PA: Why there was no deal for SEPTA in Harrisburg after all

Thousands of constituent phone calls to lawmakers, dozens of hours of protests and rallies, and a state representative who walked 105 miles from Philadelphia to Harrisburg in support of funding Pennsylvania public transportation.

In the end, the efforts — and weeks of pain for Philadelphians facing train and bus service cuts in the beginnings of SEPTA's "death spiral" — were all for nothing.

After months of strife and with a state budget past due, lawmakers in Pennsylvania's divided legislature would not reach an agreement on a long-term funding solution for the state's mass transit. Instead, the discussion would be shelved for two more years, as Gov. Josh Shapiro approved another short-term funding plan, his third in the last two years in office.

Behind the scenes, Shapiro broke the news to SEPTA that a broader transit-funding agreement was not coming. As a short-term fix, he told the transit agency it should request that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation transfer capital funds toward its operating expenses for two years, according to four sources who were close to the conversations or were briefed on them.

How it unfolded, and unraveled

The pressure to reach a transit deal reached a fever pitch in August, when, in the absence of additional state funding to help plug a $213 million operating budget deficit, SEPTA — the nation's sixth-largest mass transit agency, moving 700,000 riders each day — enacted deep service cuts.

And more were on the horizon. Officials had planned to enact additional cuts at the start of September, before Common Pleas Court Judge Sierra Thomas Street ordered the agency to halt the process. Street would later order SEPTA to undo all of its cuts and resume full service, even without another state funding stream in place.

But the chasm in Harrisburg remained. House Democrats, many of whom hail from Pennsylvania's most populous areas, which rely on mass transit, pushed for a long-term funding solution to support Philadelphia's economy, while Senate Republicans argued against allocating any more state spending to the cause.

Until last week, Shapiro and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) still hoped they could secure a final state budget deal with a recurring revenue source for mass transit — something agencies across Pennsylvania have been begging for so they can properly predict how much state funding they will get each year.

Shapiro and Bradford, the two top Democrats at the closed-door budget negotiation table with Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana), even began conceding ground publicly, stating they would support the GOP suggestion of using money for transit from a special fund they previously opposed, in what, at the time, looked like the beginnings of a deal for mass transit funding.

But Senate Republicans, most of whom represent districts outside SEPTA's bounds, hardened their position opposing additional recurring funding for mass transit. One top GOP lawmaker, Sen. Scott Martin (R., Lancaster), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in an interview this week that there was never going to be a deal for a recurring revenue source until SEPTA showed the GOP Senate evidence of its commitment to accountability and safety — a major sticking point for Republicans that SEPTA has worked to address, including a crackdown on fare evasions.

So, despite the widespread pressure campaigns on Senate Republicans, Shapiro and Bradford accepted a reality: This year's state budget won't have a single dollar increase for mass transit. They couldn't get it done, and they feared another court ruling on SEPTA's need for more state funds loomed.

"When someone says they're not going to do a long-term solution, at some point you've got to take Chairman Martin at his word when he said he wasn't going to do it," Bradford said in an interview this week.

The short-term fix was an unremarkable end to months of debate — escalating at times to nasty personal attacks — leaving Democratic lawmakers and transit advocates angry with a GOP Senate they view as at odds with Philadelphia, and some disappointed in top Democratic leaders who ultimately were unable to deliver for them.

'No other option'

It was last week when Shapiro realized that Senate Republicans were not just posturing on their hard mass transit line. The pressure to find a solution quickly increased, as he stared down the expected court ruling directing SEPTA to unroll the cuts and as the Philadelphia School District's attendance rates tumbled due to children struggling to commute to class amid SEPTA's service cuts.

So Shapiro again decided that he would do it himself, telling SEPTA to submit the one-time request to PennDot for capital funds.

He and Bradford would go to the negotiating table on Sept. 3 and shock Republicans Senate GOP leaders with a seemingly sudden change in tune, telling them they should move past funding mass transit in the state budget, according to a source close to negotiations.

