It’s surprising to find a state legislator from a suburban district that has as little understanding of the economic contribution that major urban centers bring to the state as does Daryl Metcalfe.

The five counties in southeastern Pennsylvania that support SEPTA, plus Allegheny County, bring in 23 percent of the state’s sales tax receipts and 48 percent of the personal income tax collected. To flourish, these centers require compact cores well served by mass transit, both to bring workers to employment zones and to provide mobility to residents and visitors without a car.

The problem is not that we are spending too much on mass transit, it is that we are spending too little on transportation. At current funding levels, neither our highways nor our transit systems are sustainable.