From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly’s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

On Saturday, 32 SEPTA bus routes ran for the last time, before disappearing due to service cuts.

Riders of the No. 12, which runs from 50th Street and Woodland Avenue in West Philadelphia to Second and Spruce streets in Old City, made use of its last runs for errands and social outings, all while they mourned and prepared for its loss.

“You just hear them all day saying that, ‘We got to say bye to the 12, this is real. We hope the funding go through so we can bring the line back,’” said Zellette Burdine, who has been driving the 12 bus every Saturday for the past several months.

Burdine said the issue is “bigger than her,” but she can see the impact the cuts have on riders.

“This is one of the lines where the guests always pay to get on the bus, and they utilize this bus down to Rittenhouse and all that, to get to South Street,” she said. “And so they’re really gonna miss the bus. They’re sad that it is leaving, but it’s nothing you can do about it. It’s over.”

‘The only transportation’ available

Abigail Cruz waited at her stop on the No. 12 bus route on Saturday morning, her 3-year-old daughter playing in a stroller beside her.

The mother and daughter were commuting from their home to an event at Puentes de Salud on South Street, where the organization would be giving away backpacks and back-to-school supplies.

Abigail said she always uses the No. 12 to take her daughter to school, and isn’t sure how she’ll commute once the 12, along with 31 other bus routes, is eliminated Sunday.

“Nos va a afectar y mucho”, dijo ella. “Porque es el único transporte en que nosotros nos movemos, porque pues nosotros no tenemos carro y siempre usamos el bus, el transporte público.” 

“It’s going to affect us a lot,” she said. “Because it’s the only transportation we commute on, because we don’t have a car and we always use the bus, public transportation.”

Abigail said she’s also concerned about the 30 bus, which she uses to take her daughter to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Nosotros pediríamos que sigan los buses porque como le digo, es la única manera de nosotros trasladarnos”, dijo ella. 

“We would ask that the buses continue, because like I said, it’s the only way that we get around,” she said.

Commute time doubles

In Grays Ferry, Sat Sugita gets on the eastbound 12 as she has done countless times over the past three years.

“This bus line has gotten me home at all hours of the day down to the middle of the night,” she said.

The 25-year-old said that she’s not totally surprised the 12 is being eliminated — it sometimes is empty when she taps on, especially for the eastbound trip — but it’s a “rough cut” for her. She moved to her neighborhood in part because of the 12, she said.

“The only reason I was willing to live out where I do is because I knew I had two direct bus lines that can take me to Center City and to South Philly very easily, which are critical places that I need to be at very often,” she said.

Sugita said she can still take the 64 bus, but that only goes as far west as Washington and Broad. From there, she’ll have to take the Broad Street Line, which she expects will double her commute time, upping it to more than an hour.

She said she knows other people who will be impacted by Sunday’s cuts to other routes and lines.

“So many people rely on the system to get where they need to go,” she said. “I feel like the city is going to be in dire straits because of this. Like people who need to get to work, people who need to get around, the economy, the tourism, all of it, is going to be a problem.”

‘A piece of Philadelphia is being cut from us’

Kristin Auer, 26, hopped on the westbound 12 bus Saturday to get the Broad Street Line down to FDR Park and the Southeast Asian Market.

She said the elimination of this line is “a little upsetting,” because of how convenient it is for her when she wants to get across the city, but she plans to get a bike and continue to use the L to get to work.

Her biggest concern, she said, is the cumulative impact of the cuts.

“I moved here because of SEPTA, I moved here for public transportation, and it feels like a piece of Philadelphia is being cut from us, and like it’s such an integral part of my experience here, the reason I love living here,” she said. “So it’s extremely disappointing for our local government, as well as the people in Harrisburg.”

Older adults struggle with more transfers

Veronica Ricks, 69, said she takes rideshares more often than using public transportation, but the Grays Ferry resident said a lot of people will be impacted.

“It’s going to affect a lot of seniors, because we have a lot of seniors that ride this 12 everywhere,” she said. “It’s going to impact them, because a lot of them can’t walk, like me. I can’t do a lot of walking.”

Saturday was Carl Washington’s “farewell” ride on the No. 12, a “crucial” route which the 69-year-old takes to attend evangelism classes near 50th Street and Woodland Avenue.

Washington said he will have to replace the 12 bus with three different routes, and all those extra transfers will take a toll for him and other older adults.

“It’s not good for the physical body when you have to get up and down off of more than one transportation,” Washington said. “And all buses don’t kneel, and trolleys definitely don’t.”

Cuts’ impact on students starting school Monday

Matthew Miller often takes the westbound 12 from his home in Society Hill to go to Center City.

He said he isn’t as concerned about his personal commute times because his primary transportation will still be available. But Miller, a teacher at a Kensington charter school, said he is “terrified” about how the cuts will impact his students, who start school on Monday.

“I have kids that come from all the way over in West Philly,” he said. “Are they going to be able to get to school? Am I going to suffer and lose some of my student population because of the fact that it’s going to be a very large inconvenience for them to get to school?”

One of the students on his cross country team told Miller he will now have to take four buses to get to school.

“I just don’t think Harrisburg understands how big of an impact Monday is gonna be,” he said. “We’ll survive tomorrow. Sunday’s a no brainer. It’s easy, not a lot of people are out on Sunday, but like, school starts on Monday. Businesses open back on Monday… It’s gonna be awful.”