When the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) announced service reductions and fare increases this summer, members of the community, many of whom rely on SEPTA for transportation to jobs, events, and opportunities, feared disruptions in their routine.
Wait times increased and routes vanished as the transit agency attempted to account for a multihundred-million-dollar shortfall in funding.
This shortfall is not a recent development, however. SEPTA has been going through tough times since they announced that they were raising their fare by 7.5% in 2024, regardless of Governor Josh Shapiro’s attempt to stop service cuts by supporting their funding. SEPTA has long been through funding struggles, with them negotiating with workers last year to avoid a strike.
In August, SEPTA announced that they were increasing the price of fare by 21.5% beginning September 1, as well as cutting service by 20% on August 24 and another 20% on September 2.
However, a Common Pleas Court judge ruled that SEPTA was to pause changes made after August 29, leading to the fare increase and the second service cut being put on hold.
Due to the 20% service cut on August 24, Pennsylvania regional rail lines Chestnut Hill West, Paoli/Thorndale, and Cynwyd, are running only every two hours. Many bus routes ended up with reduced service times. SEPTA also implemented a 9:00 p.m. curfew on all remaining Regional Rail and Metro services.
Delays and crowded vehicles are a result of Pennsylvania legislators disagreeing about how to fund SEPTA through the state budget. Two-thirds of SEPTA’s budget consists of state subsidies; however, recent discussions between legislators have debated whether SEPTA should dip into capital assistance as well.
Ultimately, Shapiro permitted SEPTA to use $394 million in capital assistance to fund operations for two years. However, SEPTA is still facing service cuts, overcrowded transportation, and increased fares.
More recently, regional rail transportation has faced crowding and delays due to SEPTA’s inspections of their Silverliner rail cars, which were recommended after the National Transportation Safety Board released a report investigating five fires that occurred this year. According to reports, SEPTA is rotating cars in and out of service for the inspections, but delays and cancellations are still a factor.
All of this is specifically relevant for people whose daily commute involves SEPTA’s public transportation. Parents have jobs in the city, but many students also utilize SEPTA’s train lines to get into the city for internships and other programs.
“I mainly used [SEPTA] over the summer during my research at Penn. I had to go into the city every single day. That was a 30-minute commute because of the trains,” senior Andre Fan said.
SEPTA’s bus schedule runs more locally, which is a help to students who need transportation to get to work within Delco.
“I live in Wallingford in the tree streets area, and my job is along Baltimore Pike, and that’s really great, because that means the 109 Bus Stop is a 10 minute walk from my house. So I go there, take the bus, and go down Baltimore Pike. It’s a 20-25 minute bus ride. It’s really great,” junior Shelby Seidman said.
For many students, SEPTA is not only a convenience but a necessity for gaining access to jobs and opportunities. By having a means of transportation that students can utilize independently, internships, jobs, and programs in the city, too, become much more accessible.
“I wouldn’t want to burden my parents with driving me 30 minutes there and back every day, or like an hour total commute every day, which is why it was good for me to have the transportation,” Fan said.
These budget cuts may also affect members of the community who work in Philadelphia.
“It would definitely limit [transportation], especially for the people who no longer have a train to commute in. Not just students, but also just people who work in the city and live in the suburbs are affected greatly,” Fan said.
The bus is a great aid for students who can’t drive or aren’t interested in learning.
“I don’t really like driving. I don’t want to learn how to drive. It’s scary, and it’s a lot of pressure, but if I can take the bus, I have less pressure to learn how to drive, because I can get to a lot of places that I need to through public transit,” Seidman said.
Transportation SEPTA offers helps students and community members get to where they need to be, and some students find it important to keep these services up and running.
“I think it’s definitely necessary to do something about [the SEPTA service cuts], especially because [SEPTA] is something that so many people have relied on for so long and now it’s being taken away,” Fan said. “Yes, people can adjust, but is it really worth it if we can obviously do something about it, or try to at least?”
