GRAPHIC: BLADIMIR LEMUS ’26/THE HAWK AND BELLA PRIVITERA ’26/THE HAWK
Joseph Bergkoetter ’29 has used SEPTA to travel from his home in Northeast Philadelphia ever since he was a toddler. But the instability that affected his first-week commute, caused by cuts to SEPTA’s service and operations, is new.
“On my first week of school, I was late for class twice because two trains got canceled,” Bergkoetter said. “So, I realized I couldn’t afford to do that anymore. Now I’m waking up at 6:30 to go to a 9 a.m. class because I’m getting one train early just in case there’s a cancellation or lateness, because there so often is.”
Fortunately, due to a Philadelphia judge’s Sept. 4 ruling that mandated SEPTA’s service cuts be reversed immediately, relief may be in sight for Bergkoetter and thousands of other SEPTA users. The ruling said SEPTA’s cuts discriminated against low-income riders and riders of color, but did not eliminate the possibility of fare increases.
SEPTA announced the same day they would be asking Gov. Josh Shapiro for $394 million dollars from the state’s Public Transit Trust Fund, which funds infrastructure projects all across the state.
The funding request was granted Sept. 8, meaning SEPTA will have enough money to cover the budget deficit and be funded for the next two years, and service cuts would be reversed by Sept. 14. There is still no long-term plan for funding SEPTA.
SEPTA receives funding from local, state and federal governments. However, disagreements between state Democrats and Republicans over how to fund SEPTA have contributed to a two-month delay in producing a statewide budget and a $213 million budget deficit for SEPTA.
As a result of the deficit, SEPTA cut 20% of its service as of Aug. 24, affecting bus routes and the regional rail.
Nancy Komada, Ph.D., former director of the Office of Student Transitions, worked closely with commuter, transfer and first-generation college students during her career to help connect them to resources and find success at St. Joe’s. Komada said SEPTA cuts could cause commuter tardiness, which negatively impacts students’ academic health, and was also concerned about the possibility of increased fares.
“They might be challenged to buy books, and sometimes they’re challenged to buy SEPTA transfers,” Komada said. “If it goes up 21%, that’s even tougher.”
Kadie Keeys ’29 said she noticed certain departure times were removed from SEPTA’s app, and worried about the possibility of fare increases. However, Keeys also felt her commute wasn’t as difficult as others who had their local bus routes cut.
“People [had] to find whole new bus routes because the buses that they would usually take to work or school [were] just not there anymore,” Keeys said.
Christopher Close, Ph.D., professor of history, uses the regional rail to get to Hawk Hill. Close said he would have been much more affected by the additional proposed January cuts, which will now be averted. Still, Close said SEPTA’s funding crisis should have always been avoided.
“I just think this is a politically created crisis that is driven by people in the state house who see no electoral benefit at all to funding SEPTA and want to punish Philadelphia for the politics that people in Philadelphia have,” Close said. “There’s no reason that any of this has to happen.”