Written by Ralph Everhart
Everyone who lives in our commonwealth benefits from the public transportation that serves Pennsylvania, whether you ride a bus, subway, train, or trolley every day.
Transportation connects workers to jobs and students to classes. Transit helps seniors access medical services and social opportunities essential to their health. And in practical terms, transit reduces congestion on busy roads and fosters economic growth.
Public transportation systems have helped keep essential services operating during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, connecting health care workers to hospitals and food service workers to supermarkets. Meanwhile, federal pandemic relief funds that helped sustain transit service are drying up and costs continue to rise.
Public transportation systems across Pennsylvania are responding to long-term changes in commuting patterns and increased telework through bus system restructuring and other operational efficiency improvements. But if large-scale problems are left unresolved, gaps and shortages become impending, requiring service cuts and fare increases that are unaffordable for those who rely on these services most. It becomes something that cannot be reached.
Elected leaders in Harrisburg join Gov. Josh Shapiro to act quickly to maintain public transportation, keep hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians moving, and avoid the fiscal cliff that threatens the federal economy. This is very important.
Over time, without additional investment from Harrisburg, it will be impossible to maintain the level of transportation service that Pennsylvania families and local economies currently receive.
A lot of attention is being paid to SEPTA, the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh area transportation system, and Pittsburgh Regional Transit, but failure to take action will result in widespread and severe damage to transit service across Pennsylvania. .
Here in the Lehigh Valley, this “death spiral” will mean dismantling many of the service enhancements LANTA has made to regional transit services over the past few years. This will result in up to a two-hour commute from Allentown, Bethlehem, or Easton to job opportunities available along the growing industrial corridors of Route 100 or Route 33. This will also delay the implementation of LANTA's high-frequency bus corridor. This project to strengthen bus services is an important pillar of the regional comprehensive plan FutureLV.
Shapiro included a proposal to increase state funding for public transportation in his budget speech Tuesday. This additional investment in transportation will help avoid the negative transportation impacts that many communities will face next year. It's encouraging to see that Mr. Shapiro recognizes the importance of public transportation to communities across the state. He said long-term funding solutions for public transit must remain a top priority as he and state lawmakers begin negotiations on the next state budget.
More than 400 million passengers annually travel in the state using regional transit.
Here in the Lehigh Valley, LANTA carries more than 15,000 passengers daily on its bus and paratransit services. On any given day, more than half of riders are commuting to and from work. Additionally, he added, 2,500 students attend school, including Allentown middle and high school students, as well as residents from across the Valley who attend classes at community colleges and other institutions of higher education.
This not only helps create a highly skilled workforce, but also allows area employers to attract the employees they need to sustain the Lehigh Valley's economic growth. Mr. Shapiro said this last week as he announced a new statewide economic strategy in his speech here in the Lehigh Valley. [economic development] Effectively. ” Our regional transportation system is a critical part of that success.
Additionally, according to the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association, Pennsylvania's transit system purchased $2.7 billion in goods and services from Pennsylvania businesses in their communities between 2015 and 2020, an average of $450 million per year. We are making a million dollar investment.
We have the power to build a 21st century transportation network that not only averts the crisis, but also allows Pennsylvania's transportation system to successfully compete for jobs and maintain quality of life for everyone, including the essentials. There is also a historic opportunity to provide the sustained funding needed to build. workers, students, working families, and the elderly.
A vibrant network of transportation systems is essential to Pennsylvania's economy. Let's avert this immediate crisis and invest in Pennsylvania's future.
Ralph Everhart is the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce's Transportation Committee Chair.
