Tom Fitzgerald

1 week ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

Montgomery County is one of the richest in Pennsylvania, but if you look beyond the median household income data, it depends more on SEPTA than one might think. Elected leaders, college officials, and students gathered Tuesday near the inbound platform of the Bryn Mawr regional rail station to talk about how SEPTA is woven into the life of the county, a big factor in its relative economic success — and to the futures of the thousands studying at the region’s colleges and universities.

1 week ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

Another front has opened in the war over scarce space on Pine and Spruce Streets as some residents challenge a city proposal for neighborhood loading zones to complement a new ban on vehicle drivers stopping in bike lanes. The zones are intended to give residents, delivery trucks and contractors a place to stop on each block so they don’t need to clog the bike lane.

1 week ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

Federal funding could be at risk for Philadelphia’s Chinatown Stitch, a long-sought project to reconnect a community divided by the trench of the Vine Street Expressway. House Republicans last week proposed slashing $3.2 billion in “unobligated” money from a Biden administration program aimed at mitigating damage caused to neighborhoods caused by past U.S. transportation projects, many of which are home to people of color.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

SEPTA would be required to privatize its bus service “at a minimum” under legislation proposed by Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Jesse Topper. It’s the latest entry in the roiling Harrisburg policy debate over whether or how to increase state support for public transportation systems as SEPTA confronts its worst financial crisis in more than a decade.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

Disappearing bus routes, five fewer Regional Rail lines, subway and commuter trains not running — these and other possible SEPTA service cuts have dominated discussion of the transit authority’s latest budget problems. But SEPTA is also squeezed on the capital side of the ledger. Its draft spending plan would defer or scale back 44 planned infrastructure projects because of a $3 billion gap between the costs of the work and available funding.