Advocates pushing to continue turnpike payments for transit
Transit advocates in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are leading a coalition of more than three dozen groups trying to pressure Harrisburg officials to continue $450 million annual payments from the Pennsylvania Turnpike for public transit.
Pittsburghers for Public Transit and the Philly Transit Riders Union say eliminating the turnpike payments before the state finds another source of transit funding would be devastating to transit agencies across the state. They have collected signatures from groups ranging from unions representing transit workers to the Green Party of Allegheny County and Philly Neighborhood Networks.
The turnpike has been lobbying for several years to reduce or eliminate the payments, which require issuing bonds, and last month said it might not be able to continue payments because it is expected to lose $118 million in toll revenue from March through May as a result of low traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic. It got permission this week from the state Department of Transportation to postpone the quarterly payment of $112.5 million scheduled for July, but PennDOT said transit agencies shouldn’t
struggle for funds because the state has received $1.13 billion in federal stimulus funds to cover losses by transit agencies, which also have had low ridership during the virus emergency.
The transit groups started their effort before this week’s decision, but that has added more fuel to their efforts.
“It’s irresponsible of [the turnpike] to consider abolishing themselves from those payments,” said Laura Wiens, executive director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit. “They should at least meet their legal obligation.”
Ms. Wiens was particularly critical of PennDOT for relying on the federal funds to help, saying that money should be used to get agencies through the virus crisis, not to replace state funding.
David Frias, a spokesman for the Philadelphia group, said allowing the turnpike to delay the July payment “would not be a good approach.”
“It’s incumbent on the state to figure out how to replace those funds because there are millions of consumers who are reliant on those funds for transit to get to work,” he said.
The turnpike has been making payments for transit under state law since 2008, when former Gov. Ed Rendell pushed legislation for the payments that were to be funded by tolls on Interstate 80. Federal officials refused to approve tolling I-80, but the payments remained.
The turnpike, which has more than $13 billion in debt, has repeatedly asked the Legislature to cut or reduce transit payments before 2023, when they are scheduled to drop to $50 million. Similar bills sponsored by Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, and Rep. Lori Mizgorski, R-Shaler, that would reduce turnpike payments between now and 2023 are pending.
A draft letter by the coalition criticizes those bills, especially the one sponsored by Ms. Mizgorski, who also is a member of the board at Port Authority. The draft says the bills “would defund our state’s public transit systems with no plan for reliable, long-term replacement.”
“Rep. Mizgorski’s proposals are particularly egregious as she is a Board Member of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, with a responsibility to keep the transit agency financially solvent so that it can fully serve its riders and our regional economy,” the draft says. “… She and other legislators must take proactive steps to ensure public transit can continue to serve our state economy.”
Ms. Mizgorski countered that her bill would replace the turnpike funds with money from vehicle sales taxes, one of the recommendations from a task force she served on last summer. But she conceded that proposal likely would have to be reviewed because car sales were suspended for several weeks due to the pandemic, which also has cut billions in state funds from sales and other taxes, foreboding budget problems for the state in general for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
“Whether we’re able to make [the transit funding change] that way, now I’m not sure,” she said.