A Mid-Summer Night's Nightmare in PA

Annual transportation drama now playing in Harrisburg

By Lowman S. Henry

Gov. Ed Rendell will leave office in January, but travelers on the Pennsylvania Turnpike will only just be starting to pay for the legacy of profligate spending he will leave behind.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission recently announced that tolls on America’s first (and now most expensive) superhighway will rise by 10 percent effective January 2, 2011. Those of us who use E-Z Pass will see only a 3 percent increase. This is just the latest of what is expected to be a series of fare increases.

The worst part about the ever-rising cost of driving on the turnpike is that revenue generated by the higher fares is not being reinvested in the highway itself. Instead some $450 million per year is being diverted to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to pay for the upkeep of other roads and bridges.

Regular fare hikes would be easier to accept if the money were being invested in the Turnpike.
Although some upgrades to the Pennsylvania Turnpike are already under way, many badly needed capital improvement projects remain unfunded. Not the least of these are replacing the turnpike’s aging tunnels, the need to expand the entire highway to a minimum of six lanes — eight in higher traffic areas; and the continued upgrade of interchanges and service plazas. These projects languish as $450 million per year goes elsewhere.

How did we get into this mess? You can blame it on mass transit and urban politics. The Rendell Administration has poured billions into the bloated and inefficient mass transit systems in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. This has created a domino effect that deprived PennDOT of needed revenue, and led to the passage of Act 44 which set up the diversion of turnpike funds that have in turn prompted the recently announced toll increases.

Transportation funding has become an annual farce in Pennsylvania. The script is always the same: In the opening scene, the state’s largest mass transit agencies — Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia and the Port Authority Transit (PAT) in Pittsburgh — announce they have hefty budget deficits.

In Scene 2, SEPTA and PAT threaten massive lay-offs and service cuts. Gov. Ed Rendell rides to their rescue in Scene 3 by diverting federal highway funds to the mass transit agencies.
The curtain rises on Act II with the governor declaring the state’s roads and bridges are crumbling. He declares the state to be in the clutches of a transportation crisis. This leads him to call in Scene 2 for increases in taxes and fees. Conflict arises in Scene 3 when the Legislature refuses to raise taxes and fees, which are unpopular with their constituents. They point out the money isn’t there to fix highways because the governor spent the federal highway money on mass transit. And that is where the drama suddenly ends: with no resolution and a guaranteed sequel next year.

Gov. Rendell is once again planning to “flex” federal highway money to mass transit. And, of course, he is again calling for the legislature to raise taxes and fees. The governor has given the legislature options, magnanimously agreeing to sign into law whatever tax and fee hikes they might select from a menu of revenue enhancements he has presented to them.

At no point does Ed Rendell, or for that matter anybody else, begin to address the underlying cause of Pennsylvania’s transportation dilemma: the fact billions are squandered by SEPTA and PAT due to inefficiencies, bloated bureaucracies and unreasonable labor union contracts.
Ed Rendell is captive of the Philadelphia political forces that prop up SEPTA. He would have taxpayers from across the state, and turnpike travelers, pay more rather than take the politically painful route of forcing SEPTA and PAT to clean up their acts.

And so the curtain will close on the Rendell Administration with no resolution to our transportation drama. Perhaps the next governor will come into office with a different script. In the meantime, our roads and bridges continue to deteriorate while turnpike tolls continue to rise. And that, will be Ed Rendell’s enduring legacy to we the people of Penn’s Woods.

Lowman S. Henry is chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research Inc., a Harrisburg-based non-profit, educational foundation, and host of the American Radio Journal.

Rendell Goes Back to the Well

I'm all for taking care of our roads and bridges, but Gov. Rendell has squandered billions of dollars over the past eight years to subsidize mass transit and buy off union votes at the expense of the state's transportation infrastructure.

He blew it in 2007 by signing the ill-fated Act 44.

You can't go back to the well again.

Stateline.org puts the focus on Pennsylvania's transportation funding goes in an article posted today at its Web site.

Open House for Montco transit plan

The Montgomery County Planning Commission will host an open house for the Northwest Montgomery County Strategic Transit Plan on Wednesday, Feb. 24, from 5 to 8 p.m., at the Marlborough Elementary School.

The study focuses on the feasibility of expanding transit into Northwestern Montgomery County and devising a long-range plan for service.

With gas prices creeping higher, citizens in Northwestern Montgomery County municipalities have been turning to their elected officials for help, said state Sen. Bob Mensch.

"With family budgets strained, residents are looking for alternatives to driving," Mensch said. "The debut of the Upper Perk coaster last year was a good first step, but now we want to expand service to more residents."

