COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC UTILITIES Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, April 23, 2026 2:00 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL, CHAIR COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR., VICE-CHAIR COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS
Good afternoon. I now note that the hour's come, and you may have seen that we have a special guest here today. It's Take Your Child to Work today. So would you like to introduce yourself?
Parker's in 2nd grade and he's Councilmember Young's son, so we're thrilled to have you today.
Thank you, Kyaire, for being -- Kyaire is 6 years old. He's happy to be here with his mom, who's our Legislative Director.
Ms. McDonald, will you please call the roll to take attendance. Members that are in attendance, will you please indicate that you're present when your name is called.
Present. Thank you. A quorum of the committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. This is the public hearing of the Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities regarding Bill Nos. 260265 and 260266. Ms. McDonald, will you please read the titles of the bills.
Bill No. 6 260265, an ordinance amending Title 7 12 of The Philadelphia Code, 8 entitled "Traffic Code," to amend 9 certain requirements applicable to 10 buses and areas designated for use 11 by buses, including applicable 12 penalties, all under certain terms 13 and conditions. 14 And Bill No. 260266, an 15 ordinance authorizing the 16 Procurement Commissioner to enter 17 into agreements to purchase 18 electricity, natural gas, and motor 19 fuel for use by the city and city 20 facilities and vehicles, including 21 agreements that obligate payment 22 for delivery of such energy 23 supplies in future fiscal years, 24 all under certain terms and conditions.
Ms. McDonald, will you please call the first panel that we have to testify this afternoon on Bill 6 260265.
Michael Carroll, Deputy Managing Director, Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems; and Corrine O'Connor, Deputy Executive Director, Philadelphia Parking Authority. Witt
Well, good afternoon and please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony, whichever order you see fit.
Good morning. I'm Michael Carroll, the Deputy Managing Director for the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems. I'm joined here today by Corinne O'Connor from Philadelphia Parking Authority and John Mondlak from the Planning Department. We're also accompanied by Rich Montanez from the Streets Department, and Nicola Mammes from the Office of Transportation Infrastructure Systems, and Kathleen Grady from the Planning Department. Good afternoon, Chairman Driscoll and members of the Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities. Again, I'm Mike Carroll, Deputy Manning Director for OTIS. I'm here to testify in support of Bill No. 260265, which formalizes the definitions for designated intercity bus facilities and curbside loading areas and expands the enforcement tools available to the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Parking Authority. This ensures safe and predictable loading of intercity buses in our city. As this committee may be aware, the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Parking Authority are preparing for a significant milestone in the opening of the intercity bus station, the PPA Transportation Center, which it is called, at 1001 Filbert Street. This will occur on Friday, May 1, 2026, well ahead of the significant events planned throughout our city this summer. The opening of this modern facility to provide welcoming and dignified service to residents and visitors is possible because of the legislation passed by this body and signed into law by Mayor Parker in December of 2025. It also reflects our partnership with PPA throughout the whole process. The proposed legislation builds on this foundation by refining legal definitions and enforcement mechanisms necessary to manage intercity bus activity in Philadelphia effectively. Bill No. 260265 introduces several updates to the Philadelphia Code. An update of definitions, the terms intercity bus loading zone, intercity bus loading facility and stops are added or updated to clarify their meaning and distinguish between curbside loading zones and all street facilities established for commercial intercity bus operations. Clarification of authorized activity, Sections 12-908 and 12-909 are amended to restrict loading and unloading to designated locations authorized by permit. Crucially, it prohibits passenger vehicles from stopping in these areas for any duration, reducing conflicts between any city buses, cars and pedestrians. The strengthening and enforcement mechanisms: The bill 6 authorizes camera-based enforcement within intercity bus loading areas and permits towing or mobilization for violations. It establishes a $75 civil penalty for passengers, vehicles that misuse designated intercity bus areas. Collaborative administration, while the Department of Streets maintains regulatory oversight, PPA is authorized to manage fee collection in intercity bus loading zones and facilities through a formal agreement with the city. Under this proposal, repeated violations or unpaid fees or penalties will result in a suspension or denial of permits or other approvals or privileges under the Philadelphia Code. In conclusion, Bill No. 3 260265 provides an effective regulatory framework to ensure that Philadelphia's newly established intercity bus program is managed, self-sustaining and safe. With the PPA Transportation Center set to open next Friday on May 1st, the timely passage of this legislation is an operational necessity. Summer 2026 in Philadelphia will be historic, and the city and PPA must ensure that the enforcement and regulatory tools are in place to meet the anticipated increase in demand for intercity bus travel. This is especially vital as we prepare to welcome visitors from across the country and across the world to a modern, newly renovated facility in the heart of Center City Philadelphia. Thank you for your time today. We are available to answer any questions regarding the intercity bus operations.
