Rep. Jim Struzzi: Pennsylvania needs workable transit solutions
Federal, state, and local governments have grappled with mass transit funding for decades. Balancing appropriate rider fares and local funding with state government support has never been easy. Today it is tougher than ever.
The Covid-19 pandemic complicated the equation of mass transit funding. Ridership has plummeted on Pennsylvania’s largest transit systems, with Philadelphia’s SEPTA, Pittsburgh’s PRT, and Erie’s E all experiencing over a 40 percent drop in usage since 2019. Recent financial reports show that the Commonwealth’s state-assisted operators provided only 238 million trips in 2024, down from 387 million in 2019.
During the pandemic, the federal government funded mass transit agencies as businesses and governments closed or moved to virtual work. As this funding slowed and eventually stopped, some of these transit systems, led by SEPTA, found themselves unable to adjust to the new fiscal reality.
Currently, 8.6 percent of all Sales and Use Tax (SUT) receipts are deposited into accounts earmarked for mass transit. This will result in the transfer of nearly $1.39 billion in state funding to mass transit for the current fiscal year. Governor Shapiro has proposed to take an additional portion of Pennsylvanians’ sales taxes to dedicate to mass transit. This would add an additional $293 million to the formula, resulting in an estimated $1.74 billion in the next fiscal year, and represent over 10.3 percent of all sales tax collections in the state.
While the portion of the SUT dedicated to mass transit has remained constant for the past decade, the total amount of funding has grown substantially. In the 2013-14 fiscal year, the mass transit allocation from sales taxes was roughly $785 million. Last fiscal year, nearly $1.21 billion went to mass transit, a 54 percent increase over ten years.
Recently, SEPTA threatened to stop service on certain bus and rail routes if it does not receive an influx of additional funds in the state budget. This announcement drew reactions from many folks, especially on social media, claiming a cataclysmic impact on Philadelphia. I took these concerns seriously and looked at the routes SEPTA has placed on the chopping block.
According to SEPTA’s open data, one proposed cut, bus route 78, has an average weekday ridership of 3.7 people and costs roughly $102 per passenger. Another proposed cut, the Cynwyd Line regional rail, transports an average of 160 people a day. While this sounds high compared to the ridership on the 78 bus, it is actually a 68 percent drop from 2019 and an appalling statistic for a five-stop light rail route.
Not all proposed cuts are on routes with such a dramatic drop; the average drop among 43 bus and regional rail routes based on available data is 31 percent. While rural transit systems are also seeing declines in usage, most have not seen a drop rate as big as their urban counterparts.
House Republicans recognize that these problems require better solutions than simply sending more of taxpayers’ hard-earned money to prop up underutilized services. Our Caucus Leader, Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford), has proposed a plan to move SEPTA’s busing fleet to a public-private partnership.
I have also introduced House Resolution 68 to generate recommendations on better ways to fund rural mass transit. The resolution passed the House Transportation Committee unanimously and awaits action before the full House. Based on feedback I have received from rural transit agencies who have significant concerns regarding PennDOT’s management of funds, we need to move forward with this study now.
Pennsylvania’s taxpayers and commuters deserve rural, suburban, and urban transit authorities that are efficient and responsive. Simply handing SEPTA an extra $190 million without implementing serious reforms would be an extreme disservice to taxpayers and transit riders across the entire Commonwealth.
Rep. Jim Struzzi represents the 62nd district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and is House Republican Appropriations Committee Chair.
