SEPTA will give state lawmakers until Aug. 14 to pass a budget addressing its fiscal crisis before moving forward with a 20% reduction in service 10 days later, officials said Wednesday.
SEPTA general manager Scott Sauer said the public transportation authority left as much time as it could for a deal to be reached in Harrisburg, but must prepare its workforce and infrastructure to wind down service. The first round of cuts on Aug. 24 would eliminate 32 bus routes and reduce service on 16 more, significantly scale back Regional Rail schedules and slash the daily frequency of subway and trolley trips.
RELATED: Watch Pa. lawmakers debate SEPTA budget crisis in House Transportation Committee meeting
"While we remain optimistic that a funding agreement can be reached in Harrisburg to avert these painful cuts, we are now at a point where we have to focus on making these changes as smooth as possible for our customers," Sauer said.
SEPTA's website has an interactive map and a detailed list explaining the looming service cuts, which are necessary to close the authority's recurring $213 million deficit in the absence of new funding.
Regional Rail would see its first service reductions on Sept. 2, including significant cuts to midday, nighttime and weekend trains in order to preserve peak service during rush hour. Weekends schedules would be reduced to running every two hours, and the airport line would drop from 30 minute headways to hourly service.
All express subway service to the Sports Complex would be eliminated starting Aug. 24.
SEPTA will begin distributing updated schedules at train stations that include notices of service reductions on affected lines. The cuts were chosen in an effort to evenly distribute the burden across the city and surrounding suburbs, starting with routes that have the least ridership and places that have alternate service.
By Friday, SEPTA will have a trip planner available on its website reflecting the pending service cuts to help riders adjust their schedules.
In the event lawmakers reach a budget agreement after Aug. 14, SEPTA officials said it will still take 10 days to reverse course on the initial service reductions.
Beyond the first round of cuts, SEPTA plans to raise fares 21.5% across the board starting Sept. 1 and will implement a hiring freeze later that month. Without a funding solution, service will be reduced by 45% across the system on Jan. 1.
"These service cuts are unprecedented – and not just for SEPTA," Jody Holton, SEPTA's chief planning and strategy officer, said Wednesday. "No major transit agency has had to take steps this drastic … every rider will be impacted."
With the state budget more than a month overdue, negotiations in Harrisburg remain ongoing. Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed drawing from the state sales tax to create $292 million in new funding for public transportation, including an annual $168 million for SEPTA. That proposal has been passed four times by the House of Representatives, but has not been brought to a vote in the Senate.
"Governor Shapiro knows how critical mass transit is to our Commonwealth, and he has been fighting to deliver funding and solutions his entire time as Governor," Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder said Wednesday. "…the Senate has the votes to get to the Governor's desk. It's time to get this done."
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, a Republican who represents four counties in western Pennsylvania, has been critical of SEPTA's safety record and pushed back against increasing funding because of the state's own structural budget deficit.
Pittman and Shapiro met on Tuesday to continue negotiations, and Pittman said he remains "optimistic" a consensus can be reached, a spokesperson for the senator said.
Other proposals to create new revenue for public transportation – including new taxes on gaming terminals and raising taxes on ride share services and vehicle rentals – have not yet gained enough traction to make it into the state budget.
Philadelphia's House Delegation said Wednesday that lawmakers will meet this afternoon to discuss ways to avoid the first round of SEPTA cuts.
"We have eight days, but we’re hopeful that the actions of the House Transportation Committee this afternoon will build the necessary consensus to overcome this impasse and keep our city working and economy moving," state Rep. Morgan Cephas, a Democrat, said.
Sauer explained that SEPTA has to move forward with service cuts because it cannot rely on dipping into its stabilization fund while awaiting the $1 billion it usually receives annually state funding without any increase. He said SEPTA has been stuck in a holding pattern for two years without a sustainable funding model.
"One more month, one more year, two more years – at some point, we have to make a decision that's in the best interest of our customers and the best interest of our employees to stabilize the system. Customers have to know if cuts are coming or they're not coming. We can continue to kick the can down the road and wait and see what happens in Harrisburg, but at the end of the day, this is not a new scenario."