Transportation

Governor's Executive Budget Program Measures


Driver and Vehicle Services

Number of online eGov transactions
PennDOT offers online access to complete almost 28 different kinds of transactions, including Vehicle Registration renewals and duplicates, change of address or contact information, most types of non-commercial Driver's License and Photo ID renewals, REAL ID OPT IN, and others. In addition, customers can schedule Driver's License Road Tests, Motorcycle Road Tests, Commercial Driver's License Road Tests and Written Special Points Tests online to make their visits to our facilities easier and more efficient. Recently PennDOT added Handicapped Placards services which will allow customers to renew their permanent placards, request replacement ID’s and change their addresses online. PennDOT tracks use of online offerings and has seen a steady increase to nearly 10.1 million transactions in the 2021/22 fiscal year. For more information and access to our eGov offerings, please visit our Online Services webpage.

Percentage of service center customers served within 30 minutes 
PennDOT is focused on enhancing the customer experience when visiting one of our Driver License Centers, and one way we do that is through managing customer flow measured by wait times. Beginning in 2015, PennDOT began updating the 27 existing automated queuing systems in use and installed 30 additional systems to date, equipping higher volume Driver License Centers across the Commonwealth. This scalable queuing management system is accurate at tracking transaction times, wait times, and customer volumes by type of service and providing the capability to move resources to respond to changing customer needs. This system also provides an accurate depiction of wait times as compared to past reporting. This allows PennDOT to better manage actual customer impacts and systematically seek ways to improve overall performance. PennDOT targets 90% of customers being served within 30 minutes for most transactions at our Driver License Centers.
Access rate of driver and vehicle services call center 
PennDOT Driver and Vehicle Services maintains a customer call center to respond to customer inquiries and concerns.  Call Center hours are Monday through Friday (except holidays) from 8am to 5pm ET.  PennDOT tracks customer access to customer service representatives and targets a 95% percent access rate daily (Monday through Friday). The access rate is measured by totaling the busy signals and busy (exit) messages encountered by customer callers and subtracting that figure from the total number of customer call attempts, then dividing that figure by the total number of customers call attempts.  PennDOT’s call center contractor has fallen below our access goal over the past two fiscal years due to increased volumes of calls and reduction in staff since the beginning of the pandemic.  The call center contractor continues to strategize to improve efforts to obtain additional staff during this challenging time.

Bridge Management

MAP-21 bridge condition by deck area
FHWA has defined the condition of National Highway System bridges via MAP-21 legislation.  FHWA has set the maximum poor condition threshold to be 10% of total deck area.  The overall rating is based on the lowest rating of a bridge’s deck, superstructure and substructure.  The graph shows that the percentage of good condition is increasing and the percentage of poor condition is decreasing.  However, projections indicate that this trend will reverse in the future due to insufficient funding.  Note that poor condition is not a safety hazard, and lowest life cycle cost is achieved by delaying replacement of poor bridges until they would become a safety hazard.
Bridge preservations
This chart shows bridge preservation and poor bridge rehabilitation and replacement per year. Bridge preservation is broken down by early and late preservation, with more early preservation desirable. Additionally, the more preservation work done in relation to poor condition replacement or rehabilitation, the better.
State-owned bridges that are posted and closed
This chart shows the number of posted and closed State-owned bridges projected into the future.
An increase in these numbers is expected as the Commonwealth transitions to Lowest Life Cycle Cost programming methodology, because bridges still have remaining useful life even in poor condition. The goal is to achieve a balance of postings and replacements, which should be relatively flat over time. Year to year increases in this number shows a need for more investment in the entire system, not just on poor or posted structures.

Pavement Management

MAP-21 pavement conditions - interstate highways & non-interstate highways
FHWA has defined the condition of Interstate and Non-Interstate National Highway System (NHS) pavements via MAP-21 legislation.  FHWA has set the maximum poor condition threshold to be 5% of total Interstate mileage.  The reporting of these thresholds and definitions began in 2017.  The MAP-21 measures are based on surface condition, and do not account for roadway age, the condition of the underlying pavement distress, or the backlog of reconstruction needs. MAP 21 good is trending downward overtime and poor is trending upward due to insufficient funding.
Surface improvement mileage
Surface improvement mileage is broken into three categories, each representing various types of roadway improvements and treatment costs. Structural restoration includes pavement upgrades with a minimum of 3 inches of paving material, and typically includes associated work such as drainage. Resurfacing includes paving material from 1.5 up to 3 inches. The surface repairs category includes leveling and chip sealing. The projected number of miles to be improved is trending downward due to inadequate funding.

