No new transit funding means less access, higher costs, and major cuts to come
On July 12th, State Legislators and the Governor passed a belated state budget, again without new revenue for PA transit. For transit riders and workers, a status quo budget this year means less access and higher transportation costs – with catastrophic cuts coming down the pike.
The crisis is already here: transit providers in rural and urban communities are cutting service and raising fares. Pennsylvanians in every county have lost transit service since 2019.
This year, riders in the Lehigh Valley have already endured multiple rounds of service cuts and fare hikes, while disabled and elderly riders in Lancaster County face large increases to their paratransit and shared ride fares.
If no new revenue is secured for transit in next year’s state budget negotiations, major service cuts and transit fare increases are slated to take effect in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in 2027, alongside Berks and Lancaster counties. And Lehigh and Northampton counties will face their fourth round of service cuts, as the region continues its rapid growth.
Rural and urban transit riders grow the demand for more service
Despite the lack of a comprehensive budget solution this year, transit riders are unstoppable. Over the past year, Pennsylvanians have consistently demanded more transit service—not just the underfunded status quo:
- Over 50,000 transit riders, workers, and supporters have taken action over the past year, hailing from every single legislative district in Pennsylvania.
- Regional transit organizing fellows have surveyed their peers in Lancaster County and the Lehigh Valley around transit needs and have fought to stop fare hikes and service cuts.
- Riders across PA’s rural and urban communities educated legislators about Pennsylvania’s paratransit funding woes, which affect our disabled neighbors and seniors: they proved that transit is an issue that impacts all 67 counties, not just Philly and Pittsburgh.
- Thousands of riders in Philly and Pittsburgh have rallied and spoken up about the current transit crisis facing smaller communities in PA, while securing local wins for their systems.
In Pennsylvania, there is one pot of money to move us all. Riders across the rural-urban divide are organizing together to win what we deserve, with no communities left behind.
Even without a major transit funding solution, riders have won important victories
This year, riders pushed Republican and Democratic legislators to identify new revenue sources for transit, to find solutions to the paratransit/shared-ride crisis, and move towards a comprehensive transportation funding bill in 2027.
- Importantly, PA is taking steps to identify structural transit funding fixes with the creation of PennDOT’s Shared Ride Advisory Committee (SRAC) to outline solutions for the paratransit/shared ride funding crisis, and the reconstitution of the State’s Transportation Funding Assessment Study Task Force to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive transportation funding solution in 2027.
- We have moved the fight for transit funding to the center: Transit for All PA riders have built bipartisan support for new revenue streams to go toward transit funding. Republican Sen. Frank Farry and Rep. Martina White joined a bipartisan coalition of electeds from rural and urban communities across the state making that demand. And now, over 40 legislators have signed on to cosponsor the Transit for All PA! Legislative Package, SB 795 & SB 796, and HB 1523 & HB 1524.
Riders are building power for a new comprehensive funding solution. Although the budget outcome kicks transit funding’s big questions down the road, the grassroots, rural-urban movement of transit riders and workers can claim solid victories from their organizing in this year’s budget cycle.
