By State Rep. Ed Neilson
House Transportation Committee
Public transit needs comprehensive funding in all 67 counties. The real question is, do we want a genuine solution or just another temporary fix?
So, when I read how state Sen. Joe Picozzi is suddenly worried about getting children to school or people to work, I must point out some facts.
First, this is not just a SEPTA problem or “bailout” as he called it. This is an issue that every county in this state is facing, and any proposal that does not address the issue in all 67 counties in not worth the paper it is printed on – because transit moves people in every county and even if you don’t ride a SEPTA train or bus, transit creates jobs and helps put food on your table.
Second, this crisis did not start in January 2025 when Sen. Picozzi joined the state legislature, nor is it a SEPTA or even just a Pennsylvania problem. Transit systems across the country are facing similar funding issues. The last time transit in Pennsylvania received any additional funding allocations was over a decade ago, and it was far from a bailout.
Recognizing that we need a real statewide long-term solution to a real crisis, my colleagues and I in the Pennsylvania House have passed numerous transit funding bills over the past three years, with bipartisan support and without raising taxes. As chairman of the House Transportation Committee, I proudly led these efforts.
What the Pennsylvania Senate finally passed this month – after years of ignoring this growing problem – was a political maneuver and not a serious fix.
Their plan, which raids the Public Transportation Trust Fund, might grab headlines, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problem. That account was never meant to be a piggy bank for stopgap spending. It exists to support long-term safety and infrastructure projects that strengthen transportation in all 67 counties, not just SEPTA.
Their “great proposal” also siphons off $200 million a year to fix mountain roads that fewer than 1,000 cars drive annually.
Draining the fund now means that two years from today, we’ll be right back in the same position, except with fewer options left on the table.
That isn’t leadership – it’s kicking the can down the road.
In fact, another local senator who voted to stiff SEPTA admitted on the radio recently that their plan is a temporary fix and a stopgap measure, not a real long-term solution.
Further, the Republican Senate leadership never met with a single Democrat to try to reach an agreement on anything. Not one of the bipartisan transit funding proposals the House has passed in the past three years has ever been given a vote in the Senate.
It wasn’t until riders and residents mounted a massive campaign and embarrassed Senate leadership this summer that they finally showed up in Harrisburg, just two weeks before SEPTA cuts were slated to take effect, and for all of two hours.
They gave multiple speeches about how bad we are in the Philadelphia area, even though the city provides more than 40% of all the tax dollars in Pennsylvania and gets pennies back in return for them.
The Pennsylvania Senate sent us partisan garbage so the House threw it in the trash.
Now, they are attempting to change the narrative from their vacation homes because they left Harrisburg with no solution for transit or even a state budget, which was due June 30.
Riders can’t plan their lives around temporary patches and political talking points. You – and all Pennsylvanians – deserve better.
We need a sustainable, recurring revenue plan that keeps SEPTA and all public transit systems running. That’s what House Democrats’ bipartisan plan does, without raising taxes and without sacrificing safety for service.
Safety, accountability and reforms are critical. But let’s not pretend that a last-minute raid of an account somehow delivers those.
Reforms take collaboration with all 67 counties, transit agencies’ leadership, transit workers and the communities that rely on them every single day.
The Senate’s proposal wasn’t about solving SEPTA’s crisis, it was about saving face.
Our job is to actually fix the problem and the House attempted to many times. Public transit is not just a Philadelphia issue, a Republican or Democratic issue – it’s an economic engine for the entire commonwealth, a lifeline for working families and essential for connecting people to jobs, schools and hospitals.
Public transit deserves more than a stopgap measure – it needs a long-term funding solution. Otherwise, people will lose their jobs and be laid off from the thousands of jobs that SEPTA indirectly contributes to, and Pennsylvania will be left behind.
Pennsylvanians see through the political stunts. They want real solutions – not political games.
That’s what we’re fighting for: a comprehensive, bipartisan plan that funds SEPTA and all mass transit systems in a way that’s stable, fair and built to last.
Anything less is just unacceptable. Pennsylvanians deserve better.
We all deserve better … I will keep fighting. ••
