The initial cuts built into SEPTA’s doomsday budget will go into effect later this month if Pennsylvania lawmakers do not approve a funding package by next week, the transit agency’s leaders said Wednesday.
Service reductions, including the elimination of 32 bus routes, are scheduled to begin Aug. 24. The deadline to avert those plans is Thursday, Aug. 14, in order to provide time to prepare staff, vehicles and equipment for the changes, SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer told reporters.
Should money materialize after that date, SEPTA would need about 10 days to fully restore the canceled trips, he added.
SEPTA intends to slash service by 45% and raise fares in the coming months in response to a $215 million budget deficit, caused, officials say, by the expiration of federal pandemic relief dollars and rising costs.
“While we remain optimistic that a funding agreement can be reached in Harrisburg to avert these painful cuts, we are now at a point where we have to focus on making these changes as smooth as possible for our customers,” Sauer said.
On Wednesday, the authority began distributing schedules reflecting the initial 20% service reduction, which will be rolled out across all transit modes in late August and early September. For specifics, go to septa.org/news/bus-metro-fall-schedules for bus, subway and trolley schedules and septa.org/news/regional-rail-fall-schedules for details about Regional Rail.
In addition to the axed routes, 16 bus lines will be shortened; all special event service, such as the Sports Express trains on the Broad Street Line, will be halted; and frequency will be reduced across Regional Rail, particularly for mid-day, weekend and evening hours.
The new schedules will be implemented Aug. 23 and 24 for bus, trolley and subway service and Sept. 2 for Regional Rail. A fare increase is set for Sept. 1, with the base price rising from $2.50 to $2.90, and the authority intends to institute a hiring freeze later that month.
The paper schedules showcasing the cuts have red banners across the top, and, later this week, SEPTA will update a trip planning tool on its website to allow riders to see how the planned cuts will impact them, officials said.
SEPTA leaders said ambassadors will soon be handing out informational postcards at busy hubs, and notices have already been posted at approximately 3,000 bus stops.
“Now it’s real,” Sauer said. “We have real schedules. We have real cuts. This is going to happen. It’s unfortunate that it’s going to happen, but this is real now. So let your voice be heard and tell people how important this is to you.”
He encouraged riders to call their lawmakers. The state House, where Democrats hold a majority, has passed a transit funding four times, most recently in June; however, the proposal has yet to gain the requisite traction in the GOP-controlled Senate.
Philadelphia’s state delegation has been pressuring Republican senators to act, particularly those representing southeastern Pennsylvania.
The House Transportation Committee advanced a package Wednesday that would combine a set of accountability measures – introduced in the Senate by the GOP’s Joe Picozzi, of Northeast Philadelphia – with increased spending for transit and rural roads.
“We have been debating this issue for over two years,” the bill’s author, Rep. Sean Dougherty, also of Northeast Philadelphia, said during the hearing. “My neighbors are out of time. We are out of time. Time’s up.”
Committee members moved the legislation forward in a 16-10 vote, primarily along partisan lines.
“How much will be enough?” Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, a Republican from central Pennsylvania, commented before voting against the measure. “Are we going to have the same conversation two years from now?”
Barring a resolution, SEPTA plans to implement more cuts in January, with the termination of five Regional Rail Lines, 18 more bus routes, and the Broad-Ridge Spur. A 9 p.m. rail curfew be instituted for all rail services, including subway lines.
“These service cuts are unprecedented, and not just for SEPTA,” said Jody Holton, the agency’s chief planning and strategy officer. “No major transit agency has had to take steps this drastic.”
For the initial round of reductions, the authority targeted areas where alternative transit options are nearby and routes with 300 riders or fewer, according to Holton. The cuts were also distributed across SEPTA’s service area, she added.
SEPTA issues three schedule changes a year, on a seasonal basis, and the process usually takes three weeks of preparation. The timeline was condensed as much as possible to provide an opportunity for a funding solution, Sauer told the press.
The new schedules will go into place just as classes resume in the School District of Philadelphia. Typically, the fall timetables incorporate enhanced service for students, but that’s not on the docket this year.
“We are urging students and families to review these schedules so that they can find alternate travel options,” Holton said.
