No I-80 Tolls = Less money for SEPTA

The Turnpike Commission posted a summary of Lease and Funding agreement for tolling I-80. Not too much new here except for one major inconsistency …

$300 million shall be deposited in the PublicTransportation Trust Fund to be used exclusively for mass transit in fiscal year 2007-08, $350 million in fiscal 2008-09 and $400 million in fiscal year 2009-10, and shall increase by 2.5 percent for each fiscal year thereafter. No toll revenues from Interstate 80 shall be utilized in making such payments to the Public Transportation Trust
Fund for transit.
…

If conversion of Interstate 80 does not occur, the Commission is only committed to make annual payments of $450 million ($200 million designated for roads and bridges and $250 million to be deposited in the Public Transportation Trust Fund to be used exclusively for mass transit).

Thus, mass transit gets more funding if I-80 is tolled, in answer to a question we posed earlier. So when Congressman Peterson and others claim I-80 is being tolled to give money to mass transit, he is right.

The summary does not highlight which details were added after the lease was signed.