I respectfully request that City Council suspend their rules to allow for the second and final reading at the next City Council meeting. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Councilmembers. My name is Corrine O'Connor. I'm the Deputy Executive Director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority. I'm here to testify on Bill No. 16 2602650. As you're aware, the Philadelphia Parking Authority has partnered with the City of Philadelphia on the reopening of the intercity bus terminal located at 1000 Filbert Street. In our efforts to support this major transportation hub, there will be a need to be legislation passed to achieve our goals of making the citizens who utilize this service, experience be as seamless as possible. Bill No. 5 260265 includes language designated in intercity bus zones at the terminal, how we wish the carriers to operate and designated language to include curbside pickup for the permitted carriers, along with the restriction of vehicles utilizing the designated intercity bus zones. The Authority looks forward to the reopening of this facility to the public and is confident that the rider experience would be greatly enhanced by the upgrades made to this facility, along with the increased oversight of the carriers operating at the facility. The Authority is therefore in support of Bill No. 23 260265 and supports its passage. I'm happy to answer any questions that the Council Committee may have. Thank you.
Good. All right. So I just have a couple quick ones. First, well done. Next Friday? I guess you're cutting a ribbon next Friday there?
That's exciting. We're very excited. We knew, never a doubt. But no, we're very happy about that. So I didn't note that the PPA had got -- I hope I'm right on this one -- received a $2 million grant to help with the renovations?
Okay. So my question is, as you know, we had some back and forth before we passed the last legislation and we wanted to be fair to the bus carriers and make sure that we were paying attention to everybody. I noticed, and I think it might have been inaccurate, the Inquirer yesterday was referencing a $65 fee, I think we passed it at 40, understanding that that can be changed by regulation. But with this extra money, hoping that we're still going to try and keep those numbers that we talked about where they're at. And if that hasn't been determined yet, can we get a commitment that you're going to factor that in?
So the additional money will certainly be factored into the cost, and we'll make sure that we're in close communication with both members of Council and the bus carriers moving forward. We're working through what that grant will pay for and when it will pay for it. In order to get this done by May 1, we got in there, we took responsibility as both PPA and the City for just taking on as much cost was necessary to make sure that we hit that May 1st date. And so, we're in the process trying to reconcile those costs and other ongoing costs with the revenue that we're collecting. The enforcement is really important, to make sure that all the buses that are coming into town are registering their activity and paying the fee, so we really appreciate the provisions in this bill to make sure that happens, and then we just need to reconcile. As you're aware, as we're in the budget process the Mayor's made a real priority to making sure that things balance out correctly, so anything that we do need to do by reg in order to adjust the cost is really just for that purpose, to make sure that the city's budget is made whole, and then moving forward we'll always have the opportunity to reconcile so that we're not ever collecting a profit as a city in this work. And that may in the future mean that we're actually even lowering, and maybe even lowering significantly, the amount of funding that we receive through the fee. So we'll continue to pursue grant opportunities, anything we can do in partnership with the carriers to find more resources. But it's a priority, and I think we, in partnership with PPA, congratulations to them for all the work that they did, we just wanted to establish a world-class facility. That felt like the mandate that members of Council, the Mayor, and the public insisted on. And I'm so gratified that we'll be celebrating the opening of something like that on May 1st.
Okay. And it may not be ready yet, but in the future we're looking at some food and beverage down there, so I think that was important to the committee. You probably have vending machines ready now, but I know you're going to look at that. That's important to the committee. Any questions from any members? Vice-Chair Young.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My office -- we held a hearing to talk about this some time last year, really this year, I can't remember. But one of the things that came out of the hearing is from the owner of Peter Pan. He mentioned that he would be willing to help fund whatever type of terminal that we would need. So have you all tried to reach out to those operators and figure out what they can contribute to our causes here in the city?
So my understanding is that some of those conversations would relate to incorporating a site into both a facility and perhaps an opportunity for some level of development. We're always interested in what that might look like. City- controlled sites need to be RFP'd. So if we have control over site, we have to go through that process. We certainly want to make sure everybody understands that going in. Do want to make clear though that the 1001 facility at Filbert Street is what we'll call the interim facility. It may end up being that it's a great facility for longer-term use, but we're looking at a 10-year lease. And so, looking beyond that 10-year time frame, we're very much interested in opportunities to partner with the carriers and frankly, anyone in the public sector to figure out what a permanent bus facility could look like in the city. There's a lot of great examples of these partnerships where there are other uses incorporated and some of them work fantastic, so we're certainly open those conversations.
And that was just my brief remarks. I just wanted to commend Councilmember Young for doing that last year. I was actually -- I was like, wow after the hearing, we ended up -- so just want to say thank you for doing that. This is really important.
Hearing no further questions from members for this panel and there being no other panelists to testify on Bill No. 260265, we will move on to Bill No. 260266. Ms. McDonald, will you please call the first panel we have to testify this afternoon on Bill 20 No. 260266.
Madeline Schuh, Program Director of Municipal Energy, Office of Sustainability. (Witness approached witness table.)
