{"id":957155,"date":"2026-07-24T23:04:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/957155\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T23:04:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:04:18","slug":"septa-funding-uncertainty-looms-after-pa-budget-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/957155\/","title":{"rendered":"SEPTA funding uncertainty looms after PA budget approval"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

After a summer that showcased SEPTA\u2019s ability to move record crowds, advocates worry the momentum could be threatened because the new state budget again failed to provide dedicated transit funding.\n<\/p>\n

SEPTA transported more than 155,000 riders to and from FIFA World Cup matches in June and July, a total about 60% higher than the average Philadelphia Eagles game in 2025, according to the agency.\n<\/p>\n

Hours after Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Pennsylvania\u2019s 2026-27 budget into law on July 12 without additional funding for public transit, Studio 34 in West Philadelphia hosted \u201cDoors Are Opening: A SEPTA Healing,\u201d a live community performance event where transit riders were invited to express their SEPTA experiences through stories, poetry and music.\n <\/p>\n

Community gathers around transit<\/p>\n

At the event, organized by Philadelphia physician Michal Pearl Waldfogel and advocacy group Transit Forward Philadelphia, participants came together over their successes and failures with SEPTA \u2014 a common ground shared by countless Philadelphians.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you ride transit, you are figuratively and literally along for the ride \u2014 so you have to be flexible,\u201d said Rebecca Lopez Kriss, who performed at the event.\n<\/p>\n

After living in the city for 15 years, having come from an area with fewer public transportation options, she said she is proud to be a transit enthusiast and admires the culture that comes with riding SEPTA.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who don\u2019t know Philadelphia don\u2019t know how special it is here,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople really care.\u201d
\n\"OnA transit enthusiast takes the stage to perform music about SEPTA. (Chelsea Lubbe for WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

Waldfogel, a fourth-generation Philadelphian, said she wrote a song in 2012 as a way to channel her frustration with transit while making light of SEPTA\u2019s slogan at the time: \u201cWe\u2019re Getting There<\/a>.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019We\u2019re Getting There\u2019 speaks to the honesty of Philadelphia, that we\u2019re not trying to be something that we\u2019re not,\u201d Waldfogel said. \u201cIt\u2019s saying, \u2018There is room for improvement, but at least we\u2019re being honest about it.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In response to her song, she found a community of similarly frustrated riders who wanted to reach out to share their experiences, too. As a naturopathic doctor, Waldfogel said she believes that transit is a public health issue, and without adequate funding, high-population areas such as Southeastern Pennsylvania are put at risk.
\n\"OnStephen Bronskill, a Transit Forward Philadelphia organizer, led the audience through a SEPTA trivia game. (Chelsea Lubbe for WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

Stephen Bronskill, a representative for Transit Forward Philadelphia, told the Studio 34 audience that the newly signed state budget again omitted additional transit funding. Bronskill said SEPTA was forced to restore service that had been slated for cuts<\/a> by relying on its own budget after lawmakers failed to provide additional funding. That stopgap funding will expire in July 2027, leaving the agency to face another fiscal cliff unless the state acts.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not look like they got to a position where those cuts would be averted in the future,\u201d Bronskill said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":957156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,1311,30814,15940,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,21490],"class_list":["post-957155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-250","tag-septa","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116977459877053263","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957155","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=957155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}