Philadelphia mass transit users face fare hikes of more than 20% and possible service cuts

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia's mass transit system has proposed an across-the-board 21.5% fare increase that would start New Year's Day as well as severe service cuts that would take effect next summer.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority announced its plans on Tuesday and scheduled a Dec. 13 public hearing on them.

If approved by SEPTA's board, riders would pay the increase on top of a proposed separate interim average fare increase of 7.5% that the panel is due to consider later this month. If that is passed, it would take effect Dec. 1. If both increases take effect, the single fare cost of riding the city bus and subway would go from $2 to $2.90. SEPTA key fares for rail riders, which now range from $3.75 to $6.50, depending on the zone riders use, would range from $5 to $8.75 on Jan. 1.

SEPTA, which is facing a potential strike by thousands of its workers, has repeatedly said its financial health is uncertain. It last raised fares in 2017, and the proposed increase would be expected to bring in an additional $23 million for this fiscal year and $45 million per year starting in 2026.

The nation's sixth-largest mass transit system, SEPTA is facing an annual structural budget deficit of $240 million as federal pandemic aid phases out. It lost out on about $161 million in state aid since the Republican-controlled state Senate declined to hold a vote on Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro's proposal for $283 million in new state aid to public transit. Instead, the lawmakers approved a one-time payment to the state trust fund for transit systems, of which SEPTA got $46 million.

SEPTA's board of directors could vote as early as Dec. 19 to approve the latest fare hike proposal. SEPTA is also looking at potential service cuts that could take effect July 1 and would include eliminating and shortening routes, and reducing the frequency of bus, trolley, subway, and Regional Rail service.

The cuts would save an estimated $92 million in the first year — an amount that could grow in future fiscal years as SEPTA begins to consider infrastructure cuts.

''This is painful and it's going to be painful for our customers,'' SEPTA''s chief operating officer, Scott Sauer, said Tuesday. ''This is the beginning of what we have been saying is the transit death spiral."

The proposal comes with SEPTA engaging in contract talks with Transport Workers Union Local 234, whose members voted to authorize a strike when their one-year contract expired last Friday. The union — which has about 5,000 members, including bus, subway, and trolley operators, mechanics, cashiers, maintenance people and custodians — eventually agreed to delay any job actions, saying some progress was being made in the negotiations.

Asked about SEPTA's situation during a Capitol news conference Wednesday, Republican leaders of the state said the transit system could get additional aid next year. But they suggested it would have to come packaged with aid for other transportation projects around the state, a new source of money to fund it, and SEPTA's follow-through on improving its operating efficiency.

''There could be compromise. There might be a compromise. Hopefully there is, but it's going to have to come down to making sure that every area of this commonwealth for transportation is addressed, not just one sector,'' said Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward."