PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Damage from human waste and needles from drug use caused SEPTA to close the Somerset Station on the Market-Frankford Line for two weeks of repairs last year. The fallout from that damage, as well as overall crime and safety, dominated SEPTA’s budget hearing before City Council Tuesday afternoon.
SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards told City Council that Somerset Station already needs more work.
“Those materials that we expected to last for years already need to be replaced,” she said. “I’m talking about the floors in the elevators. I just got briefed on it recently — and I just want to let you know, we’re losing ground there.”
Councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sánchez expects the drug addiction issue and homelessness to worsen.
“As I talk to my civil leaders and others, we are expecting the worst summer we’ve ever had in Kensington despite all the work that we’ve done up to now,” she said.
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SEPTA ridership gains have been slower than projected — it’s only about 53% of what it was before the pandemic. Violent crime was down in the first quarter of this year, but Richards admitted she can see why some riders are still hesitant to come back.
SEPTA is training unarmed outreach specialists to ride the system, as about 50 transit police positions remain unfilled. The head of the transit police union has said SEPTA should raise salaries to attract officers.
Richards will meet with the union this week to talk about making salaries more competitive in order to address the shortage.
“We want to hire more police officers here, and we know we have to change things in order for that to happen,” she added.
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