The wheels on the bus...

The Allegheny Institute says the Port Authority's costs are too high, and it has some suggestions for operating a more efficient transit system:

In order to minimize budget shortfalls and, thus, the need for further taxpayer subsidies, the Port Authority must raise the number of bus passenger trips per hour of service. That can be done by cutting out many of the daytime, evening, and weekend routes that carry few passengers per hour of operation. And contrary to the authority's claims, it does not require totally eliminating evening and weekend service. It does mean running fewer buses at non-peak hours in order to boost the number of riders per bus hour of operation to create more cost efficiency.

The authority also should look at allowing private firms to carry passengers on smaller, more efficient vehicles to provide service to areas and at times the Port Authority cannot operate efficiently with its highly paid drivers and large buses. Threats of eliminating evening or weekend service are scare tactics and indicate an unwillingness to manage in a way that makes the system more efficient.

In addition, the authority needs to ask for concessions from its drivers and other employees to bring wage rates more in line with other systems. It is simply not appropriate for Port Authority employees to be paid more than most of their fellow drivers across the country and ask taxpayers to pay more to underwrite their favored position.

The bottom line is that the Port Authority and SEPTA in Philadelphia can't keep coming back to the Legislature every year, hat in hand. The state has too many rural and suburban legislators who won't keep voting for increased funds for something that largely benefits urban residents. The status quo simply won't do.