SEPTA’s short-term funding fix: How we got here and what’s next

After months of delay in Harrisburg over the budget and weeks of delays for riders, SEPTA now has operational funding in place. 

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced Monday morning that the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Agency’s request to use up to $394 million in capital assistance funds for daily operations for the next two years has been approved. 

The move comes weeks after SEPTA, which faces a $213 million budget shortfall, had begun implementing severe service cuts as the state legislature’s failure to pass a state budget has now gone beyond the two-month mark – and following a court ruling late last week ordering the agency to halt the dramatic cuts. 

And while SEPTA’s request appears similar to a spending plan passed by the Republican-controlled state Senate last month, the use of nearly $400 million in capital funds isn’t exactly the same as the GOP proposal. 

The Shapiro administration said the use of Public Transportation Trust Fund dollars to support daily operations is a short-term solution that comes with an agreement that no major capital projects will be delayed – and with an assumption that a long-term funding source will be established to replenish the capital project account. 

In a letter to SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer, PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll gave the green light to SEPTA’s request, which aims to use state capital assistance dollars to prevent service reductions, fare increases and a projected operating budget deficit. 

“Unfortunately, Senate Republicans have refused to agree to a long-term solution that provides certainty and does not also unfairly raid mass transit capital dollars for unrelated expenditures – and the Shapiro Administration believes Pennsylvanians who rely on SEPTA deserve service that helps them get to work, school, or wherever they need to go,” Carroll said in the letter dated Sept. 8. 

The letter also said SEPTA must guarantee that its use of Public Transportation Trust Fund funds will not result in the deferral of existing capital projects, arguing the Senate GOP’s spending plan – which would draw dollars from the PTTF without such discretion – would fail to meet the needs of the commonwealth’s public transit systems.

Shapiro and Harrisburg Democrats pushed back on the Senate proposal, arguing that pulling funds from PTTF without a plan to replace them would rob money from much-needed capital projects to fund operating costs while shifting additional funds away from transit toward maintenance of rural roads and bridges. In Southeastern Pennsylvania alone, Sauer has said SEPTA, which has approximately $10 billion in deferred repairs across its system, has already deferred or descoped 44 projects due to inadequate capital funding. 

When SEPTA and Pittsburgh Regional Transit said last week they would seek to get approval of PTTF funds, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman responded that using capital funds without diverting General Fund dollars is “what we have been unwavering advocates for (for) the last several months.”

“While it is encouraging to see the hardships caused by the Democrats’ manufactured crisis coming to an end, it is worth pointing out the only things House and Senate Democrats still haven’t voiced support for are safety and accountability reforms to go along with the transit funding,” Pittman said in a statement. “Senate Republicans will continue to fight for implementation of safety and accountability measures to protect those who rely on transit. It is our hope that over the next two years SEPTA and PRT utilize this time to implement reforms and efficiencies to help ensure their long-term viability.” 

Carroll said in Monday’s letter that the Senate spending plan “would have required these systems to utilize their capital funding over two fiscal years to fill the gap without a revenue source to replace the lost funding they are already relying on for capital projects.” 

“(This) bill would have taken existing resources out of the PTTF, in the amount of $419 million, and sent them to the Motor License Fund for road paving projects,” Carroll said. “While PennDOT and the Shapiro Administration support funding for road repair projects and have allocated significant resources to that work, we do not believe utilizing mass transit funding for such purposes is sound public policy.”

SEPTA has said, following service cuts that began the week of Aug. 24, that it would take at least a week for the agency to get back to normal operations. But according to spokesperson Andrew Busch, SEPTA expects to restore service by Sept. 14 – assuming PennDOT’s approval. 

A planned 21.5% fare increase will take effect the same day, bringing SEPTA’s base price to $2.90 per ride, Sauer said at a news conference at the authority’s Market Street headquarters Friday afternoon. Approval of the capital funds is also on the condition that SEPTA share its “structural challenges” and report to PennDOT every 120 days with details on the steps being taken to improve efficiency. 

“Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen the devastating effects the service cuts have had on our riders,” Sauer said, adding that the number of bus trips running late was up 26% last week compared to normal conditions. “Our riders deserve better, and they deserve stability.”

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.