Philadelphia House Delegation calls for urgent SEPTA funding ahead of Eagles home opener
Philadelphia House Delegation September 4, 2025 | 12:26 PM
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 4 – Yesterday, one day ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles home opener, the Philadelphia House Delegation hosted a press conference to bring attention to the impacts that SEPTA cuts will have on the region and the stadium district.
"How do you efficiently move upwards of 100,000 people? It can’t be done by flooding our already overburdened streets and highways with additional traffic,” said Rep. Morgan Cephas, Chair of the Philadelphia House Delegation. “SEPTA is more than just getting to the game, but without it, gameday is a major traffic headache across our city. SEPTA and public transportation systems should be a priority for leaders across the state. We saw how effective transit was during the Eagles championship parade in February. We’ll need it again for next year’s parade and the other world-class events coming to our city. As leaders, we must find consensus on a solution that keeps transit moving beyond a short-term fix - we can’t afford to let SEPTA be destroyed."
Lincoln Financial Field seats over 60,000 attendees, but many more people travel to the stadium district on game days, including stadium workers or fans intending to tailgate or watch the game nearby. On average, an Eagles game brings in up to 17,000 additional Broad Street Line riders. On Tuesday, Lincoln Financial Field issued a travel advisory to fans, discouraging tailgating or travel to the area for fans who did not have tickets.
“Eagles games, Phillies games, these are when our community comes together, and anyone who’s been to my district on game day knows how busy it gets,” said Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, Chair of the House Energy Committee. “The people who rely on SEPTA, the sports fans, the families, the students, and workers, they’re our constituents, they’re our people. Transit affects all of us, and we are all here today because we know we need more than a short-term fix.”
“Whether we’re hearing about good changes or bad changes, uncertainty has been a constant during this process, and that is something that is incredibly unfair to the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on SEPTA,” said Rep. Ben Waxman, D-Phila. “The only way to end this instability is if the Republicans will come to the table with a real plan to make sure that SEPTA has the funding it needs to operate long term.”
"Let’s be clear: this is not just a Philadelphia issue. It’s a regional crisis,” said Rep. Lisa Borowski, D-Delaware. “From Ardmore to Abington, from Media to Marcus Hook, Langhorn to Lansdale, our suburbs have thrived because of reliable access to the city. And if we don’t stand up now, the suburbs will bear the brunt of a system in decline and derail the economic engine that is southeast Pennsylvania."
“While I’m grateful to FanDuel for covering rides for Thursday’s game, we can’t gamble with the livelihoods of Pennsylvanians,” said Rep. Sean Dougherty, D-Phila. “We can’t gamble with the future of our school children. We can’t gamble with the lives of our senior citizens who rely on mass transit to get to and from medical appointments. We have to stop the gamble, and have to, as our quarterback Jalen Hurts says: ‘Keep the main thing the main thing,’ and the main thing is that we fund mass transit.”
“I am a proud stadium worker,” said Autumn Fingerhood, a stadium employee and member of UNITE HERE Local 274. “These cuts will affect so many of my coworkers. There are over 4,000 stadium workers. We rely on busses and trains that have been slated for cuts or that will stop service at 9 p.m. We can’t ask our bosses to leave early. We have a job to do and we do that job every day.”
Because of delays in state budget negotiations, SEPTA has been forced to roll out service reductions, including cuts to entire bus routes. In the stadium district, it’s expected that these cuts will worsen traffic, overwhelm parking lots, and make it harder for fans and employees to travel between the stadiums and home. SEPTA has announced additional cuts that will take place in January 2026, including train service ending at 9 p.m.
“Just last week I had to report to West Philadelphia High School for work, and I was 30 minutes late because I found out last minute my bus line had been cut,” said Sayda Adiba, a Philadelphia student and resident of West Philadelphia. “Today I want to emphasize the anger and hurt I feel about this unfortunate situation, not just for me, but for my fellow students who are experiencing these same effects.”
A recording of the event is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfUUj2uJZyo
More photos from this event can be found at 090325 Phila. Delegation Photos - OneDrive