(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – A Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus (SEPTA) is driven on Market Street in Philadelphia, Oct. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A last-ditch effort to prevent half of all public transit services from being eliminated in the Philadelphia region passed Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Monday, as a roughly $1 billion Democratic-backed funding plan advanced toward an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled state Senate.
The bill — which includes funding for highways, too — increases aid for transit agency operations by $292 million, or about 25% more, with the lion’s share of the money going to the Philadelphia-based Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.
SEPTA has said it cannot keep waiting for more aid and must start making cuts in the coming days, which it says will be more drastic than any undertaken by a major transit agency in the United States.
The nation’s sixth-largest public transit system has warned that it will cut half its services by Jan. 1 and be unable to provide enhanced service for major tourist events next year. Those include FIFA World Cup matches in Philadelphia, events surrounding the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday, Major League Baseball’s all-star game, the PGA Championship and NCAA March Madness games.
The legislation passed in the House by 108-95 over the objection of nearly every Republican in the chamber. It has the support of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, but Republican senators have resisted increasing aid for transit.
The deadline push comes after two years of stalemate, and as transit agencies nationwide struggle with rising costs and lagging ridership.
SEPTA has said that on Thursday it will begin a 10-day preparation period for 20% across-the-board service cuts. Those take effect Aug. 24 and include eliminating bus routes with lower ridership and reducing the frequency of bus, trolley and rail services across the region.
Under the plan, fares will then rise by 21.5% on Sept. 1 and, soon after, the agency will impose a hiring freeze. It will carry out another service cut on Jan. 1 that will mean that it will have eliminated half its current services, it has said.
Democrats say shoring up public transit agencies around the state is critical to the economy and making sure people can get to work, school and medical appointments.
Republicans have objected that transit agencies need to become more efficient, highways need more state funding and transit riders should pay higher fares.
Transit agencies in Pittsburgh and elsewhere around Pennsylvania also say they are making cuts or raising fares, or both.
Under the bill, an extra 1.75 percentage points of state sales tax revenue — from 4.4% to 6.15% — would go toward a public transit fund to help pay for the operations of several dozen transit systems around the state. The increase represents about $292 million.
Democrats inserted several other provisions into the bill in a bid to pick up Republican votes.
That includes funding up to $325 million in borrowing authority for highway projects, allocating $275 million for improvements to smaller, rural roads and commissioning the creation of performance standards for the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh transit agencies.