Residents are encouraged to attend the open house to provide feedback about the study’s progress thus far. Brief remarks about transit feasibility will be repeated at 5:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.

The study is sponsored by the Montgomery County Planning Commission and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Board members consist of state and local elected officials, business owners and residents.

Marlborough Elementary School is located on 1450 Gravel Pike (Route 29) in Green Lane.

Rendell wants to raise the gas tax

After six years of fumbling around to find a way to pay for fixing Pennsylvania's crumbling roads and bridges and subsidizing mass transit, the Rendell administration may fall back on its favorite option: Raising taxes.

Rendell's plan to make Interstate 80 a toll road was rejected by the federal government. His backup plan, lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a Spanish firm, has met stiff resistance in the state Legislature.

So what's a tax-and-spend career politician to do? Raise the gas tax, of course.

Pennsylvania residents already pay 32.5 cents per gallon, one of the highest tax rates in the country. Rendell said the gas tax would have to go up at least 10 cents a gallon to raise enough money to fund transportation needs.

"To make up the shortfall, we're looking at a gas tax increase," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "Where else are we going to find the money for the shortfall in transportation funding?"

Republican lawmakers say the state can find the money in its existing revenues to repair roads and bridges and fund mass transit.

State spending has increased nearly $8 billion since Rendell became governor in 2003, but little of that money has been used for transportation.

Read more about Rendell's gas tax plans in today's edition of The Tribune-Review.

Guaranteed to boost mass transit ridership

If you're wondering why this young lady is doing on this train platform all by her lonesome, she is modeling a colorful number from the the Sex and the City Lingerie collection by Cosabella. The "Samantha" styles, including this lacy, passion-fruit ensemble, are the boldest and raciest from the collection, according to the designer. I still say mass transit ridership would skyrocket if the conductors looked (and dressed) like this.(AP Photo/Cosabella)

The Mass Transit Swindle

I know a professional couple who live in suburban Philadelphia. Their home, in an exclusive community, is assessed at more than $500,000. They commute to Philadelphia for high-paying jobs. Their combined annual income is $200,000.

The husband drives into Center City Philadelphia while the wife takes the SEPTA train into the city. They can afford two cars, but don't need a second car. No car payment, no insurance, no maintenance costs.

I don't know how much the train ride into Center City costs, but let's say it's $5 a day. Can a family making $200,000 a year afford to pay $10 a day to get to work? I think they can, but why should they when Pennsylvania taxpayers pick up the tab?

I help subsidize this well-off couple to get to work every day with my tax dollars. This is why I can't get excited about all the doom-and-gloom predictions by transit agencies like SEPTA that it will have to reduce service and raise fares.

Gov. Ed Rendell and the mass transit lobby (the overpaid executives who run the transit systems and the high-paid union workers) are always telling us how poor people will be hurt if we don't continue to subsidize failing mass transit systems.

That's a load of horse manure. There's a lot of professional people riding subsidized trains to their six-figure jobs. That's a dirty little secret Rendell doesn't want you to know.

Rendell claims ridership has grown significantly in the past four years. Then, why aren't the state's mass transit systems operating more efficiently? If they have more riders, paying more fares, where is the money going?

Nobody is offering to help subsidize my ride into work or pay for my parking. Gas prices are at an all-time high. Why doesn't Gov. Ed Rendell eliminate the state tax on gasoline to help working people? That would cut gas prices by 30 cents a gallon right now. Toss in a cut in the federal gas tax and the price at the pump goes down by 50 cents a gallon.

When my car breaks down, I have to pay to fix it. When the rich suburban couple's car breaks down, they both ride the subsidized train into work.

Next time you hear SEPTA or BARTA or LANTA or CATA or any of the state's other mass transit systems beg for more tax dollars, ask them to produce numbers on how many of their riders are high-income earners who enjoy taking the rest of us for a ride.

I see empty buses driving around all the time. This doesn't make economic or environmental sense. If the transit agencies can't justify a route, cut it. If nobody rides the bus on Saturday, park it. Let the guy making $100,000 a year pay more for his train ride.

Two years ago, Ed Rendell diverted nearly $500 million in federal highway funds to keep SEPTA afloat. The agency burned through the money and now wants another handout. Why would you give the same people who failed to make any changes to make the agency economically responsible more money? Has SEPTA cut any of its patronage jobs? Is it giving executives bonuses even though they can't operate the system in the black?

Subsidies to transit agencies is another form of welfare. The person on the receiving end will never get off welfare as long as the government keeps handing them money.

The best thing that can happen to mass transit in Pennsylvania is to cut service and raise fares.