PennDOT's proposed highway widening and ramp expansion of I-95 through Center City and South Philly threatens the well-being of our neighborhoods by reducing public spaces and harming waterfront access, increasing noise pollution, and worsening air quality. This project will also induce demand for car travel which will result in more traffic pouring into neighborhood streets. We support rehabilitating this section of I-95 without adding travel lanes or expanding shoulders into neighborhood and public spaces.

Parking-protected bike lanes have a row of street parking between vehicle traffic and the bike lane. These kinds of lanes are allowed now on Philadelphia city streets, but not state roads, which are among the busiest and most dangerous for bicyclists. We support passage of HB 291, which would allow PennDOT to design and build parking-protected bike lanes on state roads.

We support HB 1504, the 'Vulnerable Road User' bill, which increases fines for reckless drivers who cause death or serious injury of vulnerable roadway users.

Currently, PennDOT seems to view its mission as maximizing the flow of cars through our streets and highways. Some of Philadelphia's most dangerous streets for pedestrians and cyclists are PennDOT-owned arterials, many of which are major downtown streets and commercial corridors running through very urban parts of the city.

We believe that Pennsylvanians would be better served by a transportation agency that prioritized people and safer, cleaner, and more accessible transportation modes. We therefore think a deep cultural shift is needed at PennDOT. The following policies can help engender this shift:

• Push PennDOT to embrace Vision Zero's goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries. This can be facilitated in at least two ways. First, implement features of the Safe Systems Approach. Second, designate a PennDOT champion and enforcer of Vision Zero policies and processes, to ensure districts follow them (see, e.g., the PennDOT Intersection Control Evaluation). See this Philly Inquirer opinion piece for more.
• Create a separate PennDOT region with an office within Philadelphia. This should attract PennDOT employees who use and value public transit and active transportation.
• Hire a dedicated bicycle/pedestrian coordinator for the Philadelphia region. Put coordinators in the chain of project approval. Currently, coordinators' advice can be acknowledged but ultimately ignored. Coordinators need to be within the direct approval authority chain or an advisor to the District Executive to ensure that their recommendations will be implemented into design.
• Use standardized formulae, like Virginia's SMART SCALE, to allocate transportation dollars. SMART SCALE evaluates potential transportation projects based on key factors like how they improve safety, reduce congestion, increase accessibility, contribute to economic development, promote efficient land use, and affect the environment. Using a formula like this ensures limited funds have maximum impact.
• “Fix it first.” Prioritize road/highway maintenance over expansion. More and wider roads and highways will shift mode share to cars when we should be shifting in the other direction.
• Prioritize sidewalks as a necessary transportation system, not a luxury amenity. Currently, if a sidewalk/shared use path is a preferred option, or needed based on crashes or pedestrian generators, municipalities need to agree to maintenance for design and construction to occur. If they don't, a sidewalk gets deleted. Sidewalk construction should not be dependent on one decision maker in a township.

We support providing tax credits for electric motor bikes (e-bikes). Similar programs in Denver and statewide in Colorado have been wildly popular and are reducing automotive vehicle miles traveled.

SEPTA faces a $213 million operations deficit and over $5 billion unfunded Capital budget. Without dedicated funding support from the state to replace the lost revenue from the sunset of Act 89, SEPTA will be forced to make significant cuts to operations with wide-reaching impacts. The projected economic cost to the commonwealth in lost jobs, reduced property tax revenue, and increased traffic congestion exceeds SEPTA's existing funding deficit. Currently, SEPTA is using Capital funding to close its operations budget deficit as mandated by a court order, which is only worsening the Capital budget situation at a time when major expenditures to replace aging equipment are required.

To address this shortfall, we support the Transit For All PA funding platform for generating dedicated revenue for funding public transit agencies across the commonwealth. In particular, we call for:

• Interstate User Fees: Statewide tolling on interstates and expressways.
• Enabling legislation for local revenue sources: HB 1146 would give local counties and municipalities the ability to raise funds for public transit on their own.
• Enabling legislation for congestion pricing: Allow municipalities and counties to levy tolls on vehicles entering their most congested downtown areas. After one year, NYC's congestion pricing has reduced daily vehicle entries by roughly 73,000, sped up traffic and bus travel, boosted transit ridership, and improved road safety, all while generating around $550 million for public transit while leaving business district visits unchanged.
• Excise Tax on Vehicle Delivery: Tax a percentage of value on goods delivered from third-party delivery companies, like Amazon.

HB 1146 would give counties and municipalities the authority to levy their own taxes and fees to fund public transit in their jurisdictions — filling a critical gap in Pennsylvania law that currently leaves local governments with no tools to act when state funding falls short. We support this local revenue-enabling legislation. Among the revenue tools it should permit, we are particularly supportive of those with the most direct relationship to transportation demand and land value, including parking taxes, property tax, and especially land value tax..

Giving local governments these tools respects the diversity of Pennsylvania communities while ensuring that the places that depend most on transit — like Philadelphia — are not left waiting indefinitely for Harrisburg to act.

