SEPTA avoids cuts for another 2 years. Pa. agency grants request for SEPTA to use maintenance funds

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SEPTA will avoid cuts and restore service for another two years.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro directed PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll to give SEPTA permission to dip into $394 million in capital assistance to fund operations.

Carroll sent a letter Monday to SEPTA approving the transit agency’s request to sidestep the legislature’s budget stalemate to keep buses, trains and trolleys running.

“The Administration has been, and will continue advocating for a long-term, recurring, funding solution to ensure the Commonwealth’s transportation services can provide reliable service for Pennsylvanians to get where they need to go in a safe and efficient manner,” Carroll wrote.

The transit agency is facing a $213 million funding crisis. Starting in late August, SEPTA rolled out a number of service cuts, impacting riders across the greater Philadelphia region. Pennsylvania legislators failed to come to an agreement to fund SEPTA through the state budget.

Last week, a Philadelphia judge ordered SEPTA to reverse course on its cuts. SEPTA reached out Friday to PennDOT for what the agency called a “Band-Aid” fix. The capital funds that are generally used for maintenance and repairs will now be siphoned to keep SEPTA afloat. SEPTA should be able to restore all affected service by Sept. 14.

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks for our customers,” SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch told WHYY News. “We’ve had significant delays. We’ve had several thousand people passed up by buses that were too crowded to take them on. We’re getting into peak fall travel season here where people are fully back on their work schedules, school is in session, and we really need all that capacity out on the system. So, we’re looking forward to getting full service back next week.”

Pennsylvania’s Democratic lawmakers wanted a longer-term solution for SEPTA’s funding woes, but their Republican counterparts were resistant to such a move. But with time running out, SEPTA did not have many pathways to move forward. Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa commended Shapiro and Carroll for taking action.

“So today, the Governor and PennDOT took the last, worst step that was available and accepted SEPTA’s request to access capital funds intended to provide for safe and efficient transportation service and to divert them for operational needs to restore the transit service that Philadelphia runs on,” Costa said in a statement Monday. “This is not ideal, but is necessary, and we applaud the Shapiro Administration for taking this bold action.”

Following SEPTA’s outreach to PennDOT, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman expressed his party’s “unwavering” support for the plan Friday.

“Had our Democrat colleagues joined us in putting people over politics by supporting and advancing House Bill 257, as passed by the Senate on August 12, this money could have been utilized three weeks sooner – and there would have been no negative impacts to school children, seniors, and everyone who relies on transit services as part of their daily commutes,” Pittman said in a statement.

SEPTA is still moving forward with a 21.5% fare hike to raise revenue.

“We project that that’s going to raise approximately $31 million in new revenue, and that’s money that is critically needed to help us balance this budget,” Busch said. “We know that’s a significant amount at one time for our customers, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we’re using it to provide reliable service so that they’re getting their value out of that increase.”

WHYY’s Tom MacDonald contributed to this report.