via PA Governor’s Office
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
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Governor’s Press Office, ra-gvgovpress@pa.gov
WATCH: Pennsylvanians Stand with Governor Shapiro in Fight to Fully Fund Mass Transit
Omari J. Bervine, President of the Fraternal Order of Transit Police, wrote about the critical importance of fully funding mass transit.
Lt. Governor Davis and Pittsburgh Regional Transit CEO Katharine Kelleman explain why investments in mass transit matter to every community in Pennsylvania.
Rob Hewitt, a Philadelphia teacher and father, shared why mass transit is a lifeline for his family and why Governor Shapiro’s proposal is so critical.
Harrisburg, PA – Governor Josh Shapiro is working to grow our economy and support commuters, working families, and communities across the Commonwealth by proposing a significant investment in mass transit as part of his 2025–26 proposed budget — ensuring Pennsylvanians in every region can get where they need to go safely and reliably.
Nearly one million Pennsylvanians rely on mass transit every day — and the Governor’s proposal would invest in 32 systems serving cities, suburbs, and rural towns alike, including:
- Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which provides nearly a quarter billion rides annually
- Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), which has invested $2 billion across Pennsylvania in the past five years
- Regional and local transit systems that serve communities from Erie to Altoona, Hazleton to Harrisburg, and Reading to Williamsport
Mass transit isn’t just about our biggest cities — it’s essential statewide. Rural shared-ride services alone provide 2.6 million trips a year for seniors, helping them get to doctor’s appointments, grocery stores, and more. Meanwhile, public transit across the Commonwealth supports more than 39,000 jobs and drives $5.4 billion in economic activity each year, according to the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association.
Governor Shapiro has taken action — proposing long-term support for public transit systems across the Commonwealth. That proposal has passed the House multiple times but always gotten caught up in the Senate. To deliver this plan, the Governor is calling on both Democrat and Republican lawmakers to join him and pass a comprehensive, bipartisan transportation funding plan.
Pennsylvanians are sharing their strong support for the Governor’s plan — emphasizing how critical public transportation is to our economy, workforce, and quality of life.
Click here to read an op-ed by Fraternal Order of Transit Police President Omari J. Bervine who praised the Governor’s leadership in securing state funding to hire 40 new Transit Police officers — contributing to a 34 percent drop in violent crime on SEPTA in 2024 — and urged lawmakers to follow the Governor’s lead.
“It’s time to protect Pennsylvania’s mass transit system. Too much is at stake. From early morning commuters to late-night workers, from students to senior citizens, public transit is a lifeline for Southeastern Pennsylvania. Across the commonwealth, mass transit is used for nearly a quarter billion rides each year and rewards our commonwealth handsomely by providing more than 39,000 jobs and $5.4 billion each year.
“Without proper funding from state lawmakers, the commonwealth risks stopping a true engine for Pennsylvania’s largest economic corridor. Funding is an investment in the efficiency and reliability of SEPTA. Perhaps most important, it’s also a crucial investment in the public safety of riders getting safely to their daily destinations before returning home.”
Click here to watch Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis and Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) CEO Katharine Kelleman explain why mass transit investments matter in every corner of Pennsylvania, and read the transcript below.
“The Governor’s plan doesn’t just fund Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. It funds Reading, Harrisburg — I met with folks from the Bradford County Transit Authority a few weeks ago. They are excited about the Governor’s plan.”
“Everyone in the Commonwealth benefits from mass transit. So, you might not be in a Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, we have spent $2 billion in the Commonwealth in the past five years. You might not ever set foot on a bus, but if you’re up in Westmoreland County, we’ve spent $160 million there in five years. We buy a lot of fuel from in Westmoreland County, and we have a lot of folks who live there and come into work.”
Click here to watch Rob Hewitt, a Philadelphia teacher and father, explain why public transit is a lifeline for his family and why the Governor’s proposal is so critical, and read the transcript below.
“It’s intertwined in our entire day, so to not have it, would essentially just drag our day to a near stop. There’s so many people that need to get on with their daily lives and be able to get to work and get home. So much of what Governor Shapiro talked about was being able to get home to see your loved ones for dinner, and this allows people to do that.”
Click here to watch Senator Jay Costa talk about the urgency of legislative action, and read the transcript below.
“Obviously, there’s been a lot of discussion about this issue. The Governor’s made a proposal that the House is addressing as we speak. It’s imperative that we in the Senate take up this conversation as soon as possible and we cannot let it slide into the fall.”
Governor Shapiro’s 2025–26 proposed budget is a commonsense investment in public safety, economic growth, and working families. With more than 750,000 riders relying on SEPTA alone — and millions more depending on transit systems across Pennsylvania — the Governor’s plan ensures those systems can meet today’s needs and plan for the future.
