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Monday, 06 February 2012 10:15

Written by Jon Schmitz

Evidently, encouraging transit use isn't considered good public policy. Or maybe lawmakers regard transit riders as meek and apathetic. Whatever the case, transit patrons are being stomped on at the federal and state levels. The House Ways and Means Committee voted Friday to remove dedicated transit funding from the Highway Trust Fund, placing it at great risk. And local leaders are not optimistic about what Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett will do, if anything, to head off draconian service cuts at the Port Authority when he makes his annual budget speech tomorrow.

We'll await someone's explanation of how it makes sense to put more cars on the highways, make Downtown parking harder to find, strand senior citizens, the disabled and low-income people, increase pollution and consumption of foreign oil and put a thumb in the eye of people who are part of the solution to our transportation problems, not part of the problem.

And with gas prices expected to spike to the $4 range this spring, sitting in traffic jams and circling for a parking space is about to get more expensive, making transit cuts an even dumber proposition.

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Twitter: @pgtraffic

Photo: Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette

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written by jwbst28, February 07, 2012 - 05:21 AM

Why should anyone be surprised, the Grand Oil Party has been in the pocket of Big Oil & Big Energy for years-look at Corbett's measly tax rate and poor policy response concerning Marcellus Shale gas. What's consumption of foreign oil when it entangles us in another foreign war-it just lines the pockets of the military industrial complex that supports the GOP too. Clean air is amongst the sad punch line to these failed policies. When is the electorate going to wake up and realize that state and federal elections matter?

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