Two news items related to the Port Authority, whose fiscal year begins tomorrow: first, the implementation of the cashless system and proof of payment enforcement policy that was supposed to go into effect July 1st, then August 1st, has now been pushed back to no sooner than October. The Authority detailed how it was going to enforce fare validation in May. The press release detailing the delay states that software issues have arisen with both ConnectCard machines and the validators.
Then the performance review of the Authority as directed by Act 44 of 2007 has been completed and posted on PennDot’s website. The report is dated November 2016, but it was posted a few weeks ago according to the Department’s Bureau of Public Transportation. We raised the issue of the release of the report in a Brief three years ago.
The review presents a recent history of the Authority and significant changes (the 2012 labor contract, the 2013 board reformation, the 2013 funding under state Act 89) and presents data on the Authority by all of its modes and, under the Act 44 framework, presents data points that are “in compliance” or “at risk”. The report notes that “at risk” factors is determined by the agency’s costs and performance relative to its peer group, and if it is one standard deviation above or one standard deviation below on costs and performance.
By mode, the review found the following:
Bus: six “in compliance”, two “at risk”
Light rail: seven “in compliance”, one “at risk”
The review has a template of 13 actions it wants the Authority to take with the Authority providing its estimated initiation and completion dates.
The review concludes with the following:
“A review of the finance and accounting practices concluded that the financial organization, audit practices, accounts management and internal controls are largely appropriate for an agency the size of PAAC. PAAC management will need to continue taking appropriate actions to control costs, achieve farebox recovery goals, and continue to build adequate cash reserves to maintain PAAC’s overall financial health.”
