The Reality of Pennsylvania’s Need for Transportation Funding
Rep. Ed Neilson September 19, 2024 | 10:38 AM
The Reality of Pennsylvania’s Need for Transportation Funding
Pennsylvania’s transportation policy touches every facet of our lives. From the roads, bridges, rails, ships and planes we ride on to the packages we pick up on our porch, transportation policy created at the federal, state and local levels is ever-present.
As chairman of the Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee, I take that reality seriously, whether we’re voting on legislation in Harrisburg or gathering information in the field.
The only way we can generate solutions for our transportation problems and elevate Pennsylvania’s reputation as a leader in transportation is to reach across the political aisle and work together to have these important conversations with leading industry experts. It’s why the committee I lead is holding several public meetings across the state this summer and fall.
We face significant challenges. Pennsylvania has more roads and bridges than New York, New Jersey, and all the New England states combined. We have roads that we must police, plow and pave. Currently, PennDOT is facing an annual budget shortfall of $9.4 billion. This doesn’t include all the local roads and bridges that are maintained by local governments, which need relief as well.
But we’re not just talking about roads and bridges. This series of public meetings is focusing on all aspects of transportation. We also need to talk about how to properly fund our infrastructure, workforce, public transit, and airports. All these areas have a great impact on Pennsylvania’s economy.
Act 89 of 2013 marked the last time the legislature attempted to address transportation funding. While many aspects were addressed in this decade-old law, mass transit and airports were left out and, as a result, they continue to struggle.
One of the most important transportation sectors is public transit – the buses and trains that so many of use.
All 67 counties in Pennsylvania rely on some form of public transportation, from rural areas to bustling cities.
To put it into perspective, according to the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association, our public transportation system employs more than 39,000 people and generates more than $5.4 billion annually for our economy. In 2022, there were 232 million bus trips, which helped nearly 24 million seniors travel to medical appointments and other important trips.
Public transit connects our communities and keeps our economy strong. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on it to get to and from work or school, shopping or appointments and, many times, seniors wouldn’t be able to get to important medical appointments without a bus to take them.
It also helps reduce traffic and air pollution because more public transit equals less reliance on motor vehicles.
The increased cost of vital supplies to maintain the transit’s infrastructure combined with the need to restructure services affects all of Indiana County because of their transit-reliant population and rural communities. If workers in Indiana County don’t have access to reliant public transportation and cannot get to work, their economy suffers.
As state legislators, we need to act now to ensure that public transit agencies have the funding they need to keep Pennsylvania moving forward – both literally and in terms of our economic vitality. Without additional funding, small and rural transit agencies will feel the impact first with service cuts and fare increases.
If we don’t come together and fix it today, the fiscal cliff our transit agencies face will take our economy down with it.