SEPTA riders were facing a 21.5% fare hike at the beginning of the new year.
