Study: Port Authority posts a $929M benefit each year

For years, officials touted the economic benefit of the Port Authority’s transit system, but they had nothing to back up those claims. Now they do.

A study by Philadelphia firm eConsult Solutions Inc. shows the agency boosts the value of homes near bus routes and produces a total annual economic benefit of $929 million. The consultant presented a preview of the Port Authority-commissioned study, which could cost a maximum of $120,000 when the bills are finalized, to a board committee Thursday.

Spokesman Adam Brandolph said the agency commissioned the study to “allow us to show the value of public transit.”

“This is the first time we can put a dollar value on that,” he said. “Using the economic data, we can show very specific benefits.”

For example, the study claims the authority’s operating and capital budgets of $593 million are responsible for a total output of $929 million in Pennsylvania. That includes about 3,600 fulltime jobs beyond the agency’s payroll that generate earnings of about $174 million.

In addition, the study shows that Allegheny County’s population makes up about 9.6 percent of the state, but it produces 12.3

percent of private employment, 13.3 percent of economic product and 11.2 percent of the state’s General Fund revenues. The transit system is “integral to creating and connecting residents to the dense clusters of activity that underlie the region’s competitive advantages,” the study said.

The study also shows that more people, especially lower-income residents, live within a half-mile of a bus stop or light rail station. A map shows a high number of city building permits in the past five years in the areas around the North Shore extension of the light rail system and the East Liberty transit center.

That indicates transit spurs development, Mr. Brandolph said, and could mean the Uptown area will benefit when the agency builds the proposed Bus Rapid Transit system between Downtown and Oakland next year.

“That gives you a sense there’s an opportunity for transit-oriented development in that area,” he said.

The authority and city are banking on that by including street improvements such as new sewers, sidewalks and lighting in Uptown as part of the transit project.

The study also claims that being within 3 miles of the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway and the West Busway increases the value of homes by 6 to 20 percent and being within 2 miles of the light rail system in the South Hills raises values by 3 to 14 percent. Overall, that adds $3.2 billion to property values across the county, about 4.4 percent of the total value.

When the study is finished, residents will be able to click on their neighborhood and see how its property values are increased by public transit.

The economic impact of the transit system also is responsible for $98.4 million in taxes. That includes $42.7 million for school districts; $24.7 million for municipalities, including $17.1 million for Pittsburgh; $12.4 million for the county; and $18.6 million for Pennsylvania.

The study should be finished in the next few weeks.