HARRISBURG -- Supporters of mass transit in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia had some nail-biting moments yesterday as state House members haggled through five hours of angry debate over a 10-year plan to finance transportation improvements around the state.

At times it seemed like the program, which will provide $300 million for mass transit and $450 million for roads and bridges in fiscal 2007-08, was going to be defeated. Speaker after speaker, most of them Republicans from rural parts of the state, criticized the amount being spent on mass transit.

But the program, which will average about $950 million a year over the 10 years, finally was approved 124 to 79. The measure had passed the Senate late Monday, so it now goes to Gov. Ed Rendell, who supports it.

The transportation financing plan was designed in the past two weeks in the state Senate, and many House members complained that they hadn't had any input in it. It will use Pennsylvania Turnpike toll revenue and first-time tolls on Interstate 80 to pay off as much as $13 billion in bonds that will be sold to raise the money needed to repair thousands of miles of roads, 6,000 deficient bridges and 39 mass transit systems, including the deficit-ridden Port Authority of Allegheny County and SEPTA in the Philadelphia area.

The turnpike tolls are due to rise by 25 percent in 2009, in part for the Turnpike Commission to use in paying off the bonds. State officials hope to get the federal approval necessary to put tolls on I-80 by 2010.

Legislators who represent the north-central areas of Pennsylvania, through which I-80 runs, complained that their constituents shouldn't be forced to pay tolls to support buses, trolleys and trains in urban southwestern and southeastern Pennsylvania.

"This will be like a big SEPTA bus coming to Columbia County and taking money down to Philadelphia," said Rep. David Millard, R-Columbia.

Other legislators complained that politically connected bond lawyers will make a lot of money on the deal.

"The pinstripes are lining up in the hallways for the pinstripe patronage," said House Republican leader Sam Smith of Punxsutawney, referring to lawyers and consultants who work on bond deals.

Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, complained that the Turnpike Commission is well known for its political patronage in hiring and contracts, and said it makes no sense to put the commission in charge of selling the bonds and running the two major toll roads, the turnpike and I-80.

"This bill is nothing more than a full employment act for bond lawyers," he said.

Reps. John Maher, R-Upper St. Clair, and Chelsa Wagner, D-Brookline, criticized the bill for authorizing potential new taxes to pay for transit in Allegheny County, including a levy of up to 10 percent on poured drinks and a tax of up to $2 per car on rental cars. They feared it would make Allegheny County businesses noncompetitive with nearby counties.

But Rep. Keith McCall, D-Carbon, and Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, said it still will be up to Allegheny County officials to actually enact such taxes. He said the bill merely gives county officials more options for raising transit money than just hiking property taxes.

He also said that critics of the transportation plan haven't come up with an alternative. He said Gov. Ed Rendell dropped his unpopular plan to raise transportation money by leasing the turnpike to a private operator. He said other unpopular ideas involved raising the gasoline tax by 9 cents a gallon or putting a tax on oil company profits that also would raise gas prices.

He said it's easy to criticize any plan but said it's urgent that the Legislature not wait any longer to fix deteriorating roads and bridges and fund deficit-ridden transit agencies.

"We have to maintain the viability of our businesses, where many workers use mass transit, as well as citizens without cars and senior citizens who need buses to get to medical appointments," said Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill.