You can forget SEPTA's Doomsday Plan.
They're not going to shut down the regional rail lines. Not that they ever were. But I have to give credit to Delco guy Joe Casey, the general manager at SEPTA, for doing something that certainly got people's attention.
It now appears as if our fearless leaders in Harrisburg have thought better of taking a pass on a measure to pour $2.3 billion into the state's transportation system, including roads, bridges and mass transit.
This despite two different votes in the House Monday night to reject the plan. The third time was the charm, with the House passing the plan with a 104-95 vote, much to the chagrin of state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, from western Pennsylvania, who flat out calls the plan a $2 billion tax hike. Metcalfe might not be especially welcome in the governor's mansion this holiday season, after ranting on the House floor yesterday about "Corbett's tax hike." The governor - from his own party - probably does not appreciate that sentiment seeing as how he is looking at a decidedly uphill re-election fight next year.
One of the biggest proponents of the plan was our own state Rep. Nick Micozzie, R-163, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
The plan will now be considered again by the Senate. They are likely to pass it and send it along to Gov. Tom Corbett.
That's the good news. Our roads and bridges are crumbling. They need to be fixed.
Here's the bad news. It's not going to be cheap.
For starters, we're all going to be paying more at the pump. One of the key funding mechanisms in the bill is lifting the decades-old oil franchise tax.
I'm told that it likely will push prices at the pump higher by a nickel as soon as it's implemented, and that before it's over gas will be 28 cents a gallon higher.
You also will have to dig deeper when you go to register your car and renew your license. Those fees are going up.
And you might want to back off the gas pedal, and not just to save gas. If you have a lead foot, you're going to pay more for speeding and other traffic violations. Those fees are going up too.
The key for this region was the big boost in funding for mass transit, in other words, SEPTA. It means another $475 million for mass transit, which Casey said we would be used to immediately start working on crumbling bridges and other infrastructure.
Good thing. With the price of gas, we might all be using mass transit.
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