{"id":135403,"date":"2025-08-10T22:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T22:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/135403\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T22:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T22:20:10","slug":"time-to-act-is-now-on-septa-funding-shapiro-says-metro-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/135403\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Time to act is now\u2019 on SEPTA funding, Shapiro says \u2013 Metro Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"SEPTA\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks about public transit funding during a news conference Sunday, Aug. 10, at SEPTA headquarters. <\/p>\n

JACK TOMCZUK<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro met Sunday with SEPTA officials and again called on leaders in the Republican-controlled state Senate to approve new funding for public transit, just days before a deadline to avoid service reductions in the Philadelphia region.<\/p>\n

SEPTA said last week that funding would need to be in place by Thursday<\/a> to prevent an initial round of cuts, including the elimination of 32 bus routes<\/a>, beginning Aug. 24.<\/p>\n

Late last year, Shapiro \u2018flexed\u2019 federal highway funds<\/a> to stall SEPTA\u2019s death spiral. The governor and lawmakers, in a prior budget cycle, agreed to a one-time influx of dollars to keep transit systems afloat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are past the point of short-term stopgap measures,\u201d Shapiro said Sunday. \u201cIt is time to have recurring long-term revenue for SEPTA and for the other mass transit agencies across Pennsylvania, and the time to act is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro and his family hail from Montgomery County, and he said his teenage son Reuben recently asked why a deal had not been reached yet to secure SEPTA\u2019s finances.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA big piece of what\u2019s holding it up is there are some folks who don\u2019t believe in funding our buses and our trolleys and our trains and our subways,\u201d he added. \u201cMy 14-year-old looked up and just said, \u2018How are people supposed to get to work, Dad?\u2019 He got it. He understood it.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople instinctively understand that, here in Philadelphia and I would argue, all across Pennsylvania, mass transit is critical.\u201d
\n\"\"Autumn Fingerhood, a Fox Chase resident, speaks about the impact of SEPTA cuts during a news conference Sunday, Aug. 10.JACK TOMCZUK\n<\/p>\n

Autumn Fingerhood, a Fox Chase resident, is wondering how her 15-year-old daughter is going to get to school. Her bus route is among those slated to be axed, just a day before public school students return to class<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is going to drop my daughter off and pick her up? Am I supposed to quit my job?\u201d said Fingerhood, who works for Aramark at the South Philadelphia sports complex and is a member of UNITE HERE Local 274.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the dilemmas that not just my daughter, but hundreds of thousands of families are facing because they don\u2019t seem to care about the working people and our children,\u201d she added. Fingerhood spoke alongside Shapiro at Sunday\u2019s news conference.<\/p>\n

In addition to the eliminated routes, SEPTA intends to shorten 16 bus lines; end all special event service, such as the Broad Street Line\u2019s Sports Express; and reduce frequency across-the-board later this month.<\/p>\n

Absent new funding, the authority plans to institute a fare increase Sept. 1, with the base rate for bus, trolley and subway riders rising to $2.90, up from $2.50.\n<\/p>\n

More cuts are set for January, including the termination of five Regional Rail lines, the Broad-Ridge Spur and 18 more bus routes. Trains, including subway lines, would stop running at 9 p.m.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact will not be limited just to SEPTA\u2019s customers,\u201d Scott Sauer, the authority\u2019s general manager, said Sunday. \u201cFor tens of thousands of riders, SEPTA will no longer be a viable option, and many who can afford to drive will do so, adding to the congestion that\u2019s on our roadways already. Everyone will feel this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer, left, speaks about transit funding alongside Gov. Josh Shapiro during a news conference Monday, Aug. 10.JACK TOMCZUK<\/p>\n

In all, SEPTA\u2019s doomsday budget<\/a> cuts nearly half of all of its transit service to close a $215 million annual budget deficit that officials say was spurred by the end of federal COVID-19 relief dollars and rising costs.<\/p>\n

Senate GOP leadership has no more excuses, said South Philadelphia state Rep. Jordan Harris, chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee. He told reporters Sunday that the House plans to pass another transit funding package Monday.<\/p>\n

It would be the fifth time the lower chamber, where Democrats hold a slim majority, has approved legislation boosting transit funding. The efforts have not gained the necessary traction in the Senate.<\/p>\n

The latest attempt incorporates transparency and accountability measures championed by GOP state Sen. Joe Picozzi, of Northeast Philadelphia, alongside funding for public transportation and rural highways and bridges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat bill actually took all that we\u2019ve heard publicly from Senate Republicans on what they wanted to see as far as transparency, accountability,\u201d Harris added. \u201cWe took all of that \u2013 their language \u2013 and put it into one piece of legislation that also included mass transit funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"State Rep. Jordan Harris, chair of the Appropriations Committee, speaks during a news conference calling on GOP state Senate leaders to pass transit funding legislation Monday, Aug. 4, outside Lincoln High School.JACK TOMCZUK \/ METRO FILE<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Republican Senate majority did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.<\/p>\n

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, of Westmoreland County, on Saturday recalled her colleagues for a voting session Tuesday. Local Democrats had been demanding senators return to Harrisburg<\/a>, though it is not clear whether a vote will be held on transit funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that we ensure the needs of Pennsylvanians are addressed by helping schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other services,\u201d Ward said on social media.\n<\/p>\n

Shapiro declined to comment on the specifics of the negotiations. Pennsylvania\u2019s budget was due June 30, and the sides remain in daily contact, he added.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working my heart out,\u201d Shapiro said, surrounded by labor leaders and more than a dozen Philadelphia-based state lawmakers inside SEPTA\u2019s Center City headquarters. \u201cI\u2019m working my tail off to try and get this done with everything I got, with everything my team\u2019s got.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks about public transit funding during a news conference Sunday, Aug. 10, at SEPTA headquarters.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":135404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1258,10577,1448,2830,1311,15940,11900,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-135403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-funding","10":"tag-josh-shapiro","11":"tag-pa","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-septa","15":"tag-transit","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115006801643824213","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}