Turnpike lawsuit taking toll on public transit

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The lawsuit was filed early last year by trucking and motorist groups that argue that turnpike tolls have increased dramatically in the past decade, hurting companies that depend on the road system. The suit claims the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, or PTC, should use toll proceeds to improve the cross-state highway — and not allocate money to projects unrelated to turnpike operations.

While the lawsuit proceeds, the turnpike commission has withheld money earmarked for public transit. Stakeholders on both sides aren’t sure when the lawsuit will be resolved as it winds its way through federal court in Harrisburg. PennDOT has told groups to expect flat funding this year, several observers noted.

The lawsuit is focused on Act 44 of 2007, which called for allocating $450 million in turnpike revenues for highway and bridge improvements and public transit, according to a PennDOT spokesperson. Six years later, Act 89 of 2013 changed it to $450 million per year for transit until 2022 and then $50 million a year after that, with $450 million coming from the state vehicle sales-tax moving forward, Erin Waters-Trasatt, PennDOT communications director, wrote in an email.

The biggest beneficiaries of the toll proceeds are transit systems in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but transit systems statewide would get a piece of the $450 million annual allocation if and when payments resume, said Carl DeFebo, the turnpike commission’s director of public relations and marketing.

“Can we make our way through another year of flat funding? Probably,” said Rich Farr, executive director of Capital Area Transit, which is in the process of merging with the York-based rab-bittransit system. CAT already had been struggling, which is why the merger started, said Farr, who had been running rabbittransit when he was tapped to lead CAT. CAT has been facing a variety of issues that will be compounded if investments in new technologies and infrastructure cannot be made soon with the help of the turnpike money, he said.

Weighing cuts

Farr noted that CAT’s financial issues are largely unrelated to the turnpike case. In fact, he said, a planned reorganization of CAT will involve an assessment of routes that could lead to re-duced service, regardless. But until the turnpike dispute is resolved, the depth of those cuts can’t be completely determined.

He sees the issue as a wider economic-development problem, because a lot of workers rely on public transit to get to jobs. For example, typical riders on the York system earn about $20,000 to $25,000 per year and have two children, which means they cannot simply absorb fare increases.

As a matter of policy, CAT, like other transit systems, will make deals with employers that need workers under which the companies will subsidize routes to job sites. But any analysis of ser-vice cuts must follow federal rules that consider which routes serve the most people and factors in their economic condition. White CAT’s analysis is far from complete, Farr said, all options must be considered when it comes to cutting service.

The lawsuit in the federal Middle District of Pennsylvania was filed by the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association Inc., the National Motorists Association and several trucking companies.

The basic issue is one of fairness, said Norita Taylor, a spokesman for the Missouri-based Owner Operator Independent Drivers. The lawsuit maintains that for the largest trucks the toll to trav-el the length of the turnpike has gone from $861 in 2006 to $1,836.40 in 2018.

Many trucking companies are small operations whose viability can be affected by an increase in costs. The Pennsylvania lawsuit notes that the plaintiffs have no objection to transit pro-grams. But they argue that it isn’t fair to make them pay tolls that go to non-turnpike projects, she said.

Chad Saylor, who represents Dauphin County on CAT’s board of directors, said CAT officials are hoping for a court ruling in their favor but planning for the worst. That includes cutting costs or finding alternative funding.

Once CAT gets its fiscal house in order, more mergers might make sense, such as with transit systems in Lebanon or Lancaster, Saylor said. But he and Farr said any savings would not be enough to fund new buses or technologies. Farr said CAT still uses a 1970s-era system of punch cards that customers hand to drivers.

More intensive investments might need to come from state leaders in Harrisburg, said Saylor, who is Dauphin County’s chief clerk.

Mark Compton, CEO of the turnpike commission, said ongoing improvements to the turnpike aren’t affected by the lawsuit. The bonds used to fund those projects continue to be sold, he said, just not bonds to pay for transit programs.

Last summer, the commission filed a motion to dismiss the case, and the court should have the docments it needs to render a decision, DeFebo said. He said truckers’ groups prevailed in a similar case brought in New York, but truckers later lost on appeal.

That ruling gives the commission a certain amount of hope.

“Our attorneys are optimistic that we have a strong case,” Compton said. “But we are looking forward to getting this behind us.”