Transportation For Pennsylvania

Judy Schwank, President of 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania released the following statement in praise of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s acquisition of 40 Hybrid Buses at the Midvale Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia today:

“The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has taken an important action to create jobs and spur economic growth in Pennsylvania with their purchase of 40 additional Hybrid Buses for the region today.  This purchase, made possible by funding from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), will go a long way to create and save jobs, modernize our transportation system, promote long-term economic growth, cut down on greenhouse gas emissions and reduce commute times and congestion and create more livable communities.”

“This purchase is an indication of SEPTA’s forward thinking, strategic approach to the economic recovery over the last year.  Throughout the effort to restore our economy, SEPTA has taken swift and shrewd action in selecting ARRA projects and demonstrated a commitment to maximizing the impact of the ARRA dollars at every stage of the process.”

“When the debate was still raging about whether there would be a stimulus bill, SEPTA made a proactive decision to prioritize and pre-design & engineer projects so the best and most pressing projects for the region would be ‘shovel ready’.”

“Once the dollars were allocated, SEPTA selected projects which invest in communities such as Lansdowne, Croydon, Darby, and other ‘first suburbs’ communities where station improvements and new technology will help catalyze new private investments.  The same is true for improvements in Philadelphia on the Broad Street line at the Girard and Spring Garden Streets.  Along the Chestnut Hill West branch commuter rail line, station repair investments are preserving part of Philadelphia’s rich architectural heritage.”

“SEPTA investments in our Southeastern communities are not just ‘a quick fix’ but a sound strategy for building a more sustainable future with both immediate results and long-term dividends.”

Facts about Transportation investments in the Stimulus:

• Of every type of transportation investment, those made in public transportation offer the best potential to meet the revitalization, recovery and sustainability goals articulated by the ARRA.

• Investments in public transportation are shown to create 31% more jobs than new construction of roads and bridges

• Investments made in communities with significant unemployment rates, like many of our older dense communities in the Southeast region, can produce up to 2.5 more jobs than investments in communities with low unemployment.

• Investments that improve accessibility to regional cores like Philadelphia can increase positive economic returns by a factor of 100.

(Statistics from University of Utah’s Metropolitan Research Center)