Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) has plans to restore service to major student corridors on its bus routes this fall, but is waiting for a major source of its funding to get federal approval.
CATA had previously cut weekend service on Waupelani Drive and other densely populated student areas in State College from once every 32 minutes to a 64-minute loop, said Eric Bernier, service development manager for CATA.
"We had to stretch service thinner and thinner on those routes," Bernier said. "The first thing we're going to do is restore those times."
An expansion of CATA service to commuter areas is also possible within the next year and a half. Bus service starting as early as 7 a.m. for students living farther away would allow them to arrive on campus before 8 a.m., Bernier said.
The restoration and expansion of routes is possible through increased state funds acquired through Act 44, a major transportation funding law that was passed in summer 2007, Bernier said.
The act provides for the tolling of Interstate 80 and an increase in toll rates on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The revenues generated from tolling would go to infrastructure improvements throughout the state, as well as assisting with mass transit funding, said Tor Michaels, chief of staff for Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Centre.
Local politicians, including Conklin, have opposed Act 44, calling it a "bad piece of legislation," Michaels said.
"We feel it would be a harm to the economic development of business along Interstate 80," Michaels said. "It's also going to affect families who are already paying $3.65 a gallon for gas to go to work. A toll would just be outrageous."
CATA currently receives about 35 percent of its $10.3 million budget from state funds. Act 44 is crucial to any changes CATA will be making to its routes in the future, Bernier said.
"For the first time, it provides a dedicated source of revenue for transit," Bernier said. "It's an amount that will grow, and therefore transit systems all over the state can anticipate a growing source of revenue."
The increased revenue is important because CATA has been putting out the same service for years, even though the demand from population growth has increased considerably, Bernier said.
More than 70 percent of CATA bus users are Penn State students, and 61 percent rely on bus service to get to and from school, a 2007 CATA customer satisfaction survey found.
Mass transportation and infrastructure upkeep needs to be funded, but other methods of doing so need to be explored, including the possibility of leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Michaels said.
The decision on how to pay for the upkeep and funding is best left to the legislators, Bernier said.
"[Act 44] is a huge improvement over previous funding mechanisms, but how the state derives the additional revenue is totally up to them," Bernier said. "If it's repealed, then we're right back to where we've been for years."
