PENNSYLVANIA ON VERGE OF TRANSPORTATION CRISIS
Governor and Legislature Must Act to Preserve Safety & Mobility and Save Jobs DEVELOPED BY THE AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION (ATU) AND TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION (TWU)
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FEBRUARY, 2013
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Pennsylvania’s transportation network is facing an enormous crisis. The commonwealth has more than twice the percentage of structurally deficient bridges than the national average, and more than a third of the 21,000 miles of state-owned secondary roads are rated “poor.” Pennsylvania’s state owned bridges are on average 50 years old. Residents and millions of people who pass through the state every day are in danger every moment that they are driving on Pennsylvania roadways. Moreover, in the last decade, due to inadequate funding, the state’s two major transit systems, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and the Port Authority of Allegheny County (Port Authority) as well as other smaller systems have repeatedly announced “doomsday” budgets, threatening (and in some cases implementing) deep service cuts which have hurt transit-dependent riders. Finally, in July of 2007, after a long fought battle, the State Legislature passed a major transportation bill which provided new funding for highways and transit, derived mainly from a new toll on Interstate 80 (I-80). Act 44, (HB 1590) was projected to provide nearly $1 billion a year on average in transportation funding statewide, including a dedicated revenue stream for public transit. The Port Authority, for example, was slated to get $55.1 million, a 39% increase in state funding. However, the State Legislature must now once again address a statewide transportation funding shortfall caused by the federal rejection of I-80 tolling, which has caused a nearly $500 million reduction in funding for highways, bridges and transit. As a result of this shortfall, Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges continue to crumble, and the state’s transit systems are once again on the brink of cutting service to the bare minimum. The Port Authority’s financial situation is especially grave. Despite a new labor agreement reached in 2012, massive service cuts could take place as early as August of 2013 unless a new funding source is identified.
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
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PENNSYLVANIA ON VERGE OF TRANSPORTATION CRISIS
PUBLIC TRANSIT CRISIS “We cannot allow transportation to deteriorate to the point where recovery is even more costly. We must bring our existing transportation infrastructure into a state of good repair, and we must catch up on desperately needed but long-deferred projects to add capacity and improve the flow of people and goods. Having a safe, reliable, secure, smooth-running transportation system is fundamental to our state and national economy and every aspect of life. Our entire population depends upon transportation, whether or not a person drives. The transportation system allows food, clothing, and materials to be shipped, school buses to carry children, transit to carry riders, emergency vehicles to respond expeditiously, and so on.”
— Pennsylvania Transportation Funding Advisory Commission, Final Report (2011)
jJ Port Authority Cuts to the Bone The federal rejection of Pennsylvania’s plan to toll I-80 translated into a $27 million cut to the Port Authority for 2011, when its board voted to reduce service by 15%. Twenty-nine routes were eliminated, and there were weekday cuts on 47 other routes, while about 180 employees were laid off and about 270 positions were eliminated. The Harmar bus garage was closed. It meant more crowded buses and more commuters driving their own cars on already crowded roads. Previous service improvements were wiped out. In November, 2011 the board had approved a deeper service reduction – 35% -- which would have eliminated even more routes, leaving 15,000 riders with no service and 400 Port Authority personnel with no jobs. The previous Governor, Ed Rendell, however, found $45 million in emergency funding that averted those cuts. The board justified making cuts in March 2012 by saying that it had given the authority more time -- 18 months -- to pressure the Legislature and new Governor Tom Corbett to come up with transit funding. In August of 2012, ATU Local 85 in Pittsburgh invested over $100 million over five years in the Port Authority through a new labor agreement which saved the system from taking draconian measures. As a result, the board postponed a 35% transit service cut and 560 employee layoffs that had been scheduled to take effect in the fall of 2012. However, the date has only been pushed back until August 31, 2013.
AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma
Ridership at the Port Authority has fallen by nearly 40% since it peaked in 1975, a decline that outpaces the county’s 20% population loss over that time. Service has been repeatedly cut as the authority has gone from one financial crisis to the next.
