PATCO has it's own card. In Philly, for now, it's just tokens or cash fare. They are rolling out a card system that will work similar to NYCs called SEPTA Key in the next year. It'll be on subways and buses first, then makes its way to regional rail.
The Wolf plan is supposed to bring an additional $159M in for the city school budget, and the savings will go to Wage Tax in Philadelphia, rather than property taxes, as I understand. Thing about all of that is that it is going to take at the very least a year to get Wolf's plan through, maybe longer. The schools need the $105M just to get back to a bare minimum of functionality. The $159M could be used to further improve the school. Really the school district needs both. If the city wants to keep the growth momentum it has it's going to need to keep investing in schools.
I'm at my phone not my desk, where I have a bunch of the data. But my understanding is this:
There are two competing plans at the moment for property tax relief, not one. Wolf's is the lower of the two. The one being pushed by the state house/senate provides a greater reduction, in some cases 20% higher.
The actual plan will likely be a compromise between the two, so Wolf's figures are probably a lowball estimate if I had to put money on it.
In addition to the property tax overhaul (which both sides want, simply a matter of degree) Wolf is pushing to establish a state funding formula, and possibly eliminate "hold harmless". Both of these would result in drastic changes to how money is distributed without raising new revenue.
Obviously more revenue is better than less, but nutters arguments for the property tax increase takes none of the above into account.
