Higher fares, limited guaranteed service loom for ACCESS riders in Allegheny Co.
90.5 WESA, 8/26/25
Pittsburgh Regional Transit has a $100 million deficit this year — one that will continue to grow during the next decade. To stay afloat, PRT has proposed cuts to bus and T service and fare increases. ACCESS is not immune. Without more money from the state, PRT has proposed to end ACCESS service after 11 p.m., increase fares and shrink the area where people can request service in the county by 62% — leaving riders like Hatgelakas with few options.
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SEPTA's massive service cuts are here and it's 'bad on so many levels'
Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/24/25
SEPTA is cutting 20% of its service; 32 bus lines will be eliminated, including series 400 routes that serve schools, and 16 other routes will be shortened. Buses, trolleys, and subways will reduce the number of trips offered, lengthening waits for riders.
On Sept. 2, Regional Rail service will be reduced. That could mean up to two hours between trains in the midday hours during the week and on weekends.
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'It will be a disaster': Labor leaders, teachers sound the alarm as SEPTA cuts loom
City & State, 8/14/25
“I don’t know that there is a way to plan around something this devastating,” Philadelphia AFL-CIO President Danny Bauder told City & State. “I hate to say this but, thankfully, SEPTA has a plan for how they’re going to handle the lack of funding in terms of bus routes and things like that. But this is going to be awful.”
Jesse Abrams-Morley, a teacher at Kensington CAPA High School and parent of a School District of Philadelphia student, said getting around is a top concern for him and his family.
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SEPTA cuts are moving forward, GM Scott Sauer says
Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/13/25
“We have to wait for a proposal that is both immediate and sustainable,” Sauer said. “Two years is not the sustainable solution we were hoping for. We need something that’s going to carry us into the future.”
He said that the Senate proposal doesn’t help SEPTA “because of the deference of capital dollars,” which would cause problems down the road by postponing needed upkeep of the system’s aged infrastructure.
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Not just SEPTA: Public transit is in trouble all across PA
Including in GOP districts
Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/18/25
Most Pennsylvania transit agencies, including SEPTA, say they are approaching a reckoning called the “fiscal cliff” because the state hasn’t significantly increased its transit subsidy in 12 years. Act 89 used turnpike tolls to finance $450 million for mass transit annually, but much of that obligation was phased out two years ago.
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Despite the ways we grouse about SEPTA, it's efficient. In fact, really efficient
SEPTA operates with significantly fewer resources than its peers. Yet, somehow, SEPTA still manages to put Philadelphia into every Top 10 list of transit cities in North America
Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/17/25
SEPTA’s current budget crisis is almost completely caused by Harrisburg‘s failure to continue the successful Act 89, which helped create a yearly pool of money in the state budget for transit. In 2022, the General Assembly did not vote to renew the bill, and every year since, SEPTA has had to muster advocates and riders to beg their politicians to fund transit.
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