Trouble Brewing at SEPTA In Philadelphia, the SEPTA board in 2012 adopted a budget which leaves the transit agency without enough reserves to cover an anticipated $38 million deficit starting in the middle of 2013. A 7% fare increase is set to take effect in July. SEPTA has approved a capital budget which is $110 million less than the agency had for those expenses before the federal government rejected I-80 tolling -- half of what is needed to improve and maintain the aging transit system. PENNSYLVANIA ON VERGE OF TRANSPORTATION CRISIS |
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SEPTA needed to take $58 million from its “service stabilization fund” and $29 million from the rainy-day fund to balance the budget this year. If lawmakers do not act, the $130 million cushion that SEPTA officials had hoped would last 10 years when it was created in 2007 will be gone, due to rising costs of wages, health insurance and fuel.
Nationwide Trend During the same month that the 2011 Port Authority service cuts were announced, passenger fares were increased. This disturbing trend -- paying more and getting far less service – has become commonplace all across the United States, where public transportation agencies are in the midst of unprecedented budgetary challenges as a result of the current recession. The majority of transit systems have been forced to cut service, lay off employees, raise fares, slow capital improvements and take many other actions to survive. This lack of adequate funding is part of a much broader national transit crisis.
Nearly half of the transit systems around the country have either laid off workers or are considering layoffs in the future, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Due to shortages in state and local revenues, U.S. public transit systems are reluctantly carrying out some of the steepest fare increases and deepest service cuts in recent history. Since 2010, approximately 85% of public transit systems have raised fares or cut service, and thousands of workers in the transit industry – a significant percentage of a “green” workforce – have been laid off. The 7-8% of unemployed Americans includes a substantial number of transitdependent individuals who simply cannot get to work. 4 |
PENNSYLVANIA ON VERGE OF TRANSPORTATION CRISIS
Generally, when routes get cut, transit systems tend to look towards those with low ridership -- early morning, late night, and weekend service. The Port Authority’s plan was reportedly no different. An Authority spokesman said in general, the trips most likely to be eliminated on bus and rail routes are on the “fringes” -- early mornings, middays and late at night. When transit systems cut in this manner, people who work non-traditional hours, typically minorities who have no other means of transportation, are disproportionately affected. The single mom who now gets her kids up at 4:30 a.m. to catch two buses in time to get her children to daycare and then herself to work cannot be expected to wait an additional hour for that transfer bus to arrive, standing in the freezing cold with two kids. But that is exactly what is happening out there. Transit workers nationwide have seen it firsthand. Some places have totally shut down their transit system, leaving transit-dependent people without a ride and therefore without a job. This is a mobility crisis.
SAFETY ISSUES Highways and Bridges Crumbling The state estimates that there are nearly 6,000 structurally deficient bridges in Pennsylvania, the most in the country, and that more than 10,000 miles of roadway is in need of repair. The state’s highway and bridge system has been sustained by preventive maintenance investment, though much of the network infrastructure is approaching an age that more significant rehabilitation or replacement is required. The longer it takes to find a funding solution, the more costly the repairs and
replacements will be. We can only hope that a “human” cost is not involved. In 2007, the I-35W Mississippi River bridge that spanned across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapsed during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145. Each day that goes by without addressing the issue of highway safety in Pennsylvania invites a similar tragedy.
additional five or six hours - “plussed” up to 14 hours. Those who refuse can be disciplined. This of course increases the chances of fatigued drivers. Driving for 16 hours could produce about the same level of impairment as one might get from drinking five cans out of a sixpack of beer, according to sleep experts.2
Some Buses Filled to Capacity
Pennsylvania Residents Overwhelmingly Support Transportation Improvements
Due to the cuts, the Port Authority’s P7 McKeesport Flyer buses have been chronically overcrowded, with passengers filling the aisle, standing or sitting in stairwells and in front of the restraining line in the front. Although Port Authority management has acknowledged that capacity is an issue on this route, P7 service was still reduced. “There’s going to be an accident. Someone’s going to go through the windshield,” one rider said.1
A poll in 2010 showed that a majority of state residents are willing to pay a little more in order to have safe and reliable roads, bridges and transit. Allegheny County voters appear to be more concerned about Pennsylvania’s glaring transportation needs than people elsewhere in the state, based on results of a poll conducted for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
If there are capacity issues today, they will be nothing compared to ridership trends if the price of gasoline approaches $5 per gallon. When prices spiked to just $4 per gallon in the summer of 2008, transit ridership soared to the highest levels in 50 years. Transit systems were overwhelmed with new riders.
And, a Susquehanna Polling and Research survey found that 34% of Allegheny county voters think fixing roads and bridges and improving the state’s overall transportation system should be priorities for Governor Corbett and state legislators.
