On Wednesday, June 4th a CAT delegation attended the Transit for All PA! Rally (read their excellent rally report here) at the State Capitol in Harrisburg. There is a critical need to avoid public transit funding cuts across PA and to improve funding to expand Lehigh Valley’s LANTA bus service!

(UPDATE: On Thursday, June 5th, Governor Shapiro visited the Lehigh Valley to support funding for public transit. More about that here)

What can we do?

Call your State Senator and ask them to PLEASE support public transit in the Lehigh Valley (Senator Jarrett Coleman, Senator Lisa Boscola, Senator Nick Miller). Relevant bills on the table in the PA House (HB1364, HB1523, HB1524) and PA Senate (coming soon….SB795, SB796)

Attending the rally on behalf of CAT were Jennifer Swann, John Marquette, and Scott Slingerland. Two representatives from LANTA’s ATU drivers’ union also attended, as well as a member of the public from Macungie. After the rally, Lehigh Valley contingent joined with advocates from Montgomery County and visited the offices of region’s Senators Coleman, Boscola, Miller, and Cappelletti.

CAT’s Statement at the Rally:

We are with CAT-Coalition for Appropriate Transportation. We are transit riders!

We are coming to you today from the three cities of Bethlehem, Allentown, and Easton and 59 other urban, suburban, and rural municipalities that comprise the Lehigh Valley.

We’re here to support funding for our public transit network, LANTA Bus and LANTA Van.

We are the third largest community in Pennsylvania with two counties and over 700,000 residents. On a typical weekday, LANTA bus serves 12,740 bus trips and 850 van/paratransit trips.

Public transit serves seniors, people going to medical appointments and bringing their kids to childcare, people going work and school, and people supporting the economy.

Public transit is vital!

Thanks to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania funding in recent years, public transit in the Lehigh Valley has been finally reaching its service potential with span so people can get home to their families at night, and enhanced frequency so riders can be confident that waiting times are reduced.

We need public transit!

Pennsylvania needs public transit!

Annually, 4,045,834 transit rides in the Lehigh Valley depend on your vote. Most of these riders are not here today, but we are here to ask your support!

We would like to specifically call on our Lehigh Valley State Representatives and Senators for their support:

• Rep Steve Samuelson
• Rep Jeanne McNeil
• Rep Bob Freeman
• Rep Gary Day
• Rep Michael Schlossberg
• Rep Peter Schweyer
• Rep Milou Mackenzie
• Rep Zach Mako
• Rep Josh Siegel
• Rep Ann Flood
• Rep Joe Emrick
• Senator Jarrett Coleman
• Senator Nick Miller
• Senator Lisa Boscola

Please support public transit funding in the Lehigh Valley and across Pennsylvania!