SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

No immediate fiscal crisis?

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on the drop in transportation funding due to the rejection of the Turnpike Commission's I-80 tolling plan.

Under Act 44, the Turnpike Commission will borrow billions to pay PennDOT hundreds of millions each year. Had the I-80 plan been accepted, the Turnpike Commission would have paid $500 million for highways and bridges and $400 million for mass transit systems after fiscal year 2010. But with the rejection of the I-80 tolling plan, those payment drop to $200 million for highways and $250 million for transit.

Some in Harrisburg think they've got time to deal with this problem.

"There's no immediate urgency," said state Rep. Joe Markosek, a Monroeville Democrat who chairs the House Transportation Committee.

and

"There is no immediate fiscal crisis, so there is no reason to jump into the sale of the turnpike at this time," said Erik Arneson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County.

However, all of this time is borrowed time and borrowed money by the Turnpike Commission. Can they pay it off with toll increases of 25% in January 2009 and 3% increases thereafter? Time will tell. If they can't, tolls will have to go up even further to generate even less money than the $12.8 billion lease.

posted by MATT BROUILLETTE | 07:48 AM | 1 comment

SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

Post-Gazette defends mass transit monopolies

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a nonsensical editorial opposing Mike Turzai and Mike Mustio's legislation which would allow competition in mass transit in Pittsburgh. Currently the Port Authority of Allegheny County has not only a de facto monopoly, but a legal one - it is against the law for anyone to offer competing services.

Their opposition to competition on the grounds that "deregulation and the free market bring the U.S. economy to the brink of ruin" is false on more than one count. First, the US economy is not on "the brink of ruin". Second, the failure is not one of the free market in housing - which we have not had - but a failure of government. (Read more on the failure of government regulators, how government mandates and regulations led to the "housing bubble," and how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed because they are government-sponsored entities and face no competition).

They further claim that private firms could not survive in a competitive environment and wouldn't want to compete - which cannot possibly be a legitimate reason to oppose the Turzai/Mustio reform. If no firms compete because it isn't financially viable or they fail, eliminating the legal monopoly would have no effect on PAT or riders.

The Post-Gazette conveniently ignores competition of mass transit in San Diego, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and a full 10% of transit services in the US and far more across the world. Read our Policy Brief on Mass Transit reform for more.

posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 00:24 PM | 0 comment

JULY 11, 2008

Port Authority Labor Negotiations Online

The Pittsburgh Port Authority has a website detailing the sticking points of the labor negotiation with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85.

I think the lesson to be learned here is the need to competitively contract all mass transit operations.

posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 10:27 AM | 0 comment

JULY 2, 2008

CorridorOne: Every Rose has its Thorn

When we last heard mention of CorridorOne, the proposed transit rail line in the Harrisburg area that no one will ride, supporters were defending federal earmarks - because subverting the normal appropriations process would be the only way it would ever get funding.

But now CorridorOne is called the "Capital Red Rose Corridor" and the Patriot News wants it funded.  But wait, is the new name indicative of a change in plans?  Nope, the Capital Red Rose Corridor will still be extravagantly expensive (about 20 times the taxpayer subsidy per rider as SEPTA), and it still won't offer the "economic benefits" advocates claim.

posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 09:23 AM | 0 comment

JUNE 20, 2008

How many lobbyists does it take to drive a bus?

Mass transit is in trouble, we are told. Despite exposes of waste, legislators and the Governor feel we need to pump more money into transit systems (without reforming them), including tolling I-80 and raising Turnpike tolls and taxing drinks in Allegheny County.

Where will all the new money go? To hire lobbyists.

That's right, lobbyists to go to Harrisburg and ask for more money from taxpayers and toll payers.

The Post-Gazette and Tribune-Review both ran stories on the Port Authority of Allegheny County's plans to spend $400,000 on contracts with lobbyist firms. Eric Heyl has a good column on these lobbying contracts.

Why the need to use taxpayer funds to hire lobbyists? In case some think-tank suggest Pennsylvania follow the lead of the rest of the world and many US cities and states and competitively contract transit operations - increasing efficiency and reducing bloat and patronage.

posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 11:27 AM | 0 comment

MARCH 10, 2008

Central PA Congressman and businesses giving up earmarks

Central Penn Business Journal on the Congressman Pitts and Platts joining those taking a moratorium on earmarks and the response of most business leaders - except the beneficiaries of earmarks:

Not all earmarks fund bridges to nowhere. In fact, more than $10 million has been designated for a train from Lancaster to Harrisburg, said John Ward, president of Modern Transit Partnership, the group leading the Corridor One rail project.

"For a project like ours, that's the only way we can get money, is earmarks," he said. "All of a sudden earmarks become bad. Well, probably 90 percent of them are very valuable."

Also known as "The train no one will ride," Corridor One is a bondoogle, and it isn't surprising at all that the only way it will get money is earmarks, as no competitive grant program - state or federal - would ever consider it a worthy project.

posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 09:34 AM | 0 comment

OCTOBER 31, 2006

Scams in mass transit

Q & A with Wendell Cox in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 09:01 AM | 0 comment

SEPTEMBER 13, 2006

Privatize Amtrak

In the wake of some discussion on the GrassrootsPA comments section on whether we need to keep subsidizing Amtrak with tax dollars, I thought these analyses would be useful to some:

Heritage Foundation: Springtime for Amtrak and America
Cato Institute: Help Private Rail by Privatizing Amtrak

posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 05:14 PM | 0 comment

SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

Philly-to-Harrisburg on high-speed rail

From PennLive.com NewsFlash:

Harrisburg to Philly on high speed trains? Cool.
Trains at 110 miles per hour? Neat.
Only an hour and a half from HAR to PHL? Ok.
It currently only takes 1 hr, 45 minutes to Philly? Hmm.
Taxpayers paid $145 million to save 15 minutes? Not cool.

I personally think that making the 5 hour 25 minute ride from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh quicker should have been a bigger priority than the 1 hr 15 minute ride to Philadelphia, but then again I also think Amtrak should be privatized and state taxpayers should never have paid for this project. Call me crazy.

posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 02:42 PM | 1 comment