The Money Is Running Out
In the spring of 2005, thanks in large part to the efforts of everyone who worked with the Pennsylvania Transit Coalition, Governor Rendell transferred (or, in transit-speak) flexed, hundreds of millions of dollars of federal highway funds to save public transit in Pennsylvania.
The money runs out in December 2006.
SEPTA is facing a $37 million dollar deficit in its current fiscal year (2007), which ends on June 30, 2007. Other transit agencies around the state have similar difficulties. These difficulties continue into the future. Current projections suggest that SEPTA’s deficit for fiscal year 2008 will be $150 million with increases in the deficit of about $50 million in each subsequent year.
How We Got Here
In 2005, SEPTA was facing massive operating deficits and was threatening to reduce transit service by about 20% and to raise fares by about 25%.
The Pennsylvania Transit Coalition (PTC) http://www.patransit.org, which was chaired by AFL-CIO President Pat Eiding and DC 47 President Thomas Paine Cronin, mobilized over 40 labor unions, businesses, transit activist groups, and community organizations around the state to fight for funding for public transit. (I served on the Executive Steering Committee of the PTC, did some of the staff work with Lance Haver and Howard Cain, and ran our website www.patransit.org.) We held three rallies in Harrisburg—the last one bringing out close to 4,000 people by bus and train from around the state. We lobbied, called, emailed, and faxed Governor Rendell and the members of the General Assembly.
We did not achieve our fundamental goal, which was to secure dedicated, predictable funding for SEPTA that came directly from tax revenues which were likely to grow with inflation. But, at a time in which almost every transit system in the country was raising its fares substantially–and sometimes more than once–SEPTA has held the line
There Is No Question About Our Needs
When he flexed the federal highway money, Governor Rendell also created a Transit Reform Commission. Its report was recently released (http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/pdCommissCommitt.nsf/TransCommissHomepage?OpenFrameset&Frame=main&src=HomePageTransFundReformComm?ReadForm). It confirms what we have been saying for years:
1. Public transit is vital to the economic health of our region.
2. All forms of transit receive and must receive public subsidies. The fundamental reason that SEPTA and other public transit agencies run deficits is that they are under-supported by tax revenues. In particular, our public transit agencies do not have sufficient dedicated, predictable funding.
3. While SEPTA and other transit agencies could be more efficient–and certainly could be more responsive to their customers– their operations are, by national standards, pretty good. Their problem, once again, is not primarily inefficiency but a lack of public support.
The Transit Reform Commission Report provides a detailed analysis of how much money is needed for public transit. It calls for spending an additional $760 million per year on public transit. It also calls for an additional $900 million per year in new funding to repair and modernize our roads and bridges, which are in very bad shape. (Even if the need were not there, the political reality in the state is that the only way we are going to get more funding for public transit is by forming an urban/ suburban / rural coalition that includes funding for roads and bridges as well.)
We Are Back In Business
The PTC is reforming right now again under the leadership of Pat Eiding and Tom Cronin. A small group met a few weeks ago to begin this work. Last week two meetings were held, one of Philadelphia community and environmental groups and a larger meeting that included representatives of labor as well as community and environmental groups. We intend to provide the leadership needed to secure the dedicated funding we need for public transit. Our plans include:
• Mobilizing labor, business, and community groups around the state to pressure Governor Rendell and the General Assembly to provide the dedicated funding we need. This effort will be similar to the one we undertook two years ago. We hope, however, to have much more support from the business and environmental communities than we did before. We also hope to form a coalition with proponents of new spending on roads and bridges to get funding for all our transit needs.
• Pressuring SEPTA to delay any fare increases in the current fiscal year. While the transit reform commission does not call for additional funding for the current year, we believe that additional subsidies are certainly justified this year. SEPTA should delay fare increases or service reductions as long as possible. This is especially necessary because SEPTA will not be able to change fares until February. To close an annual deficit of $37 million in three months would require massive and counter-productive fare increases.
• Pursuing major and minor improvements in public transit. We need major steps taken to improve public transit in our region—I will be setting out own my agenda for creating a 21st century transit system soon. We also need an ongoing organization effort to help SEPTA make the smaller improvements—in scheduling, cleanliness, and friendliness—that would make public transit much more attractive. Fifteen months ago the PTC developed plans along these lines and secured SEPTA’s support for such an effort. But I found that I could not push it forward while launching Neighborhood Networks at the same time. This time, we need to find the private foundation funding to make an ongoing transit improvement organization a reality.
What You Can Do
One thing everyone should immediately do is join our efforts by becoming a member of the PTC by clicking http://www.topica.com/f/v.html?900070056.900014119.
We will be holding two sets of regular meetings. The whole coalition will meet on Wednesday mornings and we welcome leaders of labor, business, environmental, senior civic and community organizations to join us. Lance Haver and I will be holding evening meetings for representatives of community and organizations that cannot attend meetings in the morning. If you would like to attend either of these meetings, contact me us at info@patransit.org or (267) 295-2040.
To Learn More
I have been working to rebuild and update our website, where you can find our previous mission statement—which is being revised now—and a great deal of other information including some basic facts about public transit, a paper about why public transit has to be subsidized, about what dedicated funding is and why we need it, about the extent of the transit funding crisis and other matters. (Some of these papers still need some revising and will not be ready for a day or two.)
A new website, with advanced tools for organizing will, I hope, be ready by the end of the year.