Panel Urges Transit-Oriented Development

"Public transportation is gaining momentum every day," added Jeff DeVuono of Radnor-based Brandywine Realty Trust. "Driving factors are out of control, and the next generation is urban-oriented and green-conscious. Public transportation is critical to development of the future."

He also said Brandywine's newly completed Cira Centre office building would not have been successful had it been built along the Delaware River, an area furthest from a Septa train station. "The real incentive for companies to locate in Cira Centre was 30th Street Station," he said. That site, along the Schuylkill River, connects with both Septa regional rail and Amtrak. DeVuono said, "80% to 82% of Cira people take public transportation to work. We're having a sale on parking spaces," he quipped.

Both men along with Richard Bickel of the Delaware River Port Authority agreed that dedicated funding for public transportation is critical. Bickel said DRPA obtained some initial funding for studies regarding transit development for the area's first-generation suburbs; however, the state General Assembly did not fund transit development separately. More money is spent on highways than on public transportation.

Another hurdle is the age of the existing transit system that now connects the suburbs with each other and the city. "If you start from scratch, you can plan correctly," Bickel said. "But, out of necessity, Septa is spending most of its effort and money fixing up an old system."

Developing a system, he said, "starts with land use." Yet, obtaining land and approvals for projects is especially difficult here because of the extraordinary number of municipal zoning bodies within the nine Pennsylvania and three New Jersey counties in the DRPA realm. "We work with 352 townships, boroughs and cities," he said, "and they range from Philadelphia to a golf course with 20 permanent residents."