SEPTA says it will increase fares by 21.5% and close some routes

SEPTA will raise fares by nearly 30% by January and prepare to close dozens of routes after the state Legislature declined to approve a funding increase for the beleaguered agency.

The measures are expected to cause a 23% drop in ridership and revenue, and lead to a “death spiral” of further fare increases and service cuts, making public transit “no longer relevant” in Philadelphia and the region, says Chief Operating Officer Scott. Sauer said Tuesday.

“We have been pushed to a position where we can address the decline of SEPTA, the public transportation system that serves one of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas and powers the economy of our region and the Commonwealth,” Sauer said at a news conference . conference.

“While other states invest in new services and infrastructure, we will idle our vehicles and close our stations. Rail lines will become so rare that they will be useless to most of our customers,” he said.

The five-county transit agency has been warning for months that the end of federal pandemic relief has left a $240 million annual budget shortfall that would lead to higher fares and reduced service unless the state steps in with a permanent funding increase.

In February, as part of annual budget negotiations, Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed directing more sales tax revenue to transportation agencies across the state, including an additional $161 million annually for SEPTA.

The Republican-led Senate declined to take up the measure or an alternative idea to fund transit and transportation a new tax on video slot machines. The last scheduled sitting day of the year for parliament is Wednesday, making it unlikely that a last-minute rescue plan will be presented.

“This is the result of inaction. This is the result of the lack of a long-term financing solution,” said Sauer. “All of our stakeholders and all of our legislative allies have worked extremely hard to get a solution across the finish line. It didn’t happen.”

The move comes as SEPTA also faces a possible strike from the transit workers union, whose contract expired last week. The agency wants to agree to a “fair contract,” Sauer said, but cannot do so without the promise of more state funding.

SEPTA COO Scott Sauer discusses planned fare increases for public transportation during a press conference on Tuesday, November 12, 2024. (Meir Rinde/Billy Penn)

Some regional rail lines are being discontinued

SEPTA was already planning a relatively modest rate increasethe first in seven years, which will increase ride prices by an average of 7.5% from December 1. The increase announced on Tuesday will increase rates by another 21.5% on January 1.

The combined effect will be to increase the fare for rides within Philadelphia to $2.90, up from $2.50 for the current base fare and from $2 when paying with SEPTA Key or an app. A weekly TransPass will go from $25.50 to $31, and a monthly one from $96 to $116.

On Regional Rail, weekday single fares will increase from $4 to $5 for a trip in Zone 1, $5.50 to $6.50 for Zone 2, $6.50 to $7.75 for Zone 3 and $7.50 to $8.75 for Zone 4. Trail pass increases include a new $69.75 price for the weekly Anywhere pass and $255 for monthly Anywhere passes, up from $204 now.

SEPTA installed a full list of proposed increases ahead of scheduled public hearings on the changes. These will take place on December 13 at 10am and 4pm at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Taking into account the expected decline in ridership, the higher fares will result in a $23 million increase in revenue for SEPTA in fiscal year 2025 and $45 million the following year, officials said. They will get the agency through this year, but will not close the structural budget gap.

Sauer, who will become interim general manager of SEPTA later this month when the agency’s current leader, Leslie Richards, steps down, said a 20% cut to service is still being finalized and will be announced in early 2025.

“Dozens of routes will be eliminated, and those that remain will operate at significantly reduced frequency,” he said. “I’m not just talking about bus lines or even just about rail lines. It’s everywhere. It’s the entire system, every mode of transportation, every county we serve, is going to see cuts.”

SEPTA COO Scott Sauer discusses planned fare increases for public transportation during a press conference on Tuesday, November 12, 2024. (Meir Rinde/Billy Penn)

“We will continue to have a version of each mode, but… depending on the severity of the outage, some customers will simply not be able to use them. And the service that remains behind can be so busy that there is not room for everyone. So there’s also that effect, that there’s so much demand for whatever we’re putting out there, that we’re leaving people behind,” he said.

