Mayor Kenney released his final budget proposal as Mayor of Philadelphia today that shows continued investment in better streets to increase efficiency, safety and mobility.
Included in these investments are:
- $33.9 million for traffic engineering improvements
- $2.5 million alone in FY24, in support of the Vision Zero initiative, to make the city’s streets safer for all users
- $30 million for the Streets Department in pay-go/one time funding in FY24 for paving and ADA ramps
- $80 million investment over two years in transit passes for City employees and low-income residents. Two major new investments designed to ease the burden of transit costs on residents and get more riders on SEPTA’s system, leading to more safety, more frequent and consistent service, including:
- $31 million per year for two years to pilot a new zero fare transit program for at least 25,000 Philadelphia residents near or below the poverty level that will provide access to trips anywhere on the SEPTA system.
- $9 million per year to join other large employers in the region participating in the SEPTA Key Advantage Program. Working with our labor partners, the City will provide free transit to all City employees. This two-year pilot is an opportunity to boost the City’s hiring and retention efforts, and aligns with our goals of sustainability, traffic safety, and equity as well
These investments along with a set of others that include creating a “Transportation Fund” that segregates funds for discrete transportation services align with our Better Mobility Platform recommendation of raising the profile of transportation by creating a Department of Transportation from oTIS, Complete Streets, and the transportation division of the Streets Department.
We will be diving more into the proposed budget to see how this budget compares to other years; stay tuned.
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