Transit Agencies Crunched By Fed, Too
By Bair, Jessica
REGION
Transit agencies in Pennsylvania need $760 million in additional state funding each year. But that is just one slice of the financial trouble that smaller transit agencies are facing, including those in the midstate. For them, this battle is on two fronts.
At the end of fiscal 2008, the federal government will finish phasing out the spending flexibility of transit agencies serving urbanized areas with populations of more than 200,000.
“Right now is the most critical time because we’re approaching that last year of the phase off, when I have to start thinking about making (the first round of) cuts,” said David Kilmer, executive director of Lancaster’s Red Rose Transit Authority. Lancaster’s population exceeded 200,000 in the 2000 Census, Kilmer said.
The second round of cuts at Red Rose Transit Authority would begin July 1, 2008, when the flexibility is eliminated entirely.
Kilmer is working with transit agencies across the nation to change that law with the Transit System Flexibility Protection Act of 2007. The effort has been going on for a number of years, but the bill was reintroduced to the new Congress in January.
Kilmer’s hopes are high, with 12 representatives cosponsoringthe bill in the U.S. Senate and 22 in the U.S. House of Representatives. Kilmer hopes to bring on eight more senators by the end of February.
The bill proposes that transit systems operating in smaller urban hubs should retain flexibility on how to use federal funding if the system operates fewer than 100 peak buses. The peak-bus number is the highest number of buses a service runs at any given time. Red Rose Transit Authority, Capital Area Transit of Harrisburg and rabbittransit of York all operate fewer than 100 peak buses.
The bill has been passed to the appropriate committees in both houses. The next step is to convince the committees to consider the bills and get them out of committee and on to the floor for a vote.
U.S. Sen. Bob casey (D-Pa.) plays an important role in helping the bill along because he is on the bill’s committee, Kilmer said. He is not yet a cosponsor, but area transit agencies are working on educating his staff.
“What is very important (is that) this change to provide flexibility on how you can use your federal money won’t cost the federal government one penny,” said James Hoffer, executive director of Capital Area Transit.
In the 1980s, the federal government began reducing the amount of operating money that it gave to larger transit agencies, including CAT.
As CAT’s money phased out, fare increases and service cuts kicked in. In 1996, CAT completely lost its federal operating money.
In the late 1990s, a new law limited how transit agencies serving urban populations of more than 200,000 could use their federal money. Those agencies could no longer use that money for operations.
Instead, the money can only be used for capital projects, such as buying and maintaining buses. This means the money can’t be used to buy fuel or pay wages, benefits or insurance.
The law assumes that if an agency serves a large area, the agency has a big enough system that federal money can cover maintenance costs, and local financing will be available to fund operations, Kilmer said.
In fact, some of those transit agencies, including those in the midstate, have fewer than 100 peak buses. That means they are lucky to have maintenance costs equal to half of their operating costs, Kilmer said. In response, these smaller transit agencies have to find another way to pay for operating costs or eliminate the service.
When the results of the 2000 Census came out, about 32 more transit systems in the U.S. served areas that passed the threshold of 200,000 people. Red Rose Transit was one of those systems.
The systems were able to get some extensions until the new transportation bill, The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), was passed in 2005. The bill allowed for a two-year phase out of the flexibility of federal funding. Flexibility will be eliminated for these systems at the end of fiscal 2008.
“It’s crazy. I have to tell (the) riders, ‘Sorry. I get the money, but I can’t use it to help you to get to work anymore,’” Kilmer said.
York is set to exceed the 200,000 population mark with the 2010 census, said Richard Farr, executive director of rabbittransit. This means that Farr won’t be able use about $2 million in federal funding a year for operating expenses. When the time comes, service will have to be cut, Farr said.
“I don’t understand why there’s even a discussion. We’re not asking for more money; we’re just asking for continued flexibility,” Farr said. “It’s a serious issue. We want to fix it before we get there.”
“It’s crazy. I have to tell (the) riders, ‘Sorry. I get the money, but I can’t use it to help you to get to work anymore.”
David Kilmer,
Red Rose Transit Authority
BY JESSICA BAIR
jessicab@journalpub.com
Copyright Journal Publications Inc. Feb 23, 2007
(c) 2007 Central Penn Business Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.