Gov. Ed Rendell, "Fast Eddie" now more than ever to Republican members of the Legislature, has saved the day for public transit in Pennsylvania and has an extra $530 million to spend on roads and bridges over the next two years, but not everybody is happy.

Not even the Guv.

He said he had to rob Peter (highways) to pay Paul (transit, not Skoutelas, silly) because the GOP-controlled House and Senate refused to pass any of a variety of bills to provide a dedicated, long-term, growing source of revenue for transit.

In exchange for their supporting transit, Republicans and a few Democratic lawmakers wanted Rendell to endorse and promise to sign legislation that also would raise more money for highways, a political death knell for the governor, who feels motorists already are being gouged at the gas pump.

The lawmakers goaded him into "flexing" federal highway funds, as he had done twice in the past, a stopgap to keep the Port Authority and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority from raising fares to counterproductive if not unaffordable levels and cutting bus and rail service by up to 27 percent.

Rendell rose to the challenge. He flexed his political muscle and diverted highway funds to transit.

No one expected him to come up with $412 million, enough to address transit funding shortfalls until Jan. 1, 2007, in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia regions, and still have so much moola left to back pro-highway interests into an uncomfortable corner.

The governor has renewed his request to lawmakers to return to the table and bargain again for a permanent fix for transit, which could free up all of the new-found transportation money for roads and bridges.

Fat chance.

"Here was a great opportunity for PennDOT to really address Pennsylvania's bridge problem," said Ron Geist, spokesman for the industry-supported Pennsylvania Highway Information Association, before almost 50 percent of the pot was directed to transit. "We're very disappointed, taking from federal highway dollars when one of every four bridges is structurally deficient or functionally obsolete."

How the administration came up with $412 million for transit and $530 million for highways is explained in an article elsewhere in today's newspaper.

Here is what left rural officials, GOP lawmakers and the highway industry seething, besides Fast Eddie's stealth move: If Rendell and the Legislature had fixed the transit problems for the long term, all $942 million could have been available to repair our pothole-riddled roads and crumbling bridges.

The 10-county region represented by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, which sets our transportation funding priorities, could be deciding where to spend an extra $200 million instead of $103 million on roads and bridges over the next two years.

Although he had an idea of the extra federal money as early as September and received federal authorization to spend it Feb. 3, Rendell kept it a big secret. "He just didn't trust any of us in the General Assembly," said Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, House majority leader.

"I slammed into a pothole the other night," he said. "I didn't curse, knowing that for each pothole I hit, someone in Philly is riding a bus without paying an extra quarter. [When] we urged him to flex some federal funds as a stopgap, who would guess [Rendell] would flex to excess?"

The politicos who were outfoxed are complaining about Rendell's shrewdness and raising new questions.

Rendell signed an executive order to create a nine-member Transportation Funding and Reform Commission to assess transit and highway funding needs and recommend ways to raise amounts needed. It will consist of one member each picked by the House minority and Senate minority leaders (both D's); by House majority and Senate majority leaders (both R's). Rendell (a D), will have five appointments.

With seven Democrats and only two Republicans, a political imbalance, how can the commission make fair and credible recommendations?

The new commission is to be chaired by Transportation Secretary Al Biehler, who already chairs the State Transportation Commission, which has basically the same powers, duties and responsibilities as the new commission.

Which one is it? Does one usurp the other?

The new commission also is to recommend ways to cut costs, enhance efficiency and improve service at the Port Authority, SEPTA and other transit agencies. For a short while, Biehler was acting executive director of the Port Authority, and he gets a pension from there. Before going to PennDOT, he headed a consulting firm paid millions for work on a light-rail extension project.

Are Biehler's past connections a help or a hindrance?

SEPTA's contract with its labor union expires March 30. Port Authority's contract with its bus and trolley operators expires June 30. Bargaining will occur under a false sense of financial security.

How can management bring costs under control, as Smith put it, "without a gun to their heads?"

Rendell's nearly $1 billion fix for transit and highway funding takes the subject off page 1 and the 6 o'clock news, so the Legislature may wash its hands of the problem and move on to other things (to annoy us).

When the money runs out at the end of 2006, what happens?

I hope you weren't expecting me to answer.

Plate du jour. Luann Russell spotted the Pennsylvania personalized license plate WHY H8 near where she lives in Rostraver. I'm 4 PEACE in Harrisburg.