Democratic state Rep. Ben Waxman, who represents parts of Philadelphia, has said he expects there to be at least two regional rail lines close completely and several others will be shortened and run fewer trains. Community activists in Northwest Philly have said they fear the Chestnut Hill West Line could be the first to go as it has historically had low passenger numbers.

When asked if the agency will also lay off staff at its headquarters on Market Street in Center City, Sauer said nothing is off the table at this time, including layoffs and salary cuts.

No financing “flex” to save

Democratic lawmakers and transit advocates have raised growing concerns in recent months about the dwindling prospects for a state budget correction for SEPTA.

On Tuesday, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier blamed “Republicans in Harrisburg” for the crisis and called on them to “prevent this irreversible death spiral.”

“My constituents in West and Southwest Philadelphia rely on SEPTA to get to work, school, health care and other essential businesses. Reliable public transport is absolutely essential to the economic success of both my constituents and the Commonwealth. “I shudder to think about the catastrophic damage that will be done if SEPTA’s proposed fare increases and service cuts go into effect,” she said.

She called on the Senate to pass House Bill 2625, which passed in the Democratic-led House. It would increase the percentage of sales and use tax collections transferred to the state’s Public Transportation Trust Fund from 4.4% to 6.15%, along the lines of Shapiro’s proposal.

The House of Representatives has passed the funding plan three times this year, Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder said.

“The Governor believes it is high time that the Senate send this funding to his desk to support public transportation throughout the Commonwealth, stimulate economic growth, and ensure Pennsylvanians get to their destination safely and efficiently.” destination,” he said.

As an emergency measure, the Transit Forward Philadelphia The advocacy coalition says Shapiro should use his executive authority to shift some federal highway funding to public transportation, as Gov. Ed Rendell did in 2005 during a previous budget impasse, and threatened to do in 2010.

The group says the money could go to SEPTA’s capital projects budget and free up some dollars for operations, allowing the agency to delay fare increases and service cuts.

Bonder declined to comment on whether Shapiro is considering “loosening” federal funding, and Sauer said he had never heard of such plans.

“I am aware that something like this happened years ago, but I am not aware at this time of anything specific coming out of Harrisburg,” he said.

He said the budget crisis will not immediately impact capital projects that have already been funded $724 million contract to replace cars on the Markt-Frankford El.

“Heartbreaking” decline for legendary transit service

SEPTA had previously said that rate increases and service cuts would not be announced until 2025 if Shapiro and the Legislature failed to agree on a budget increase. The announcement ultimately came the same day the Senate held its first meeting since the election, but Sauer said it wasn’t the right time to pressure the Legislature to act.

‘I’m not here to deliver a message. I’m here to convey to our clients and our attorneys, to anyone who needs to know, that this is the result. This is the ‘fiscal cliff’ we’ve been talking about for years. This is the end. Without a permanent financing solution, this will happen early next year,” he said.

Sauer noted that he started at SEPTA as a train operator 34 years ago, and that his father also worked for the agency.

“This is the family business. This is what my family does. This is what many SEPTA families are doing,” he said. “Without SEPTA, I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you today, and there are so many people like me, so it’s completely heartbreaking to see us in a state of disrepair. That doesn’t have to happen.”

He argued that SEPTA staff have “done our part” to overcome several challenges in recent years, including maintaining service during the pandemic, increasing cleaning and safety efforts to combat a wave of crime and disorder in the system, and to cope with inflation that was increasing the cost of fuel, power and supplies.

Serious crime is down, customer service scores and passenger numbers are up compared to during the pandemic, and the agency has been promoting long-term initiatives such as the redesign of the Bus Revolution network – although that now needs to be scaled back, he said. It has reduced costs and increased revenues by reintroducing parking charges at regional train station sites.

“We want a more reliable service for our customers. We want to grow. We want to do the opposite of what we are proposing here today,” Sauer said.

“If we allow SEPTA to go over the ‘fiscal cliff’ and force massive fare increases and service cuts, it will result in a net loss to our society,” he said. “Less transit, a less economically productive, socially just and environmentally sustainable region helps no one.”