{"id":209681,"date":"2025-09-08T07:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T07:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/209681\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T07:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T07:52:09","slug":"septa-seeks-to-restore-cut-services-by-sept-14-by-tapping-into-capital-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/209681\/","title":{"rendered":"SEPTA seeks to restore cut services by Sept. 14 by tapping into capital fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"09-06-25-septa-chenyao-liu\"\/
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Penn Medicine employees wait at the Civic Center Boulevard and Convention Avenue SEPTA bus stop.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Chenyao Liu<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Pending approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, SEPTA plans to restore service on Sept. 14 by using funds originally intended for capital projects.\n<\/p>\n

SEPTA hopes to receive authorization from Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s administration to use capital funds, citing a $213 million budget deficit and a lack of funding from the state legislature as the reasons for the recent service reductions. According to a Sept. 5 letter<\/a> obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer, SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer requested approval from PennDOT Secretary Michael Carroll to use up to nearly $400 million in capital funds to continue operations and avoid service reductions over the next two years.\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was our hope that the Legislature could come to an agreement and pass into law Governor Shapiro\u2019s plan to increase recurring revenue and find a long-term solution for SEPTA,\u201d the letter read. \u201cGiven the legislative delay, and increasing fiscal pressures, we are faced with no other option than to request this waiver.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Sauer also noted in the letter that, under PennDOT regulations, capital funds may be used for operating purposes to prevent a reduction in service or a fare increase, with the Department\u2019s approval.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cSEPTA is required to continue to provide a level of service that is unsustainable without further operating funds,\u201d the letter read.\n<\/p>\n

Shapiro alongside Democratic leaders have previously stated<\/a> that they were open to using the capital funding to help fund SEPTA under the conditions that a long-term funding source be established to backfill the account.\n\t<\/p>\n

Sauer acknowledged that SEPTA is aware that transferring capital funds with no commitment to replace them is not a viable long-term solution.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are future capital dollars, which means they will not be available to us to support critical infrastructure rehabilitation and vehicle replacements in the future when they\u2019re needed,\u201d Sauer added.\n<\/p>\n

Regardless of the outcome of its appeals, Sauer said SEPTA will try to return to the pre-cut service schedule as long as PennDOT approves of using capital funds money.\n<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Shapiro told the Inquirer that his administration is \u201creviewing this request and determining next steps.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Pa. Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward shared frustration regarding pushing Shapiro to give the funds directly to the transit agencies instead of requiring a legislative solution to help SEPTA.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have done this weeks ago, and actually the governor could have done months ago,\u201d Ward said. \u201cThis has been a colossal waste of time and energy \u2014 fighting over something we knew could happen and that they agreed could happen.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Sauer remains hopeful of SEPTA\u2019s restoration plan.\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\tSign up for our newsletter<\/p>\n

Get our newsletter, DP Daybreak, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan right now is to utilize this funding to reinstitute service as quickly as possible,\u201d Sauer said. \u201cWe know we can confidently put service back on the 14th.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The decision to restore service came after a judge ruled last Thursday<\/a> that SEPTA must restore its services that were cut last month and stop any plans for new cuts. The ruling argued that the cuts implemented by SEPTA put low-income riders and minorities at a disadvantage.\n<\/p>\n

Despite the service restoration, the previously planned 21.5% fare increase<\/a> will still take effect on Sept. 14, bringing SEPTA\u2019s base price to $2.90 per ride.<\/p>\n

The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation<\/a> to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.<\/p>\n

Donate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn Medicine employees wait at the Civic Center Boulevard and Convention Avenue SEPTA bus stop. Credit: Chenyao Liu…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":209682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,8432,24255,50,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,45998],"class_list":{"0":"post-209681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-beats","10":"tag-front","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pa","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa","21":"tag-west-philly"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115167595587864522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209681","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=209681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}