With budget talks looming, Dems rally for SEPTA

(The Center Square) – Mass transit advocates rallied to gather support on Monday for SEPTA funding ahead of the state’s upcoming budget negotiations in June.

Over the next three days, SEPTA will be holding public hearings to discuss their 2026 operating budget, and legislators are asking riders to get loud about the impact route cuts would have on their lives.

“For years, the general assembly has starved transit systems across our commonwealth. For years, SEPTA has imposed measures to try to bridge the gap,” said Sen. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia. “Now there’s nothing left to cut but service.”

“It allows the commonwealth to generate the revenue that powers Pennsylvania,” said Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia. “There are only six counties that are revenue positive. Every other county is revenue negative.”

Those six counties are the five served by SEPTA and Allegheny, which is served by Pittsburgh Regional Transit. That leaves 61 counties financially dependent on a small few, a position Philadelphia legislators say the rest of the state has ignored for far too long.

“We’re not really asking the commonwealth to subsidize SEPTA. We’re just asking the commonwealth to give us a portion of the money that our region generates for the commonwealth,” said Street.

While SEPTA, and to a lesser extent PRT, dominate the discussion around mass transit, they aren’t the only regions who use it. Every county in the state, including the most rural, has some form of public transit. The services are a lifeline, especially for the state’s growing population of seniors who need assistance getting out in the community.

“We know this is not just a SEPTA thing. We know this is not just a suburban thing,” said Rep. Morgan Cephas, D-Philadelphia. “It’s a Pennsylvania thing.”

Cephas took particular aim at Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Bedford, who recently penned an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer advocating for partial privatization of the system. The minority leader wrote that much has changed since privatized transit failed in the first half of the 20th century.

Yet, many view public transit as a public necessity, not something that can or should be in the hands of private industry. They point to the state’s flailing healthcare and education systems as evidence for the damage that long-term under-funding or reliance on the private sector can do.

Instead, they offer an alternative view in which high ticket investments revitalize the system, adding to its appeal. Though, this can seem like a tall order within a system that has long struggled with issues like safety, crowding, and cleanliness.

Much like the school system, the legislature is forced to battle with the time required to make up for years of inaction on the issue. The last consistent funding was passed in 2013. Since its expiration, legislators have grappled over the issue.

“Our leaders need to embrace a bold, forward-thinking investment strategy for public transit as part of a comprehensive statewide transportation plan that funds roads, bridges, highways, airports and seaports,” said Bob Previdi from the organization, Save the Train. “Shapiro and Senate Republicans must find the political will to not only help SEPTA in the immediate financial crisis with their operating budget. They must also find capital dollars to help the agency transform.”

He noted that one of the reasons more people don’t rely on SEPTA is because cuts they’ve made to service have limited the frequency and subsequently – the reliability – of the service. Meanwhile, the push toward car use is daunting for city-dwellers faced with traffic, air pollution, and high costs for gas and parking.

“SEPTA is the great equalizer as it were of the city and of this region,” said Philadelphia City Councilmember Nicholas O’Rourke. “In a city as divided by race and wealth as ours happens to be, SEPTA is one of the few public goods that can still get us all to the same place on the same vehicle at a reasonable price.”