ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Pennsylvania’s state budget plan is causing concern for public transit in the Lehigh Valley.
A hefty $50 billion Pennsylvania state budget plan has been passed.
But public transit funds are missing from the list.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t make it into the final deal,” said Owen O’Neil, Executive Director of LANTA.
It leaves regional transit agencies like LANTA, trying to figure out what’s next for their bus services.
“Some of the transit systems, like SEPTA and Pittsburgh Regional Transit, were able to get some short term funding to help them over the next couple of years,” said O’Neil.
O’Neil said they’re working to do the same in the Lehigh Valley.
“We have also submitted a request for some additional short term funds, and we are still waiting to hear back from PennDOT,” said O’Neil.
But O’Neil said having the long-term funds helps the transit agency nail down a plan for the future and answer the big questions: how much service can LANTA offer, how often can the bus routes run and can bus routes be extended to different places?
Without long-term funds, O’Neil also said LANTA could face significant service cuts.
“If we don’t get any additional fundings, we would have to move forward with some, some pretty significant service cuts early in next year, like that could be anywhere from 25% to 40% of our service that would have to be reduced,” O’Neil said.
O’Neil said additional money will be appreciated, but it’ll only be short-term funds.
“We are hoping for the best. We are optimistic. So we’re really just kind of moving forward with a plan that doesn’t involve those really significant service cuts and hoping we don’t have to go down that road,” said O’Neil.