SEPTA plans to implement three major service and infrastructure changes to transform from a commuter service to a Lifestyle Network. We not only support these efforts, but we encourage accelerating their implementation timelines so Philadelphians can enjoy their benefits in a matter of years rather than decades:

• New Bus Network: Buses are a vital lifeline for getting folks around Philly, with many neighborhoods completely reliant on this service being fast, frequent, and reliable. Unfortunately, our buses are increasingly unreliable, among the slowest in the country, and frequently leave riders stranded across our region. SEPTA's New Bus Network will make buses more useful for more people by redesigning its entire network.
• Reimagining Regional Rail: SEPTA is proposing to expand its rapid transit service by running its commuter rail lines more frequently and integrating its fares with subways and buses. The current commuter rail line structure caters largely to professional-class suburban commuters, while ignoring those who rely on transit within the city.
• Trolley Modernization: SEPTA's trolley lines are in desperate need of an overhaul to improve and modernize the service, particularly increasing freedom of mobility for people with disabilities.

We support the construction of a heavy rail subway, constructed with the cost-effective cut-and-cover technology, on Roosevelt Boulevard that provides a single-ride to Center City via the B / Broad Street Line.

This policy would shift traffic from cars to public transit and active transportation instead, while also supporting our most economically vulnerable residents who tend to have fewer cars. The California legislature passed a similar bill that could be used as a model.

We concur with the recently-released PA State Housing Action Plan, which identified that the state needs to add 450,000 new housing units to our supply by 2035.

Philadelphia and Pennsylvania need more dense housing in transit-accessible, walkable, high-opportunity areas to:

• Reduce rents and home prices. More housing means renters and homebuyers have greater alternatives when negotiating with landlords and sellers.
• Reduce displacement pressures. More new housing allows new residents to move into a neighborhood without competing with existing residents.
• Make a healthier environment. Housing in transit-accessible, walkable neighborhoods means fewer pollution-emitting cars, fewer deadly crashes.
• Improve race and class equity. Transit-accessible, walkable neighborhoods are currently most accessible to the richest and disproportionately white residents. More housing in those neighborhoods would increase their accessibility to less wealthy and more diverse residents by less wealthy residents of color.
• Encourage a robust, durable, and growing economy. More housing means more residents working at, and buying from, local businesses.
• Provide a safe haven for marginalized groups. There are many states where groups including trans and non-binary individuals, women seeking abortions, immigrants, and others are losing their rights. It is imperative for cities across Pennsylvania to welcome residents seeking to preserve access to their fundamental rights without being pitted against existing communities for housing resources.

Of the many barriers to meeting Pennsylvania's need for 450,000 new housing units by 2035, restrictive local zoning is among the greatest and the most squarely within the General Assembly's power to fix.

Exclusionary zoning practices — including single-family-only mandates, parking minimums, excessive lot size requirements, and overly complex approval processes — artificially limit where and how much housing can be built, particularly in the transit-accessible, walkable, high-opportunity areas where demand is greatest.

While insufficient subsidy and high construction costs are also real barriers requiring state action, zoning reform is uniquely powerful: no amount of subsidy can fully compensate for a zoning code that simply prohibits the housing we need. Reforming local zoning, and where necessary overriding it at the state level, must be a central action the General Assembly takes to close the housing gap.

To meet the need for greater housing supply, we support the passage of the following recently-introduced bills:

• HB 2185: Duplex, Triplex, and Quadplex Housing in Single-Family Designated Areas (Rep. Inglis)
• HB 2155: Prohibiting Municipal Parking Minimums (Rep. Scott)
• HB 2186: Removing Barriers to the Creation of Accessory Dwelling Units (Rep. Inglis)
• HB 2109: The Golden Girls Law (Rep. Khan)
• HB 2192: Creation of a Housing Council (Rep. Smith Wade-El)
• Memo: Building More Homes Near Transit / Transit-Oriented Development (Rep. Inglis)

• TOD would not only alleviate housing cost pressures, but also help to stabilize transit funding by introducing a new clientele of frequent riders.

Land gets most of its value from the nearby community: from access to jobs, schools, and stores; and from public infrastructure like transit, roads, and parks. We support allowing municipalities to shift property taxes from buildings to land, which would ensure that more of land's community-created value is returned to the community, and used to fund public services. Moreover, reduced taxes on buildings would encourage additional housing supply, much like Philadelphia's 10-year property tax abatement did (which abated taxes on new construction).

Currently, only 2nd and 3rd class cities and boroughs in Pennsylvania are authorized to shift property taxes from buildings to land, and cities that have done so, from Harrisburg to Allentown, have enjoyed increased construction of housing and office buildings, less sprawl, more businesses, and higher property values overall.

We oppose all efforts and policies that limit healthcare access, including safe injection sites, based on geography or proximity to residential land uses. Philadelphia sees over 1,000 overdose deaths annually. Evidence-based harm reduction policies must be equitably distributed across the region.

The successor to the bipartisan Whole Home Repairs Program has now gone three years without funding. This popular program is critical to preserve the commonwealth's aging housing stock. It prevents housing supply shrinkage, provides residents with housing stability, increases energy efficiency, and remedies unsafe housing conditions. But less than a quarter of the original applicants received any funding. We support funding the PA Home Preservation Program through HB 1650 and SB 876.

Strong and well-crafted tenant protections and rental regulations are as important to housing equity and stability as improving housing quality. Many such policies are possible and are proposed in the PA State Housing Action Plan. Three critical changes that we would like to see implemented throughout the Commonwealth are:

• Affirming Philadelphia's Eviction Diversion Program and supporting expansion elsewhere throughout the commonwealth.
• Obligate landlords to provide tenants with six months' rent in relocation assistance if a property is condemned or deemed unfit for human habitation due to code violations.
• Prohibit source-of-income discrimination by barring landlords from denying rental housing to individuals who rely on social security, disability benefits, child support, unemployment insurance, veterans' benefits, or other lawful and reasonable sources of income.