Well, good afternoon. Just please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes. My name is Maddie Schuh. I am the Program Director for Municipal Energy in the Office of Sustainability. So good morning, Chairperson Driscoll and members of the committee. My name is Madeline Schuh and I serve as the Program Director of Municipal Energy for the City of Philadelphia in the Office of Sustainability, Division of Energy and Climate Solutions. I'm here to testify in support of Bill No. 260266 sponsored by Council President Johnson and Chairperson Driscoll, which authorizes the purchase of electricity, natural gas and vehicle fuel for city facilities to be delivered through Fiscal Year '29 through Fiscal Year '31. In 2010, Council authorized the city to make electricity purchases for Fiscal Year 2011 through Fiscal Year 2014. In 2012, Council extended that authorization to Fiscal Year 2015 and has continued granting additional authorizations in subsequent years. Executive Order No. 610 established an electricity supply advisory committee to review the energy purchasing strategy and meets quarterly to review. The city's Division of Energy and Climate Solutions serves as the primary manager of the procurement of all energy forms, including but not limited to, electricity, natural gas and vehicle fuel for the General, Aviation and Water Funds. The city's energy procurement is guided by the Municipal Energy Master Plan and through conversations with the city's Finance Department, Water Department, and the Philadelphia International Airport. The Division of Energy and Climate Solutions strives for the city's energy procurement to be low cost, to provide budget certainty, to have transparent pricing and to do so by increasingly using clean and renewable energy. The city's electricity costs are significant, and all costs -- and costs for all city funds, General, Water and Aviation averaged to about 72 million over the previous three fiscal years. The cost to the General Fund, including street lighting and signals for Fiscal Year 2025, was approximately 33 million. The electricity supply portion of the total bill is about two-thirds of the total electricity cost. The city has successfully managed supply costs by purchasing in the wholesale electricity market and staggering purchases to limit the risk of paying a premium for electricity. Electricity supply has become an increasingly important aspect of our cost due to changes in the capacity market for our region. These changes which have been mitigated by actions spurred by Governor Shapiro are still significant. Over the past two years, the city has experienced a cost increase of over $7 million across all three funds. The proposed ordinance 22 would authorize the city to make agreements for the delivery of electricity for Fiscal Year 2029 through Fiscal Year 2031, through a state-regulated licensed service provider. The city's licensed service provider was selected through a competitive process and acts as the city's agent in making purchases in the regional electricity marketplace. This structure has proven its value to the city repeatedly, most recently with the winter storm and associated extreme weather. 4 million in electricity costs during January alone. Allowing the Authority to purchase for this period will allow the city to be market-ready to take advantage of competitive pricing, but does not commit the city to any purchases for the period. In addition to electricity, the city purchases natural gas and vehicle fuel from the competitive market for its largest buildings and accounts. The city's interruptible natural gas accounts are those that can switch from natural gas to an alternative fuel whenever the Philadelphia Gas Work announces a temporary curtailment of gas services. The largest city buildings have accounts that qualify for access to the competitive marketplace for natural gas supply. 7 million in Fiscal Year 2025. 2 million. 9 million in Fiscal Year 2025. The cost to the General Fund was approximately 7 million in Fiscal Year 2025.
The 8 proposed ordinance would also 9 authorize the city to make 10 agreements for the delivery of 11 natural gas and vehicle fuel 12 through Fiscal Year 2029 through 13 Fiscal Year 2031 with state and 14 federally-licensed providers. The current providers were selected through a competitive process and act as the city's agents in making purchases in energy markets. In closing, I anticipate this procurement approach will continue to provide budget certainty to the city of utility costs, while allowing the city to take advantage of competitive pricing. It will also continue to protect the city from cost escalations and energy prices over the next several years, while avoiding costs. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. And I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you for your testimony. Are there any questions or comments from members of the committee for this panel? (No response.)
Hearing no further questions from the members of this panel and there being no other panels to testify on the bills before the committee, we will now transition to our public comment session. Ms. McDonald, will you please call the first person making public comment we have to testify this afternoon on the bills before the committee today.
Okay. I'd like to thank all of our witnesses for joining us today and that would conclude the hearing. We'll go into the public meeting. There being no further questions from members of the committee and no other witnesses to testify on Bill Nos. 260265 and 260266, I will ask is there anyone else present in this hearing whose name we have failed to call and that wishes to offer testimony on the bills being considered today? (No response.)
Hearing none, I want to thank the panels and witnesses for their participation and we value your opinions. This concludes the public hearing of the committee. We will now go into a public meeting to consider the action to be taken on the bills before this committee today. Ms. McDonald, will you please call the roll to take attendance. Members that are in attendance, please indicate that you're present when your name is called.
Present. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Young for a motion on Bill No. 260265.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill No. 16 260265 be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at our next session of Council.
The Chair notes for the record that Councilmember Squilla seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 7 260265 be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion carries. Chair recognizes Councilmember Young for a motion on Bill No. 260266.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill No. 3 260266 be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at our next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
Chair notes for the record that Councilmember Squilla seconds the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 16 260266 be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)
All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
Ayes have it. The motion carries. This concludes the business before this Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities today. Thank you all very much for your attendance. - - - (Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities concluded at 2:33 p.m.) - - C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. _______________________________ TANEHA CARROLL