Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (3rd District) during the SEPTA budget meeting.
Photo: phila.gov
During the transit authority’s budget testimony, members of City Council suggested that Scott Sauer, SEPTA’s interim general manager, go to the state’s Republicans to plead his case in person.
By Denise Clay-Murray
Last week, I wrote about SEPTA’s financial woes and the doomsday scenario that the agency laid out to deal with them.
In case you missed it, due to a $213 million deficit, SEPTA unveiled a doomsday budget that has everyone in the region scrambling a little bit.
This doomsday budget included such things as a 20% cut in service, including the elimination of about 50 bus routes outright, reducing service on 88 additional bus routes and Regional Rail lines, a 20% increase in fares that would raise fares from $2.50 to $2.90, and a curfew that would shut down all SEPTA service by 9 p.m. every night.
On Wednesday, SEPTA was among the agencies that came before Philadelphia City Council as part of the body’s budget hearings. Scott Sauer, the transit authority’s interim general manager, told Council that while Mayor Cherelle Parker’s 2026 budget gives the transit authority $135 million in operating funds and a $9 million contribution toward the authority’s capital expenses, it’s not enough to close its budget hole.
As everyone knows, this isn’t a new problem for SEPTA. Earlier this year, Gov. Josh Shapiro had to move $150 in federal highway funds to the transit authority to keep some of the items included in the doomsday budget from happening sooner. Shapiro has also proposed a plan to fund transit across the Commonwealth that has passed out of the Democratically-controlled House three times but can’t seem to come to a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.
There’s a reason for that. And, as it always is when it comes to the leaders of the State Senate, it’s a level of shortsightedness that boggles the mind.
“Asking Pennsylvanians to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into mass transit is a challenging argument to make to constituents in rural areas of the commonwealth,” Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman said. “SEPTA’s proposal to take steps forward and address their financial issues is a positive development. Given the substantial state investments for SEPTA included in the current state budget, as well as previous budgets, it is critical for conversations surrounding increased support of rider share and taxpayer subsidy to also take place at the local government level.”
But here’s the thing. A lot of that taxpayer subsidy comes from Philadelphia, according to Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. And for her district in particular, SEPTA is a necessity, not a luxury.
“I represent the only council district where a majority of residents do not drive to work,” she said. “So, riding SEPTA is not an option. It’s a necessity. Something we often hear from Senate Republicans is that their taxpayers should not pay for SEPTA because they incorrectly claim their constituents do not benefit from it. These lawmakers are conveniently ignoring the fact that our region is only 5% of the state’s land but generates almost 40% of the Commonwealth’s tax revenue. We know that Philly is an economic engine for the entire Commonwealth.”
It really is. I know that the folks in the legislature would rather not acknowledge that, but folks aren’t coming from around the world to go to the Farm Show. The reason why Philadelphia is going to be the center of the universe in 2026 is because people want to come here. They want to come to the FIFA World Cup. They want to come to the MLB All-Star Game. They want to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday here.
No one is coming from France to see a butter statue while being bitten by flies — I’m just saying.
During the hearing, Council President Kenyatta Johnson suggested to Sauer that he pay the folks in the Senate’s Republican leadership a personal visit to talk to them about SEPTA’s problems and why it’s important to the Commonwealth to help.
“I would recommend you definitely, you and your team, need to go to Harrisburg ASAP,” Johnson said. “Not a consultant, not the chamber — you should lead that charge to show how critically important SEPTA is to the region.”
While I appreciate the Council president’s optimism, as a former state representative, he should know just how much of a waste of time and resources that trip would be, because when it comes to Philadelphia, there’s nothing that the State House finds more amusing than cutting off its nose to spite its face.
Hopefully, folks will finally, at long last, realize that having a hole in the middle of your face isn’t cute and give SEPTA, and the rest of the Commonwealth’s mass transit systems, the money they need.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author’s organization, committee or other group or individual.
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