Transportation Solutions

What's New

VICTORY: In July, 2007, the state House and Senate finally passed a transportation funding package (House Bill 1590) that will give a much-needed financial boost to public transportation agencies across Pennsylvania.  While the legislation’s estimated $300 million in initial annual funding for public transportation falls well short of what was deemed necessary by a recent state report, it is a significant improvement over the current funding system. (Read our release) 

Background

Given the smog and global warming pollution released by cars and trucks, Pennsylvania’s public transportation systems are a critical tool in the effort to protect our environment and public health—to say nothing of the daily role that public transportation plays in getting Pennsylvanians from one place to another. From Scranton to Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to Erie, our public transportation systems enable tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians each day to avoid getting in their cars, thus drastically reducing air pollution in the Commonwealth.

Unfortunately, our public transportation systems have suffered from years of inconsistent and inadequate funding from Harrisburg, which has lead to repeated cutbacks in service.

So PennEnvironment worked with a broad coalition of labor unions, transportation advocates and environmental groups to convince state legislators to establish a more secure and adequate source of funding for the state's public transportation systems.  And on July 17, 2007, victory was secured as state legislators finally passed a transportation funding package (House Bill 1590) that will provide a much-needed boost to the state's public transportation systems.  While the $300 million in initial public transportation funding falls well short of the $760 million deemed necessary in a recent state report, it is still a significant improvement over the current funding system--and it prevented massive service cutbacks and fare increases that had been planned by public transportation agencies across Pennsylvania.

PennEnvironment will continue to work with legislators and our coalition partners in the coming months and years to build upon this victory, in order to improve and expand the state's public transportation systems.  Taking these steps will help achieve significant reductions in air pollution, helping to protect our environment and public health.