PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A SEPTA “doomsday” is looming. Dramatic service cuts will begin in two weeks if the agency doesn’t get funding from Harrisburg. On Sunday, Gov. Josh Shapiro went to SEPTA headquarters to urge the Republican-controlled state Senate to fund mass transit.
“Funding SEPTA is absolutely critical. SEPTA supports 26,600 jobs. They generate over $4 billion, and it touches everything,” Shapiro said.
The Republican-led Senate in Harrisburg has thus far refused to pass $300 million in transit funding that would allow SEPTA to balance its budget. Without funding, SEPTA plans to cut more than 30 bus routes and reduce midday Regional Rail service beginning Aug. 24, the day before Autumn Fingerhood’s daughter starts school.
“How do you expect my daughter to get to school? How do you expect her to participate in after-school activities while there is no bus service? Three jobs I work. I do not have others to rely on. I rely on SEPTA,” said Fingerhood, a single mother who works at the Sports Complex.
“Who do these cuts serve? I know it’s not the workers, I know it’s not the taxpayers, and I know it’s not my daughter,” she said.
For the first couple of years of his term, Shapiro has managed to secure temporary mass transit funding despite pushback from Republicans in Harrisburg. He made it clear Sunday that is no longer an option.
“We are past the point of short-term, stopgap measures. It is time to have recurring, long-term revenue for SEPTA, and the time to act is now,” he said.