HARRISBURG -- As is typical for Gov. Ed Rendell, he wasn't beating around the bush. He was, instead, beating up the Bush, as in President Bush, whom Rendell criticized yesterday for trying to gut federal mass transit funding.

Rendell, whose proposed 3.4 percent increase in state mass transit funding would be the largest in a decade, says most of the burden of improving Pennsylvania's ailing transit systems should fall on the federal government. The Bush administration, he said, is trying to amend a 13-year-old transportation funding act to make it tougher for states and individual transit systems to secure funding for capital expenditures like subway tunnels and new buses.

If the Bush administration gets its way, requiring transit authorities to pay a higher matching amount to acquire federal funds for new expansion projects, it "would be the death knell for mass transit in this country," Rendell said, stressing the phrase "death knell" three or four times.

Rendell made the comments at yesterday's third annual Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association seminar. His 15-minute speech touched on his own funding proposal and the need to improve both the state's transportation and mass transit infrastructures.

"So much of what we do is tied up in Washington," Rendell said.

He suggested an increase in the federal gasoline tax could be dedicated to improving mass transit.

Yesterday's conference, "Public Transit: Funding in Crisis," and discussions following Rendell's speech reflected that transit systems across the state are being squeezed in much the same way that the Port Authority of Allegheny County is.

Allegheny County's 2004 budget provides just $2 million, instead of the $8.4 million the Port Authority requested. As a result, the authority could lose up to $107 million in outside funds, because it will be unable to fulfill matching requirements.

Richard LeGrande, president of the Allegheny County Transit Council, a group of public transit riders who advise the authority board, said in an interview that transit funding in Allegheny County had reached "a catastrophic level."

"We're not talking about a slight cut [but] a suicidal throat-slashing," he said.

Several times over the last few years, the Port Authority has threatened to increase fares and cut services because of its funding pinch.

Jeanne Neese, from Philadelphia's transit system, said yesterday the state transportation organization is looking to develop new, consistent state funding streams, mostly by devoting a larger share of sales tax to mass transit. Allegheny County would get 23 percent of the new money, under the association's proposal.