SEPTA request approved to access $394 million to maintain transit services
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), at the direction of Gov. Josh Shapiro, approved Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) Sept. 5 request to use capital assistance funds totaling $394 million to fund daily operations of the system. The request was greenlit after SEPTA’s general manager requested access to these funds to preserve service and avoid future cuts through the next two years in a letter issued to PennDOT; a request that can be made to prevent service disruptions per department regulations.
The governor has shown support for increased SEPTA funding over the last two years, first in posing a significant increase in funding for the system in the amount of $292 million in the 2025-26 proposed budget that would mature into $1.5 billion over the next five years. This comes after securing $80 million in further transit funding from the 2024-25 bipartisan budget and another $153 million in federal highway funds that kept SEPTA from immediate service cuts and a 21% fare increase.
In its response, PennDOT notes the Pennsylvania Senate has been unable to pass a bill that would fund SEPTA that could make it to the governor’s desk.
“Unfortunately, Senate Republicans have refused to agree to a long-term solution that provides certainty and does not also unfairly raid mass transit capital dollars for unrelated expenditures; and the Shapiro administration believes Pennsylvanians who rely on SEPTA deserve service that helps them get to work, school or wherever they need to go,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll in his response to the letter.
Carroll continued, explaining why Senate-passed legislation does not meet the needs of the state’s mass transit agencies. He cites that the agencies were only offered a fraction of their needed funding, would require systems use their capital funding over two fiscal years to fill gaps with no revenue to replace the lost funding needed for those capital projects, that it would have taken away funding from capital projects that were already underway and that it would only be temporary fix.
“…[M]ost concerningly, this bill would have taken existing resources out of the [Public Transportation Trust Fund (PTTF)] in the amount of $419 million and sent them to the Motor License Fund for road paving projects. While PennDOT and the Shapiro administration support funding for road repair projects and have allocated significant resources to that work, we do not believe utilizing mass transit funding for such purposes is sound public policy,” Carroll added to his list of concerns.
SEPTA instead asked to access up to $394 million of its current capital assistance allocation that has yet to be earmarked. The request resulted in PTTF funding not being redirected as was being proposed in the Senate-passed legislation.
The agency and the Shapiro administration note that this funding will allow SEPTA to continue to meet the needs of 800,000 daily riders, including more than 50,000 students that rely on the system to get to school. Additionally, the funding will allow SEPTA to continue to support transit for upcoming major events, including America’s 250th anniversary, the FIFA World Cup and the MLB All-Star Game.
The governor’s office also notes that if SEPTA cuts would have prevailed, the region could have lost $6 billion in long-term earning and an estimated 76,000 jobs, according to an economic analysis. Further, while the region was experiencing services cuts, 63% of schools were seeing increased late arrivals while more than 50% saw increased absenteeism from transportation-related issues.
A contingency of the funding approval requires SEPTA to continue to address structural challenges and continue to report to PennDOT every four months on the strides being made to increase efficiencies in the system.