(The following article by John M. Roman was posted on the Delaware County Times website on October 15.)
MEDIA, Pa. — Residents ranging from a college commuter to Swarthmore officials voiced their concerns Thursday night about SEPTA’s contingency plan to cut service 20 percent and raise fares 25 percent to deal with a $62 million deficit for next year.
If SEPTA doesn’t receive dedicated or adequate funding from Harrisburg to offset the operating budget shortfall, the severe cuts in city-suburban bus, trolley and regional rail service would take effect in January. All weekend service also would be dropped. More than 1,400 management and union positions would be eliminated.
Arleta Moody of Media, wearing a SEPTA pass around her neck, said she and her husband moved to this area from Pittsburgh “just so that we could ride the train” to Temple University.
“Speaking about costs and where the money in SEPTA goes is the reason why I’m here,” she said at the public hearing attended by about 20 people, eight of them taking the podium.
“I paid about $500 for this pass to get back and forth to school every day,” Moody said.
“My concern is, you know, what am I going to do next semester if you decide to cut my train if I can’t go get tutoring on the weekends?” she asked SEPTA officials.
Commuter Albert Achtert Jr. of Upper Darby asked why none of the elected state representatives in Delaware County were at the public hearing regarding the possible dismantling of the public transit system.
Achtert said the proposed cutbacks in service would pit one group of riders against another group who aren’t affected.
By cutting down evening and weekend service, “..he guy who works 9 to 5 Monday through Friday (will say), I made it, I got my train to go to work,” Achtert said. “Poor slob that works on the weekend, he’s out of luck.”
He said SEPTA’s contingency proposal wasn’t acceptable. “It will destroy the authority, and it will destroy the economy of the Philadelphia area,” Achtert said.
“This will no longer be a decent place to live or work. We cannot attract businesses and quality people to move into the area to help development here in this area if we don’t have public transportation.”
Douglass Diehl, a representative of Tri State Transit 21, a commuter advocacy group, said, “Imagine in January if the Philadelphia Eagles make it to the NFC Championship game.
“It is played here in Philadelphia at the same time a blizzard dumps a foot and a half of snow,” and the only way to get to the game is the Broad Street subway, he said.
Diehl also described a similar worst-case scenario for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Pennsylvania would be the laughing stock of the nation when only a few hundred fans show up for the games,” he said.
“Public transportation should not be an afterthought,” and only for those who can’t drive, Diehl said. “Public transportation should be thought of as a solution to highway congestion ..to bringing into our state new jobs and businesses, a way to revive depressed areas of our state by giving residents access to new jobs and businesses in nearby cities and towns.”
Swarthmore Mayor Eck Gerner and Lisa Aaron, borough council president, cited the passage of a borough resolution supporting dedicated funding for public transit in the state, specifically Senate Bill 1162 and House Bill 2697.
Judy Rice of Haverford, an official of the League of Women Voters, said, “there’s a diverse public making use of public transportation: senior citizens no longer able or wishing to drive, people with disabilities who are much more mobile today than they used to be because of public transportation, the welfare-to-work participants, students, the family with one car ..as well as the commuters we hear about every day on the radio stuck in endless traffic jams.
“All of them could make use of good public transportation if it’s available,” Rice said.
Tom Dorricott, a representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said the union doesn’t support the service cuts and fare hikes which will lead to “destruction of the regional economy,” citing the need for predictable adequate funding.