SEPTA will receive $153 million from the state to prevent massive fare increases and service cuts until at least July.
Gov. Josh Shapiro ordered PennDOT to flex funding away from seven highway projects to aid the transit agency. While the money won't be enough to completely close its $240 million gap, it will buy the transit agency another six months to create a longer-term plan. The five counties surrounding the city will also deliver funding.
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Shapiro announced the news alongside local leaders at Frankford Transportation Center on Friday morning. He said the seven highway projects where the funding is being diverted have not begun construction or even reached the bidding stages.
City Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday calling on the state to transfer those funds toward SEPTA. Typically, the government recommends splitting federal funds 80% to highways and 20% to mass transit, but states do have some say in how they spend the money.
On Thursday, SEPTA's board approved a 7.5% fare increase, which will still take place despite this announcement, and it was set to begin hearings on Dec. 13 about a 21.5% bump. If nothing deterred the plan, a fare increase would have gone into affect Jan. 1 alongside service cuts. SEPTA said that it will consider a similar raise in the spring if no longer-term plan emerges.
According to Chief Operating Officer Scott Sauer, though, these measures would only add about $45 million. The transit agency also put a pause on the Bus Revolution plan, its route overhaul, will prolong a hiring freeze and limit contracted consulting
Earlier this week, SEPTA avoided strikes when it reached tentative contract agreements with two of it's largest unions: Transportation Workers Local 234, representing 4,000 of its bus, trolley and subway drivers, and SMART Local 1594, a group of 350 suburban operators of the Norristown High Speed Line, the Route 101 and 102 trolleys and buses. The new contracts include a 5% wage raise and an increase in pension as well as a guarantee of bulletproof enclosures for bus drivers.