Instead, the source said, they told the group to simply focus on finalizing an overall state budget, now nearly 2 1/2 months overdue.

Thomas Street's order reversing the cuts came on Sept. 4, and the agency's options for funding were running out.

On Sept. 5, SEPTA general manager Scott A. Sauer held a news conference, announcing his formal request to PennDot.

The agency's executive team reasoned that it was the best solution they could get to weather the crisis, given the lack of legislation for a longer funding deal — as SEPTA was under a pending court order to undo its service cuts, and passengers were suffering.

As Sauer said in the letter: "We are faced with no other option than to request this waiver."

Frustration and blame

In Philadelphia and beyond, many of the advocates who have elevated the transit-funding issue during budget negotiations were bitterly disappointed by yet another patchwork fix, saying that Shapiro gave up the fight — while acknowledging that a deal with Senate Republicans might have been impossible, given the centrifugal political forces within the caucus.

"He was bred from the machine politics of Pennsylvania," Alan Fisher, host of the Armchair Urbanist video series and a transit and railroad advocate, said of Shapiro. "Part of the problem is that he seems to be a very reactive, not a proactive, [politician]."

Connor Descheemaker, who leads advocacy group Transit for All PA!, said they were at a loss for words over the end of the transit debate.

"Everybody feels backed into a corner at this point," Descheemaker said. "The key message is we're in the same situation today as we were in August. The fact we need more money for transit has not changed."

While some Democratic lawmakers privately expressed frustration with Shapiro and the unimpressive end to the mass transit debate, others defended him and placed blame squarely on Senate Republicans.

"Those service cuts went [into effect], and you can't stand there as a governor of Pennsylvania and let that go on," said Rep. Ed Neilson (D., Philadelphia), who chairs the House Transportation Committee.

And despite SEPTA's ultimate short-term funding solution being a mechanism proposed by the GOP, several top Senate Republicans said they were not celebrating, though they felt vindicated.

"I don't look at it as being a win," Martin said.

What's next for mass transit in Pa.

The debate over funding mass transit across Pennsylvania will now be kicked down the road for two more years, as SEPTA taps into its $394 million capital allocation from the state for vehicle and track maintenance and repairs to pay for its operating expenses. Pittsburgh Regional Transit on Thursday requested a similar action to access its state-allocated capital funds for operating purposes, as it planned to cut service by 35%, eliminate 41 bus routes, and lay off some employees in February if the agency did not get additional state funds.

But the rest of the mass transit agencies in Pennsylvania's smaller cities, and even rural areas, will not have any stopgap to hold off service cuts and fare increases on the horizon.

Not only is the shift of capital funding temporary, but it also leaves behind transit agencies other than SEPTA and Pittsburgh, many of which are preparing their own fare increases and cuts, Descheemaker said.

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA), for instance, projects an $8 million operating deficit. It plans to cut service 20% and increase fares 25% in January.

With flat funding from the state, the Centre Area Transportation Authority's bus network, the third-most-used system in Pennsylvania, plans a 14% fare increase next year. It has already ended bus service to some smaller towns near State College.

Less discussed but also important, Descheemaker said: paratransit and shared-rider services, which are in every county and carried nearly five million people in 2024, and which, without increased funding, will have to reduce service and increase riders' fares.

"The overall service is in crisis now due to ridership losses, decreasing productivity, and rising costs," PennDot said in a March report. It noted the programs operated at a $60 million loss in the 2020-21 fiscal year, the latest data PennDot cited.

Even without mass transit funding at the negotiation table, leaders have not been able to reach an overall budget deal, which would allow the release of billions of dollars in state funds to schools, counties, and social service organizations that have been waiting for months and, in some cases, taking out loans to make ends meet.

In the interview, Bradford said budget talks continued, and he was disappointed that Democrats had to settle yet again for a stopgap solution due to the Senate GOP's unwillingness to agree on a long-term funding source for transit.

"We have work to do, clearly," Bradford added.

© 2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Visit www.inquirer.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.