The Allegheny County Airport Authority keeps making the case why public subsidies are not needed for this coming spring’s Aer Lingus direct flights between Pittsburgh and Dublin.
The latest comes in an article on the authority’s website about how use of the Airbus A321LR will be a “difference maker” in “enabling new markets” such as Pittsburgh.
That is, the smaller jets are more economical. That is, making profits more easily attainable. That should go hand in hand with the great demand Aer Lingus is forecasting for the flights beginning May 25.
As per the Airport Authority in-house article:
“The A321LR is Airbus’ long-range variant of its popular A321 narrowbody aircraft designed to serve markets that would otherwise not be economically viable with larger twin-aisle widebody planes, such as the Airbus A330 or Boeing 777.”
Why then, again, are Pennsylvania taxpayers subsidizing Aer Lingus to the tune of $5.25 million over two years?
Donny Hamilton Sr., the former deputy city manager of Charlotte, N.C., is apparently back in Pittsburgh and penned a glowing review of Charlotte/Mecklenburg County voters, this past November, approving a one percentage point sales tax hike – from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent, a 13.79 percent increase – to create a dedicated funding source for Charlotte-area public transit.
Offers Hamilton, writing in the Tribune-Review:
“Here is the lesson Charlotte offers: Transformational transportation does not fail because regions lack plans or studies. It fails when leaders hesitate to align around a shared vision, commit to long-term funding and move forward despite uncertainty.” …
“Charlotte’s leaders acknowledged a reality familiar to Pittsburgh: State and federal funding alone would never be sufficient to deliver transformational change. Rather than waiting indefinitely or relying on incremental fixes, they made the case directly to voters. They learned from a prior failed referendum, strengthened accountability measures and committed to delivering early results. The public responded by approving a long-term, $20 billion dedicated funding source that will support investment for decades,” Hamilton writes.
“What impressed me most was the region’s willingness to move forward without perfect certainty.”
Further writes Hamilton:
“This is a defining moment for Pittsburgh. We can continue to manage transportation incrementally, conducting studies, advancing isolated projects and hoping conditions improve.
“Or we can align around a shared regional vision, commit to long-term investment, engage the public honestly and lead with purpose even when the path forward is not fully visible.”
Or as we are wont to say in moments like this:
“Put on those blinders, Maudie; it’s time to tax our way to public transit prosperity, dearie.”
Of course, there was no mention in Hamilton’s commentary of Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s (PRT) outrageous out-of-whack cost structure. And there was nothing about the transit union’s right-to-strike cudgel. Nor did he mention North Carolina, unlike Pennsylvania, is a Right-to-Work state.
As Jake Haulk, president-emeritus of the Allegheny Institute, and Frank Gamrat, the think tank’s executive director, concluded recently (in Policy Brief Vol. 26, No. 5), “(T)ransit managers must make major efforts to rein in operating expenses dramatically.
“The taxpayers that support mass transit deserve better than having to pay such outrageous subsidies per rider. Politicians should take a long, hard look at these cost numbers and work to reduce them,” the Ph.D. economists remind.
Throwing good money after bad always is a lousy idea. And talk of raising taxes – whether by legislative decree or by public referendum – is a ludicrous proposition in Pittsburgh until PRT can rein in costs that, in some metrics, rival those of far larger public transit agencies in far larger metropolitan areas.
“The cost of delay” in establishing dedicated, long-term funding for public transit “is not abstract,” Hamilton concludes. But neither is the cost of “public purpose” profligacy, we would remind.
There must be no new “dedicated” funding stream for PRT until it can get its house in order. More and dedicated funding only would enable the long-running cluster cluck that is PRT to continue.
Again, there first must be a commitment to right a transit agency that has been badly listing for decades, one that it and the commonwealth haven’t even taken baby steps to address.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
