Funding SEPTA: A Matter of Justice

Photo Courtesy of WHYY

By Anthony Martin

Every evening on my walk from Drexel’s library, I watch packed SEPTA buses pass by. Many are packed with healthcare workers from nearby hospitals and riders returning from medical appointments. Many are packed with students returning from college. Others are traveling to restaurants in Center City or a Flyers game. Over 750,000 rides are taken on public transit daily through SEPTA.

But on some walks, I cannot help but wonder: what if Philadelphia’s frequent service was drastically reduced, or even eliminated? My thoughts may soon become a dreadful reality, as SEPTA faces a $213 million operating budget crisis. Without proper funding, the agency will cut service by 45% by eliminating five Regional Rail lines, 50 bus routes, and all rail service after 9 PM, in addition to raising fares a further 21.5%. SEPTA is also forced to defer $2 billion in their capital budget, preventing much-needed system improvements.

Even with ridership continuously growing since the pandemic,  the agency lacks a sustainable funding source and is less funded than peer agencies, including those in Washington and Atlanta. Although Governor Shapiro proposed a funding solution to the agency and transit in Pennsylvania, a similar proposal fell short three times in the Pennsylvania Senate last year. Service cuts and fare increases will slash ridership nearly in half by 350 thousand, causing a death spiral of more service cuts and fare increases, further decreasing ridership. Deferred capital projects will prevent SEPTA from serving new customers who need service. Providing adequate funding is not just a matter of convenience: it is a matter of justice. 

There are five questions that must be asked surrounding justice, and properly funding SEPTA is a solution to each.

Can you travel when you need to?

Transit enables people to live their daily lives. Many Philadelphia and suburban residents either cannot afford a car or live too far to walk or bike to work, leaving SEPTA as their only option. A fare increase of 21.5% will cut riders off from the service, and even for those who afford it, routes being shortened or cut can eliminate SEPTA as an option, trapping them from their daily lives. 

Many SEPTA services, including all buses, most Market-Frankford Line [L] stations, and Paratransit, are ADA accessible. However, Subway-Surface Trolleys [T] and Media-Sharon Hill Line [D] are fully inaccessible. SEPTA plans to fix this through their Trolley Modernization Program; however, the program is only half funded. Many other stations on Regional Rail and the Broad Street Line [B] are inaccessible, and due to capital budget constraints, accessibility improvements throughout the system, including Noble on the West Trenton Line and Lombard-South on the B, have been deferred from the FY26-37 capital program. Failure to fully fund these programs will reinforce mobility restrictions and prevent people from traveling where they need to.

Can you access sufficient medical care? 

Limiting service to hospitals prevents people from accessing appointments and doctors from providing treatments, reducing access to sufficient medical care. SEPTA provides frequent service to hospitals and healthcare facilities, including Jefferson Hospital, blocks from Jefferson Station. Drastic problems will arise with the elimination of five Regional Rail lines and the 9 PM rail curfew, and the loss of the Broad-Ridge Spur [B3] will cause conflict for patients needing accessible transit from North Philadelphia. For hospitals at the University of Pennsylvania, including CHOP, removing the Wilmington/Newark Line and Route 30 will isolate patients and workers from traveling there. 

Can you form community?

Limiting access to schools and social hotspots unfairly isolates people, preventing them from forming healthy communities, making a change, and finding belonging. 

For children, community starts at school, and many K-12 students use SEPTA to get there for free via the K-12 Student Pass Program.  SEPTA operates 27 school-specific bus routes, with many other routes adjacent to schools. However, 10 school-specific routes will be cut, and three will be shortened, isolating students from peers, extracurriculars, and education. SEPTA also serves social hotspots including restaurants, community meetings, and open houses. Many of these rides occur at night, and the 9 PM curfew renders impossible for many to attend community events. 

Can you have fun?

 By cutting services, people will have less access to fun and healthy outdoor activities.  SEPTA provides popular services to South Philadelphia Sports Complex events, recently facilitating 65,000 fans to Eagles’ games during their Super Bowl run. The 9 PM curfew on Metro and Regional Rail will eliminate this service for 170 annual nighttime events, disrupting hundreds of thousands of fans from having fun engaging in Philadelphia culture. 

For those seeking the outdoors, SEPTA connects people to parks, including Wissahickon Valley Park and Valley Forge National Historic Park. Suspending Route 1 will prevent travel from the Northeast to Wissahickon Valley Park, and shortening Route 125 will limit Philadelphia and Wissahickon residents from Valley Forge Park.

Can you have a job and have fair pay? 

SEPTA employs over 5,400 people working in service delivery, including operators, clerks, cashiers, and maintenance workers, all who rely on fair, sustainable wages to own property, access medical care, and live their best lives. SEPTA will institute a complete hiring freeze in September 2025, preventing prospective employees from finding a job. Further, the agency may need to cut staff in the spring, although the extent is still unclear.  Without sustainable funding, not only are workers continuously forced to struggle with the increased cost of living, SEPTA is instituting a wage freeze, further preventing SEPTA employees from having better wages. 

Many other people including doctors, teachers, night shift workers, and arena workers will not be able to easily access their jobs, forcing them to pay more for Uber or buy a car, reducing the power of their wages. For nighttime workers specifically, 19,000Philadelphia workers will be left stranded, including 7,100 food service workers.

With SEPTA and their riders in crisis, the state must step up and pass sufficient transit funding. They must pass it for riders going about their daily lives to have medical care, community, and fun. They must pass it for operators, who continuously fight for better wages. Time is almost gone to find a sustainable funding source before detrimental service cuts and fare increases.

I hope when I make my last walk home from the library before graduating, I will reflect on my thoughts as a scare rather than the beginning of SEPTA’s collapse. I hope I will still see packed buses with Philadelphians accessing world-class transit. But now, that hope is in grave danger. Immediate action is essential to enable hundreds of thousands of riders who rely on SEPTA daily to live their best lives. 

Anthony Martin is a third-year undergraduate student at Drexel University majoring in philosophy, politics and economics. He was the sustainability co-op at SEPTA throughout the spring and summer of 2024. Anthony wrote this piece for his Theories of Justice class this past fall and has since added updates to include specific service cuts announced by SEPTA this month.