A lack of state aid for the SEPTA is a crisis that requires immediate action from state lawmakers, Bucks County Commissioner Chairperson Bob Harvie said Wednesday.
Harvie, a Democrat who serves on the SEPTA Board of Directors, told fellow commissioners that scheduled cuts to bus and Regional Rail lines in the county would begin next week. He warned that more severe reductions, including the elimination of the Trenton Regional Rail Line, will follow in January if state funding is not secured.
“There are people who use it every day to go back and forth to work,” Harvie said. “It obviously relieves congestion on major highways and roads throughout the region. There are a lot of college students looking forward to going back to college in a week or so, maybe, maybe even this weekend, who use SEPTA to go back and forth.”
Harvie said the cuts would have economic impacts in the region, noting that reduced service could affect workers’ commutes and students’ access to educational institutions.
Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a $1.2 billion transportation plan that would fund SEPTA and other transit agencies over two years using money from the $2.2 billion Public Transportation Trust Fund. Pennsylvania House Democrats previously approved a plan that would reallocate sales tax revenue to fund SEPTA. Democrats in the General Assembly have come out against the GOP Senate majority’s transit spending plan.
The funding crisis extends beyond SEPTA to other transportation agencies across Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh and rural areas, that rely on state support.
Harvie said the southeastern region represents about 40 percent of the state’s economic production and that SEPTA purchases supplies, equipment, and services from nearly every county in the state.
Despite cost-cutting measures that saved between $32 million and $33 million, Harvie said the savings fall far short of closing the $213 million gap that threatens the authority’s operations.
Cost-saving measures included eliminating some higher-paying positions, changing purchasing policies, cutting travel reimbursements, and reinstating parking fees at stations.
SEPTA has also been raising fares that had been frozen during the pandemic.
“The problems that SEPTA is facing were there before I got there,” said Harvie, who joined the board about a year and a half ago. “However, that does not close a $200 million gap.”
Harvie placed the responsibility on state lawmakers. He added that Gov. Josh Shapiro and the state House have developed multiple funding proposals he supports.
“It is time for those in Harrisburg whose job it is to provide for this commonwealth to do that job,” Harvie said. “There’s no other way to say it.”
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat, has called a recent GOP transit spending plan a “cynical shell game,” while State Sen. Frank Farry, a Republican, has supported the GOP Senate plan, calling it an option that allows more time to fix the longterm transit funding problem while keeping SEPTA running normally.
“It is time for those in Harrisburg whose job it is to provide for this commonwealth to do that job,” Harvie said. “There’s no other way to say it.”
Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo, a Republican who served 15 years in the state House of Representatives, called for compromise in Harrisburg. He noted that Pennsylvania currently has divided government, with Republicans controlling the Senate and Democrats holding the governor’s office and House majority.
“Compromise is not a bad word,” DiGirolamo said. “In Harrisburg, they have divided government. Republicans are in control of the Senate. Democrats have a Democratic governor in control of the House. There’s a compromise there to be made, and I hope they get to it pretty quickly.”
DiGirolamo recalled his legislative experience to talk about successful budget negotiations that happened when disagreeing parties reach a workable solution.
The SEPTA funding crisis comes as Pennsylvania continues to operate without a finalized state budget, which has created uncertainty for county and state programs and services that depend on state funding.
The potential service cuts would affect one of the largest transportation systems in the country, which serves millions of riders annually across the five-county Philadelphia region and parts of Delaware and New Jersey.
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