Philly mass transit vote June 26 amid funding ‘death spiral’

PHILADELPHIA—Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will vote on its budget for the 2026 fiscal year—a budget that could include a 45% cut to services and a 21% fare increase unless the state allocates funding to address a budget deficit of $213 million.

This deficit, and the proposed budget announced in April, is the most recent iteration of SEPTA’s years-long budget crisis, which has been referred to as the beginnings of a “death spiral,” a feedback loop of raised fares, cut services, and reduced ridership that can leave a transit system gutted and defunct. 

“There is nothing left to cut from the budget but service,” said SEPTA in an article explaining its funding crisis. Without more state funding, this means that as soon as August 2025, SEPTA will be forced to eliminate or reduce service across bus, metro, and regional rail lines, including a 9 p.m. curfew for all services. As soon as September, the base fare will have to be increased to $2.90 from the current base of $2.50—a fare that has already been increased from $2.

The proposed cuts to service have sparked a widespread push from the transportation agency itself, the public, and legislators alike on ways to reinvest in public transit in the Philadelphia area and across the state of Pennsylvania. Statewide coalitions such as Transit for All PA have garnered the support of Democratic lawmakers with the Transit for All PA legislative package, which could address not just the neglect of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh’s transit systems but also expand public transit outside of those cities.  

In April, Working Families Party City Council Member, Nicolas O’Rourke, announced a plan to draft legislation creating a Transit Access fund, which would create free or reduced-cost transit passes for low-income households and generate $30 million a year. “Working families who depend on the city’s Zero Fare program” will be drastically impacted by these incoming cuts, making it harder for them to access school, work, and healthcare, he said in a video posted to his Instagram page. 

These cuts will indeed have drastic effects on the commutes of working Philadelphians. Cuts to services mean fewer routes, and fewer routes mean workers will have to either pay higher prices for other means of transportation or have longer commute times. Librarian and AFSCME member, Perry Genovesi, told People’s World, “SEPTA is the blood moving City worker cells through the Philadelphia body. When that blood stops pumping, everything gets cut off.” 

Other city workers like him, who maintain and provide critical services, are already bracing for impact. “I imagine at my own job we’d have to scramble to arrange car-pooling since so many of us rely on SEPTA. We’d really have to struggle to serve the public,” said Genovesi.

“At the top level of the union hall, leaders are sharing information and articles to the general membership for education. This includes what’s happening and how cuts will hurt us. On the individual member and steward level, we’re calling to fully fund SEPTA in our communities.”

Meanwhile, Republican State Rep. Jesse Topper, in April, circulated a memo to all PA House members seeking co-sponsors for a possible bill that would require the privatization of SEPTA’s bus lines “at a minimum.” In this memo, Democratic Pennsylvania State House Representative for the 200th district, Chris Rabb, told People’s World, “Using public assets for private profit is antithetical for a well-governed and equitable society.” 

This SEPTA privatization proposal risks further investment of public dollars towards private profit, and a transit system that is less accountable to the public. While the proposed legislation has not, as of June, been drafted into a bill, companies like Uber are already capitalizing on the national gutting of public services and push towards privatization by piloting “fixed route rideshares” in several cities—including Philadelphia. 

According to Rabb, there is no scarcity of funding that could be supporting not only SEPTA, but “public schools, childcare, [and] the social safety nets that the MAGA regime is determined to defund” — if the wealthiest Pennsylvanians paid their fair share of taxes. “Fundamentally, scarcity talk is a toxic agent of capitalism that favors the greed of oligarchs,” said Rabb to the People’s World. “My Fair Share Tax Plan bill could generate billions of extra tax revenues. But as long as we allow limitless campaign contributions that come from the excessively wealthy among us along with the unfettered lobbying in Harrisburg, these budget fiascos and cynical horse-trading will persist.”

Despite the looming crisis, members of the House of Representatives are looking for solutions. A $300-million mass transit bill was passed in the state House on June 17, which would fund not only SEPTA but public transit in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania. The Public Transportation Trust Fund Transfer Act would allocate over 6% of state sales tax to public transit compared to the current 4.4%. The bill is now up for Senate consideration, although there is no clear timeline for a vote.

SEPTA held public hearings on the proposed budget on May 19 and 20. While the deadline to submit public comments to SEPTA passed on May 28th, there is still time for working-class passengers who rely on SEPTA to reach out to lawmakers and urge them to save SEPTA by passing the Public Transportation Trust Fund Transfer Act. 

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