Highway Construction and Reconstruction

Miles of new highway construction, interstate construction or restoration, and non-interstate construction or restoration
Miles of New Highway Construction shows the total miles of new roadway or new roadway lanes planned for construction each year based upon the timing of funding availability on the Commonwealth’s 12-Year Program. Miles of Interstate Reconstruction or Restoration shows the Interstate highway miles planned for replacement, rehabilitation or improvement based upon the timing of funding availability on the 12-Year Program. Miles of Non-Interstate Reconstruction or Restoration shows the miles of non-interstate state roadways scheduled for replacement, rehabilitation or improvement based upon the timing of funding availability on the 12-Year Program. These roadways range from non-interstate limited access highways to rural roadways owned and maintained by PennDOT. Project planning is done in conjunction with PennDOT’s 24 regional planning partners across Pennsylvania. To learn more about the 12-Year Program and transportation planning, please visit the State Transportation Commissions' 12-Year Program Page. 

Aviation

Runways with a pavement condition index of fair or better
The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Advisory Circular (AC) 150/5380-7B, Guidelines and Procedures for Maintenance of Airport Pavements, is the basis for our Airport Pavement Management System.  Pavement Condition Index (PCI) is a direct indicator of pavement needs, whether it be maintenance, rehabilitation, or reconstruction.  It also determines the eligibility of FAA funding to address those needs.
Annually, the PCI of 51 Core Airport Runways, classified as Commercial Service, Advanced, or Intermediate, are determined either by visual inspection or interpolation of existing data. PCI is based on a scale from 0 to 100.  Pavements with PCIs below 40 are considered failed, PCIs greater than 60 are considered fair or better.  A goal of at least 90% was established for these classifications of runways.  Based on programmed pavement management projects, 47 of the 51 Runways, some 92%, are projected to have a PCI of fair or better.

Public Transit Ridership

(Total) Passengers carried by state-assisted operators & Passengers per vehicle hour
Public transit ridership on both fixed route and demand responsive public transportation drastically decreased in FY 2019-20 and FY 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The pandemic greatly affected transit service as well as commuter patterns, works schedules, and daily life throughout Pennsylvania. Public transit ridership dropped as a low as 90% of pre-pandemic levels at the beginning of the pandemic. However, ridership continues to rebound with each quarter showing improvement.
Number of (fixed-route) free transit trips & Free transit (subsidy per trip)
Transit ridership for senior citizens had been steady prior to the pandemic.  Ridership decreased significantly in the last quarter of FY 2019-20 and in FY 2020-21 due to stay at home orders and seniors choosing to stay home to insulate themselves from the spread of the virus. Senior transit ridership increased in FY 2021-22 and is expected to continue increasing in FY 2022-23 and beyond as seniors resume travel to locations that were closed during the pandemic.
(Senior or lottery-funded) Trips on state-assisted shared ride vehicles & State-assisted shared ride (cost per trip)
Senior shared-ride trips have been decreasing year-over-year consistently for the past several years. Many providers experienced increased ridership during the first half of FY 2019-20 which would have reversed this trend had it continued for the remainder of the fiscal year.  However, senior shared ride ridership was down as much as 90 percent during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to the prior year.  After some time, ridership started to recover and has now stabilized statewide at about 50 percent of the ridership experienced in the prior year for the same timeframe. It is expected that ridership will continue to increase slowly as seniors feel safer traveling to major trip generators, such as senior centers.
Intercity Bus: Passengers handled
The COVID-19 pandemic affected intercity transportation in much the same ways as it affected fixed route transportation as service was severely limited in the fourth quarter of FY 2019-20, but notable recovery was made by the fourth quarter of FY 2021-22.  Beginning in March 2022, the Intercity Bus Program is being managed by the Susquehanna Regional Transportation Authority subsidized with a 100% federal subsidy.
Intercity Rail: Passengers handled
Intercity rail transportation was affected in much the same way as other public transportation as service was suspended during the spring 2020 timeframe, and when service was reinstated, several restrictions on capacity and service delivery were put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Intercity travel was severely limited during the period that the commonwealth was under the stay-at-home order. The department continued to work with Amtrak to restore the Keystone to pre-COVID service levels; however, ridership is slow to return. The Pennsylvanian has gained ridership at a faster pace and is one of Amtrak’s best performing routes, post-COVID.
Intercity Rail: Subsidy per passenger mile
The significant loss in ridership has created a subsequent loss in operating revenue, requiring additional subsidy. This federal government funding has provided funding relief to Amtrak for State Supported Routes (Keystone and Pennsylvanian) to offset the loss in revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.