Port Authority and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority are working with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to plan the future of public transit in each region — and how to pay for it when the turnpike quits contributing $400 million annually in 2022.
Port Authority and SEPTA have separate agreements with the turnpike to split the costs of the studies, but each project includes a regional committee to set transit goals and use the same consultant, Michael Baker Inc. Port Authority approved paying half of the $410,000 study for this region Friday, and SEPTA approved its half of a $500,000 study in February.
Port Authority CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman said planning for the study was already started before she joined the agency in January, but she endorsed the effort. The Southwestern Partnership for Mobility will include business and transit leaders who will plan how people will travel through the region in the future.
“Initially, it’s going to be a conversation about what does Southwestern Pennsylvania need in terms of public transit for the future,” said Port Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph. “Only later is it going to look at the funding.”
Finding a replacement for the funding provided through the turnpike is a key issue statewide. The agency has been required since 2014 to pay $450 million a year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for public transit — fallout from former Gov. Ed Rendell’s unsuccessful attempt to establish tolls on Interstate 80 — but the contribution drops to $50 million in 2022.
The turnpike has lobbied to have the contribution reduced sooner because it has to borrow money to make the payments. About two-thirds of its $900 million budget goes to debt service.
But with the state facing funding shortages in recent years, the Legislature has been unwilling to shift that portion of transit subsidies back to the state’s general fund, and legislative leaders are scrambling to find other funding sources.
In a statement, turnpike CEO Mark Compton said the agency has been involved in local transportation issues since the turnpike opened in 1940.
“…It’s important we have a seat at the table when it comes to discussing a vision regarding the safety, mobility and economy of these cities,” he said. “It’s part of a reciprocal, decades-long relationship we have shared and will continue to share moving forward.”
Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFabo said part of the consultant’s work will be to look at how other transit agencies are funded and present options for the future. Both studies should be finished early next year and will be presented to transportation committees in the state House and Senate.
Port Authority gets about $231 million annually in state subsidies, $90 million to $100 million of it from turnpike funds.
Ms. Kelleman said the time is right to move ahead with the study.
“It’s going to take us four years to put together a plan and decide this is how we’re going to move forward in Allegheny County,” she said.
The look at future transit funding is separate from a legal challenge the turnpike also is facing over the payments. The Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association Inc. and the National Motorists Association filed a federal lawsuit in March claiming it is a violation of interstate commerce laws for the turnpike to use tolls for anything other than turnpike upkeep and expansion.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina.
First Published: June 30, 2018, 4:15 a.m.
