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Pennsylvania Transit Coalition |
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Contact Us (215) 880-6142
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Delware Valley Association of Rail Passengers Pennsylvania Alliance of Public Transit Advocates
An alliance of groups like the PTC that are working
together to fight for more funding for public transportation.
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Pennsylvania Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates The Pennsylvania Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates was established in January 2004 to address the public transportation funding crisis. PAPTA developed a position paper (see below) in March 2004 that identifies a mission statement for the organization, a set of principles, and endorsement for the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association's proposal a long-term, stable and reliable source of funds for Public Transportation, and proposals to ensure that Public Transportation achieves the enormously positive role it can play in the future of the Commonwealth PAPTA Members
John Tague, Allegheny County Transit Council,
Pittsburgh
National Association of Social Workers,
Pennsylvania Chapter
Young Involved Philadelphia Development of a Stable and Reliable Source of Funding for Public Transportation PAPTA Position Paper--March 2004 The Pennsylvania Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates (PAPTA) is comprised of several local and regional transportation advocacy and transportation related-business organizations. Our individual organizations focus upon the funding and operational needs of their local public transportation systems and the role of these systems in improving their communities and creating jobs in the transportation industry. PAPTA’s membership is representative of the urban, suburban, and rural areas of the Commonwealth. PAPTA seeks to address these issues through advocating for state and federal legislative reform to achieve these objectives.
a. Through its ability to reduce congestion and provide access to jobs, Public Transportation is critical to economic development efforts that encourage investment in existing communities, urban, suburban and rural, and reinforce local land use plans. The December 2003 Brookings Institute Study, “Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Pennsylvania ” that addresses this need should be used as a guide for the Commonwealth’s investment in public transportation. b. Public Transportation provides a social equity function through the investment of public resources to serve low-income, disabled, rural residents and other citizens who do not have the means or ability to use a personal automobile. c. Public Transportation is critical to maintaining a healthy and sustainable environment through its ability to reduce air pollution, water pollution, traffic deaths and injuries, and by the potential it creates for more walkable, more livable communities.
2. Public Transportation is only one component of the multimodal transportation system that is needed to accommodate persons, goods, and freight to move Pennsylvania forward. Clearly, driving and our highway system provide great benefits, but the current dependence on automobiles creates far-reaching public health and social costs that burden everyone, whether or not they drive. Therefore, funding sources for public transportation must be equitably balanced against roadway and other modes of travel. The proceeds of these funding sources should be part of general fund revenues designated for public transportation. This will ensure a stable and reliable source of funding for public transportation agencies. 3. The principles of Fix It First and Context Sensitive Design/Solutions should be incorporated into roadway improvement projects (reconstruction or new construction), including the proposed Home Town Streets program. This would include provision of bus shelters, benches, and bays, coordinated traffic signals to facilitate traffic flow, bike lanes and sidewalks. 4. Increasingly, there is a call for improved Public Transportation - not only from environmental and social change advocacy groups, but also from ordinary citizens, community and neighborhood development organizations, business groups, and institutional public and private leadership. Polls show growing support for this trend – even among drivers. Legislators have an opportunity to respond to this widely accepted need. 5. Public Transportation requires a stable and reliable source of funds to expand and improve the services provided by Public Transportation agencies. Transit agencies cannot operate and plan effectively when funding is at the whim of each year’s state budget. 6. Improved Public Transportation will ensure that not only transit dependent citizens have access to Public Transportation, but that everyone will be empowered to make choices about where to live and how to get where they’re going.
Pennsylvania Public
Transportation Association (PPTA) Our coalition endorses the November 2004 proposal and any updates thereto of the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association (PPTA) to develop a long-term, stable and reliable source of funds for Public Transportation. Adopting measures such as those put forward by the PPTA proposal will ensure that the following goals can be effectively pursued: 1) Promote the creation of a safer and more balanced transportation system that allows people a choice in mobility. 2) Provide funds to maintain our existing transportation assets in top condition. 3) Support projects and services that encourage investment in existing communities, urban, suburban and rural, and reinforce local land use plans 4) Give priority to transportation investments that result in cleaner air, cleaner water and more efficient use of land.
5)
Promote an integrated system of pedestrian and bicycle pathways that
provide 6) Support reliable, affordable transportation that serves all members of the workforce, whatever their wage level, connecting housing to employment centers. 7) Utilize strategies that favor investments in public transportation infrastructure and intelligent transportation systems to improve mobility and reduce congestion on the existing transportation network versus building new roadways. Such investments have been demonstrated to create more jobs and economic benefits to the community. Further, we offer the following proposals as tools to ensure that Public Transportation achieves the enormously positive role it can play in the future of the Commonwealth. 1. Index state transit funding yearly with inflation 2. Utilize more fully the flexibility of various Federal transportation funding categories (such as the Surface Transportation Program) to promote the development and use of varied modes, including Public Transportation. 3. Require that Public Transportation agencies that seek state match for federal dollars for new capital projects (Section 5309 “New Starts”), e.g., North Shore LRT in Pittsburgh and the Schuylkill Valley MetroRail in Philadelphia, demonstrate that they have sufficient resources to continue to maintain and operate their entire systems including any extension thereto. 4. Require that transit-supportive policies and land use regulations be incorporated into the criteria for awarding state match. These provisions are included in the proposed SAFETEA bill for reauthorization of TEA-21, the current federal transportation law, as presented by the Federal Highway Administration in May 2003. 5. Incorporate Public Transportation into the Commonwealth’s economic stimulus package for the fiscal year 2004 budget proposal. The proposal should include policies to promote the use of Public Transportation and investment in existing communities for transit-oriented development (TOD) projects. The proposed legislation for the creation of Transit Revitalization Investment District (HB 994) is one example of how to accomplish this objective. 6. Encourage expansion of public involvement and environmental justice programs to ensure that minority communities have a greater role in transportation decision-making and that transportation investments are more equitably distributed in those communities. This should include participation in the development of the annual capital and operating budgets as well as proposals for service changes or fare increases for each Public Transportation agency. 7. Replace the term “mass transportation” with “public transportation” in all state laws and regulations as also proposed in SAFETEA. “Public” is broader by definition and is the term more commonly used by the transit industry. |