Rendel defers bus cuts, hikes

A small sign posted on a 61C fare box proclaimed the news that Port Authority officials and… A small sign posted on a 61C fare box proclaimed the news that Port Authority officials and patrons had been waiting nearly nine months to hear.

Postponed.

Less than 24 hours before Port Authority was scheduled to increase fares by 25 cents, Gov. Ed Rendell announced a financial solution to indefinitely defer the transit company’s plans to cut service and raise fares.

“We’re very thankful the governor came through at this juncture when our customers were faced with these cuts,” said Bob Grove, spokesperson for Port Authority. “It’s been crazy trying to work out all of the details now, but we’d gladly face those problems than the ones we faced before.”

Rendell’s plan would allot $68 million of highway funds to help pull Port Authority and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority in Philadelphia out of their financial woes. If the plan is approved by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Port Authority will receive $25.3 million to alleviate the remainder of the original $30 million deficit for the 2005 fiscal year, which ends June 30.

In recent years, the catch phrase concerning transit finance plans has been “dedicated stream of funding.” Rendell’s plan would designate approximately $412 million during the next two years for Pennsylvania transit systems.

“For some time I’ve been asking the legislature to dedicate new funding to mass transit,” Rendell said in a public statement Monday afternoon. “That’s the right way to solve this problem, and we will all keep working to try to make that happen.”

He said he recognized that the dedicated funding wouldn’t be approved in the near future and that without it, patrons would be hurt by fare increases and service cuts.

“Our transit riders have been moving from one crisis to another for too long, and I am not going to let that continue,” he added.

Grove said that Port Authority hopes the state’s government continues to fight for a long-term financial solution.

“Everyone agrees that we need a long-term, permanent solution,” he added. “We are appreciative of the amount of discussion in Harrisburg and encouraged by the fact that the legislators keep coming up with plans.”

The plan was submitted to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Monday and will be voted on at a special session March 10. In a media statement, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission chairman Dave Coder said he supports the plan and will ask the committee to approve it.

Until that session, Port Authority employees and riders might maintain the same attitude as yesterday morning’s unidentified 61C driver, who greeted each of his patrons with a bright smile and a relieved “Yup, it’s been postponed.”