Exclusive: Attorney who filed lawsuit over SEPTA service cuts plans to file over fare increases
Exclusive: Attorney who filed lawsuit over SEPTA service cuts plans to file over fare increases
02:41
The same attorney who filed the lawsuit over SEPTA service cuts is going to file another lawsuit over the recent fare increases.
Earlier this month, a judge ruled SEPTA had to restore service cuts and could not implement any more.
While SEPTA complied, it is appealing the ruling. The judge did allow the agency to proceed with fare increases across the entire system, and those higher prices started on Sept. 14, but in an exclusive interview, attorney George Bochetto told CBS News Philadelphia those fare hikes are illegal.
“SEPTA is obliged by statute to give the citizens the right to ask questions and to get answers at the hearings,” Bochetto said.
He said he’s filing a class action lawsuit in the next week because, according to a state statute, SEPTA did not hold adequate public hearings that allowed for questions from riders and answers from SEPTA officials before the fare increase.
Bochetto showed a video in court earlier this month when he argued the service cuts were illegal because he said the video shows that SEPTA did not allow the public to ask questions and receive answers. The video shows SEPTA rider and longtime consumer advocate, Lance Haver, repeatedly asking SEPTA officials questions about funding. Bochetto said Haver was eventually escorted from the hearing.
“SEPTA in its hearings has just completely disregarded its statutory obligations to allow citizens to ask those kind of crucial questions so that they can be put forth in a public forum,” he said.
SEPTA declined to comment because the lawsuit has not yet been filed.
Unlike the emergency hearings that reversed the service cuts, this would likely be a much lengthier process.
Once the lawsuit is filed, a judge has to confirm it meets the criteria of a class action lawsuit and then proceedings can begin.
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