Governor’s Plan Inadequate In February of 2013, Governor Corbett unveiled his $1.9 billion funding plan for transportation. Unfortunately, only $250 million would be dedicated to public transportation, and not until year five. In the first year, transit would only receive $40 million (enough only to plug SEPTA’s budget gap next year, with little for any other transit system).
Due to layoffs and attrition brought on by years of inadequate funding, it is not uncommon for Port Authority bus drivers to put in regular shifts of eight or nine hours and then be told by a supervisor to work an
In the summer of 2011, Governor Corbett’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission made recommendations to him as to how to effectively fund transportation. Governor Corbett chose to ignore the majority of the Commission’s recommendations. In addition, his proposal to dramatically decrease the state match for transit capital and operating expenses by increasing the required local match to 20 percent is an unfunded mandate that will likely result in higher local property taxes or other unpopular measures. Moreover,
1 Decreased Bus Routes to Increase Crowding. Pittsburgh Post Gazette, January 13, 2011, Pg. A-1.
2 Bus drivers’ extra hours under study. Pittsburgh Tribune Review, January 26, 2013.
Fatigued Bus Drivers
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the plan forces already cash-strapped systems to consolidate, complicating efforts to provide expanded services to meet growing demand.
Public Private Partnerships: Proceed with Extreme Caution The Governor’s plan would create a Public Private Partnership (P3) office to oversee the new public/private partnership law. In addition, several members of the legislature have expressed interest in pursuing transit privatization. Transit Labor has never been opposed to the provision of transit services by private operators, so long as the methodology and criteria for service selection and final decisions are left to local decision makers, consistent with applicable laws, collective bargaining agreements, and other pertinent agreements. However, in general, it has been our experience that mandated privatization of public transit through competitive bidding serves to reduce the standard of living for workers and diminish the transportation service provided to communities. Moreover, transit privatization is based on questionable and at times false assumptions regarding competition, cost, and the mechanisms used to calculate these and other matters.
According to numerous studies, safety, maintenance concerns, and high employee turnover all contribute to a negative impact on service quality when transit services are privatized.
An Action Plan for Pennsylvania’s Governor and Legislature Pennsylvania has 38 transit systems providing fixed routes service. These agencies provide about 413 million annual trips aboard nearly 3,500 peak fixed-route vehicles, employing more than 14,500 workers. Service on Pittsburgh’s transit system is about to be slashed beyond recognition. SEPTA and other smaller systems will undoubtedly face a “doomsday” scenario in the near future unless long-term financial issues are immediately addressed. Our roads and bridges are crumbling. Two separate transportation advisory commissions – one appointed by Democrat Ed Rendell and the other by GOP Governor Corbett – came to the conclusion that billions of dollars are needed as soon as possible to maintain and improve the condition of the commonwealth’s transportation network.
The most controversial aspect of these options of course involves the contracting-out of sections of route segments or portions of existing systems, and denying those operations the opportunity to address new or emerging transit needs. While considering these issues, it is critical to ensure that any potential cost savings are properly measured and weighed against potential adverse effects on safety and service.
Harrisburg needs to address this mobility crisis immediately. The simple fact is that the state government has a responsibility to protect the well being of Pennsylvania residents and the millions of visitors who use the commonwealth’s highway and transit systems each day. There is no easy solution; and clearly some hard choices need to be made. A dedicated source of revenue is needed to plug a gigantic hole in the budget that was created when the federal government killed plans to toll I-80.
Many times when transit agencies in the U.S. fall into financial difficulty due to declining ridership, increased fuel costs, and a decreasing tax base, privatization proponents come forth with outrageous claims about how other localities have saved money by contracting out bus services. Such claims are based on discredited economic assumptions, substandard wages and the mythical notion that private firms will respond to competitive market pressures and provide better service at lower cost.
If we don’t act now, innocent motorists who are simply trying to move around the state will be killed due to unsafe roads and bridges, and transit-dependent people will struggle to get to work, the doctor, the grocery store and other destinations. Please do not wait until what is perceived to be the last possible moment to act. The time has already past. Please join with ATU, TWU and our broad coalition in pursuit of sensible solutions to Pennsylvania’s transportation crisis. v
For more information, contact: Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO/CLC | 5025 Wisconsin Avenue, NW.20016-4139 | www.atu.org Transport Workers Union, AFL-CIO/CLC | 501 3rd Street, NW. Washington, DC 20001-2760 | www.twu.org