Transit cash in limbo

Legislators in Harrisburg are still wrestling with an 800-pound gorilla known as stable funding for SEPTA and other transit agencies, roads and bridges. State Rep. Joe Markosek is chair of the House Transportation Committee.

What did you take from the seven hearings the House held?

We did find some opposite views, but in general, most folks understood, one — we can’t wait. Whatever we do we’ve got to do it soon because it just gets worse and more expensive and [involves] safety conditions, etc.

When do you expect to have a solution in place?

If I had my [choice], we would do the state budget in the next [week] on time and then get that out of the way and work on this. I think trying to combine them just muddies the waters but from my view, an optimal situation would be for us to do the general fund budget on time and get busy with this and get this done some time during the summer. … Many of us have races in the fall.

What’s the solution?

The taxes and fees would be the most difficult. There are some other ideas that might be a little acceptable politically to a lot of people [such as] public-private partnerships or legalizing video poker.