Public transit is essential to creating and sustaining a healthy environment, economy, and community. Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are facing an unprecedented 35% cut in public transit in September 2012. Nearly half of the county’s current routes could be eliminated, stranding 45,000 riders and eliminating 600 transit jobs We demand legislation that will create a stable, sufficient, dedicated source of funding for public transportation in Pennsylvania.
Transportation across Pennsylvania is underfunded. This includes our roads and bridges as well as our public transit systems. Governor Tom Corbett’s own Transportation Funding Advisory Commission acknowledged this and recommended that transit spending be increased. Corbett can do this by lifting the cap on the franchise tax for wholesale gasoline (as recommended by his panel), by demanding that corporations engaged in commerce in Pennsylvania pay their fair share and stop using tax loopholes, or by demanding that corporations pay for the resources they extract through mining.