(The following story by Dwayne Campbell appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on December 30.)
PHILADELPHIA — Unless state legislators come up with a plan in January to ease SEPTA’s budget woes, riders of the transit system may get little more than a one-month reprieve from service reductions and higher prices for tickets and tokens.
At a special meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. today, SEPTA’s board will decide whether $13 million promised by Gov. Rendell can delay the service cuts and fare hikes until March 1. They are scheduled to start Jan. 23.
SEPTA’s board has said that without more money from the state, it has no choice but to impose what would be the highest fares for a transit system in the country.
Rendell is giving SEPTA $13 million, much of it taken from road-project funds, but it is no cure for the agency’s $62 million deficit.
SEPTA and consumer advocates are asking for dedicated annual state funding for the system. Rendell has proposed that legislators return early to Harrisburg next month to find ways to get SEPTA through its June 30 financial year without fare increases or cuts, and to find permanent state funding after that.
Richard Maloney, the transit system’s spokesman, said that while the $13 million “gives us another month,” he hopes the legislature can agree on a lasting solution.
“We are not looking to disrupt people’s lives and pocketbooks,” he said.
Critics have said the service reduction and fare increases would hit the working class hardest in Philadelphia, where 80 percent of riders live.
Yesterday, Pat Eiding, Philadelphia AFL/CIO president, met with Mayor Street, clergy members, and business and community leaders to discuss the crisis.
“We’re telling SEPTA, ‘Please just back off,’ ” said Eiding, who is assembling a committee to speak for the group. “Let’s come together and get something done in Harrisburg and stop playing around.”
As proposed, SEPTA’s cash fare initially would rise from $2 to $2.50, and to $3 a few weeks later. SEPTA’s token price would increase from $1.30 to $1.70, and then to $2.
About 20 percent of weekday runs would be slashed to preserve the bulk of weekend train and bus service.
SEPTA’s 15-member regional board made the proposal Dec. 2, but it was vetoed by the two Philadelphia representatives. On Dec. 16, thirteen board members overrode the Philadelphia veto, and a day later, city officials filed a lawsuit against SEPTA. The lawsuit has been put on hold until after the legislature meets.
Many in the Republican-controlled body have not warmed to Rendell’s call for an early session. House Majority Leader Samuel H. Smith (R., Jefferson) wrote the governor last week and said that without a promised audit of SEPTA and the Port Authority of Allegheny County, it was unlikely that legislative leaders would increase any funding for the transit systems.
“State and federal officials are already giving a ton of money to SEPTA,” Smith’s spokesman, Steve Miskin, said yesterday. “Until [Rendell] puts forward a plan with backup information, it’s really kind of fruitless.”