Senator Joe Pittman says Governor Josh Shapiro’s decision to give Philadelphia’s SEPTA public transit system $153 million dollars of federal highway and bridge funds is “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, and he says the majority of those funds will come from voting districts that are controlled by Republican lawmakers. He says Shapiro is “allowing roads and bridges in Republican districts to deteriorate” to benefit Philadelphia’s mismanaged public transit agency.
Pittman says the governor and legislature agreed in July to temporarily fund SEPTA and other transit agencies with $80 million on the condition that transit funding would be re-examined, but Shapiro decided instead to “throw money at the problem” instead of examine the root causes of SEPTA’s broken system. The Shapiro administration claims the funding “flex” is temporary and that SEPTA riders faced service cuts and a 21 percent fare increase without it.
The federal funds were diverted from two I-80 projects in Jefferson County, and projects in Mercer, Columbia, York, and Washington counties, plus the I-95 reconstruction in Philadelphia.
Comments