(The Daily Local posted the following article by Jessica McRorie on its website on May 15.)
WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Roughly a dozen people testified during the two SEPTA public hearings held in the borough Wednesday.The transit agency announced the elimination or decrease of service of a number of bus and rail services following Gov. Ed Rendell s state budget cut of $55 million to the operating budget.
Bus and rail routes in Chester County in danger of being altered or eliminated include the 92, 133, 118, 119, 203 and the R5 Paoli-Thorndale service, according to the Transportation Management Association of Chester County.
Douglas Boyer of West Chester takes the 92 bus to his job at Immaculata University in East Whiteland, he said.
If he can t get to work “I will lose my job,” testified Boyer.
William Hairston s testimony was brief and simple but to the point.
“I have to be at work in the morning,” he said.
Hairston, a resident of West Chester, said that both he and his wife depend on several SEPTA buses to get them to their jobs.
He uses the 92, 206 and 204 to get to his job in Malvern, he said.
Tim Mindock of Coatesville wanted to know if service along the R5 route would improve, he said.
“I want to know if I pay more, where is it going?” he said.
SEPTA senior director of budgets, Richard G. Burnfield, said that some of the rail cars on that route will be replaced.
“We will replace those vehicles but that will be several years away,” he said.
Improving the tracks is difficult because they are owned by Amtrak, he said.
John Wireman of Philadelphia asked that no rail service be eliminated.
“Once a rail line is discontinued, the service is gone forever,” he said.
It is easier to reinstate a bus line after a budget crisis, he said.
Wireman testified that the could understand the dilemma that faces SEPTA but “in general I despise the service cuts.”
Mark E. Cassel read a letter to the board signed by Tim Phelps, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater West Chester.
“I have serious concerns with the SEPTA proposal,” read Cassel.
The cuts could have a impact on the Chester County work force, which has had an increasing need for public transportation, read Cassel. The cuts may also cause unemployment and alternative transportation at higher costs.