I applaud the leadership of Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato as he tries to wrestle back control of what for years has been a poorly managed Port Authority of Allegheny County. No county official in my political tenure has been willing undertake this task, which at worst will upset everyone and at best will please no one.

State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, represents the 38th District, which encompasses many Pittsburgh neighborhoods and parts of northeastern Allegheny, Westmoreland and Armstrong counties (www.senatorferlo.com).

This bitter pill is the result of decades during which PAT has not learned to live within its means and has assumed unmanageable indebtedness. Between its often-imprudent capital commitments, rising pension and health-care obligations and gratuitous management compensation -- including "golden parachutes" -- embedded costs have relentlessly escalated as population and ridership have declined, exceeding this publicly funded agency's ability to keep up.

Years of board and management inaction have created a crisis where the critical needs of thousands are put on the chopping block. Yet the executives who mapped the course of this disaster and the elected officials who lacked the will to set it right have assumed roles at consultancies and as pundits, evading their responsibility to answer for their disregard. In recent years, the federal government also has turned its back on urban transit and will not provide operating subsidies. Instead, the federal funds that do arrive include hundreds of millions of dollars for a dubious tunnel under the Allegheny River that will extend trolley service to only a sliver of the North Shore.

I spoke out and voted against this ill-conceived project as a member of Pittsburgh City Council. If we are going to extend the "T," we should alter the route, amenable to federal funding guidelines. It should include the convention center and cross the already existing and structurally sound Fort Wayne Bridge. Once across the river, the "T" can go underground, beneath General Robinson Street, with connections for the Alcoa building, Warhol Museum and other regional assets. This would be less expensive and permit us to use the savings to begin a route to the airport without losing any federal funds! Instead, we are plodding toward our own "Big Dig" that will require millions of dollars each year from future Port Authority operating budgets.

Currently, the state government provides 63 percent of the public subsidy ($121.78 million) for the Port Authority's $347 million operating budget. That does not include senior fares and other rider-assistance reimbursements -- subsidies that amount to another $23.42 million. This demonstrates that the commonwealth has heard and delivered on the call for funding. Change needs to come next at the local level.

The recent report delivered by the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission showed that the Port Authority has a lot of room for improvement before any additional state funding is approved. The audit revealed that the authority has the highest transit-worker wages in the United States, adjusted for cost of living. Its vehicle fleet, at more than 1,000, is far larger than its ridership dictates. The authority's total public subsidy is 60 percent higher than its peer cities on a per passenger basis.

The authority also has not really taken advantage of available technology to improve the performance of routes or fare collection. Smaller buses should be introduced to serve as circulators between neighborhoods to help rebuild city neighborhoods and local communities. Despite the bureaucracy of the Port Authority, as demonstrated in the transportation commission's study, I believe strongly in public transportation and its importance to the economic well-being of our region. I co-sponsored Senate Bill 301 in the last session and will be reintroducing it this session. This bill would establish a new funding and distribution formula to meet the needs all of the public transportation systems operating in Pennsylvania. It proposes dedicating an additional $361 million of the sales tax to transit across the state. It would be the reliable, dedicated funding source that so many public-transit advocates have been calling for, but we cannot risk it being frittered away by the careless mismanagement that has sunk the Port Authority into the hole of debt where it sits today.

Allegheny County needs to consider allowing voters to approve a dedicated revenue source at the county level for public transit, as well. (One mill at the county level would raise about $54 million.) At present, the local subsidy of $25 million is substantially lower than in other parts of the country. I am willing to sponsor enabling legislation in the Pennsylvania Senate.

The community as a whole needs to speak out and support revenue for a more efficient Port Authority if we are going to be able to continue to enjoy comprehensive regional service.