(The following story by Paul Nussbaum appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on March 6.)
PHILADELPHIA — SEPTA plans to spend about 5.6 percent more in the fiscal year that starts July 1 than it will this year, but its new budget calls for no fare increases.
Public hearings on the proposed $1.08 billion operating budget will begin March 31.
With ridership up, a new general manager, and a predictable stream of state subsidies, SEPTA enters its budget season with unfamiliar calm.
The stable financial foundation will “enable us to refocus our employees on our core business – the customer,” general manager Joseph M. Casey said in a budget memo to SEPTA board members.
The budget includes 65 initiatives to improve passenger convenience and more money for customer communications and station and vehicle cleanliness, Casey said.
The biggest cost, $754 million, covers salary and fringe benefits for SEPTA’s 9,358 employees. Other budgeted expenses are $196 million for materials and services, $42 million for fuel, $35 million for injuries and damage, and $32 million for electric propulsion power.
The budget anticipates an increase of 137 employees, mostly bus and train operators and customer-service representatives.
On the other side of the ledger, the biggest source of revenue is subsidies from state, local and federal governments: $634 million. Of that, $528 million is to come from the state and $71 million from local governments.
In July, the legislature passed a landmark bill that provided SEPTA and other Pennsylvania mass-transit agencies with a long-sought dedicated source of state funding. That was designed to end the annual budget brinkmanship as SEPTA threatened draconian fare hikes and service cuts if the state didn’t increase funding.
Already, though, the new law, Act 44, is under fire in Harrisburg from upstate legislators angry about its provisions for installing tolls on I-80 across Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia provides 82 percent of SEPTA’s local subsidy, with Delaware County providing 9 percent, Montgomery County 5 percent, Bucks County 3 percent and Chester County 2 percent.
Fares are expected to provide $394 million. SEPTA expects about $20 million more in passenger revenue in fiscal 2009 due to increasing ridership. Rail ridership was up 12 percent in the first seven months of fiscal 2008, to the highest level since the 1970s. Bus, subway and trolley ridership was up 2.6 percent.
As a result, many peak-hour trains and buses are overcrowded, and Casey said SEPTA was increasing frequency on many routes and trying to buy more railcars.