A Crossroads for Public Transit in Our City and State

STEWARDS OF OUR EARTH

All of God’s Creation

Social Justice Committee, Holy Cross Parish, Mt. Airy, July 13, 2025

Pennsylvania blew through its budget deadline for the third year in a row on June 30. One of the main questions holding up consensus is the future of public transportation in Philadelphia and the Commonwealth. If mass transit is not funded, SEPTA will have no choice but to implement its “doomsday budget,” which would eliminate the Chestnut Hill West and four other regional rail lines as well as several bus lines; reduce service across all remaining modes of transit; raise fares by 20%; and impose a 9 pm curfew on all rail service. 

Transit agencies across Pennsylvania were hit hard by the decline in ridership during the pandemic as well as the expiration of Act 89 in 2022 which provided a dedicated funding source for transit, roads, and bridges. Since then, the Governor as well as lawmakers from transit-dependent areas have demanded a replacement funding source. However, the Senate leadership has yet to specify what exactly they want from SEPTA in exchange for a budget consensus. 

We at the Save the Train coalition have been working tirelessly for a successful outcome for the nearly 800,000 daily riders who rely on SEPTA. We’re in for a long fight and need the State to act now. We can’t settle for kicking the can down the road. 

On June 26, “SEPTA adopted a budget that will slash nearly half its transit service as it wrestles with a $213 million annual deficit — and cloudy prospects for new funding from Harrisburg…. SEPTA will start a first round of service cuts in August under the plan and implement a 21.5% fare increase on September 1. Deeper cuts to services will be triggered January 1, including elimination of five Regional Rail lines…. SEPTA is required by law to have a balanced budget. Its leaders say they need to get going on solutions and can’t wait for lawmakers to finish.” (Thomas Fitzgerald, Staff Writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/27/25)  

Our Save the Train non-partisan coalition has made every argument under the sun for fully funding mass transit and saving SEPTA. Public transit is the economic engine that drives our region and the commonwealth; it keeps us from drowning in even more traffic; it’s (on good days) the easiest way to get around; and it’s key to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and protecting the environment. 

More than getting us from point A to point B, public transit is the rare institution that binds together the working, middle, and upper classes in shared spaces. It allows us easier access to participate in family and community activities, and education and health services, not to mention our jobs. In an age of increasing physical, emotional, and spiritual isolation, public transit provides a way for people to stay connected with one another. 

I encourage you to tell our state legislators what losing SEPTA will mean to you and encourage them to fully fund it. We have resources at savethetrain.org to help you contact the people who will determine the future of public transit and our region.  

Thanks to Joe O’Brien who contributed this column. Comments on this column may be directed to the Social Justice Committee at socialjustice@holycrossphl.org. Click here for column archive.