TRANSCRIPT – Lt. Gov. Davis, PRT CEO Katharine Kelleman
Lt. Gov. Davis
“What would you say to legislators, particularly in the Senate, who don’t represent Pittsburgh or Allegheny County, who don’t believe that their people benefit from mass transit? What would you say to them?”
Kelleman
“Everyone in the Commonwealth benefits from mass transit. So, you might not be in a Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, we have spent $2 billion in the Commonwealth in the past five years.
“So you might not ever set foot on a bus, but if you’re up in Westmoreland County, we’ve spent $160 million there in five years. We buy a lot of fuel from in Westmoreland County, and we have a lot of folks who live there and come into work. And we have 3,000 retirees. A lot of them are in Westmoreland.
“It’s not a direct expenditure, but we pay those mortgages. We get their kids to college. That money is going into local soccer. That’s significant money through the entire Commonwealth. We buy parts, we do business with over half the counties in the Commonwealth, and that’s just for us.”
Lt. Gov. Davis
“I’ll note the Governor’s plan doesn’t just fund Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. It funds Reading, Harrisburg, I met with folks from the Bradford County Transit Authority a few weeks ago. They are excited about the Governor’s plan.
“So, I’m hopeful we’re going back to Harrisburg, in the next few weeks in June, and we’re going to be able to get an agreement that keeps people moving on mass transit throughout the Commonwealth, but it’s going to take all of us to tell the story on how important these resources are to all Pennsylvanians.”
TRANSCRIPT – Rob Hewitt
“Having fully funded transit for the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania would mean that we’ve connected our communities together. It’s very much this web that connects us all and so necessary.
“My name is Rob Hewitt, and I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So my family and I will use SEPTA to get to school. My wife takes it to get to work. We use it for getting to the Phillies games. We use it to see family. And we use it for just recreation and going out to restaurants.
“It’s intertwined in our entire day, so to not have it, would essentially just drag our day to a near stop.
“There’s so many people that need to get on with their daily lives and be able to get to work and get home. So much of what Governor Shapiro talked about was being able to get home to see your loved ones for dinner, and this allows people to do that.
“Being here today and being able to highlight the fact that transportation connects all of our communities, and gives everyone an opportunity to participate, is something that’s really important to me, and that I’m hopeful that we continue to fight for fully funded transit with Governor Shapiro’s support.”
TRANSCRIPT – Senator Jay Costa
“I want to chat a little bit about what I believe to be one of the most pressing issues that we have to deal with here in Harrisburg as we go forward. It’s really impacting a lot of our urban settings, like Allegheny County and Southeastern PA as well. And that’s the transit system, transit systems and the crisis that we find ourselves in with respect to them.
“I think my colleagues here all know the valuable role transit plays with regard to being able to do a number of things, getting folks to and from work, obviously in the multi-county jurisdictions in the southeast, but also in Allegheny, for example. And also looking at the need for our paratransit activities that takes the non-fixed routes that are out there and programs that are out there, that unless we find a solution to this transit crisis, we will find ourselves in very difficult place.
“I think many of my members know, particularly those from the Southeast, know that SEPTA has proposed a 45 percent route reduction, which will be devastating to the ability for folks to get to and from work, and get to and from visits, and get to and from opportunities in the Center City, for example, and other places, and be able to commute among the counties.
“Similarly, in Allegheny County, they’re talking about a 35 percent route reduction and no longer having routes run at after 11 PM. As you know, and my colleagues know, in the Allegheny, particularly in Pittsburgh, we have a very strong eds and meds workforce that relies on transit to a high, much higher degree in many other areas, and to us, that’s going to be critical.
“So letting folks in the workforce know that they won’t be able to get a bus home at 11 o’clock after their shift would be devastating to those individuals, and at the end of the day, what happens is that our loved ones who are being treated and cared for in these hospital and university settings will not have the ability to have the workforce there to be able to serve them. That is a major concern, and certainly the financial institutions, both in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, where there’s also the financial work that’s being done, the back office stuff I will call it, will be severely impacted as well, because they won’t have the opportunity to get folks to and from work along those lines.
“Obviously, there’s been a lot of discussion about this issue. The Governor’s made a proposal that the House is addressing as we speak. It’s imperative that we in the Senate take up this conversation as soon as possible and we cannot let it slide into the fall.
“We last year in the budget process, we addressed a short-term band aid for the for the agencies across the state, $80 million for transit, $80 million for transportation. And then similarly later, the Governor flexed some resources to SEPTA to keep them afloat. But we can’t keep doing that. We have to have a final disposition of this issue to be able to make certain we have appropriate revenues along those lines.
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