Rerouting SEPTA's governance

First of two parts.

The politically powerful but largely invisible directors of SEPTA are about to get an unaccustomed moment in the spotlight.

Mayor Nutter will soon replace Philadelphia's two members on a board dominated by suburban Republicans, changing the face of the agency as it enters a new era of dependable funding and ambitious plans.

Nutter has not named his appointees, but transit insiders expect one seat to go to Rina Cutler, his new deputy mayor for transportation and an advocate of better city relations with SEPTA after years of acrimony.

The mayor said he wanted people "knowledgeable about mass transit and dedicated to improving mass transit."

Nutter met with SEPTA board chairman Pasquale T. "Pat" Deon Sr. after his election last year, and said they had "made a commitment to change the relationship" between the city and SEPTA.

"We all serve the same people and want to achieve the same goals," Nutter said.

He is also likely to replace many of the 17 city members on the Citizen Advisory Committee, a SEPTA panel that represents transportation consumers.

"There are already better relations" between the city and SEPTA, said Bob Clearfield, a Montgomery County insurance broker who chairs the CAC. He cited a recent photograph of Nutter with his arm around new SEPTA general manager Joseph Casey during a citywide cleanup day last month. "That would have never happened with [former SEPTA general manager] Faye Moore and John Street."

SEPTA's 15 unpaid board members are predominantly lawyers, union leaders and elected officials, with close ties to the state and local officials who appointed them. Overseeing SEPTA's billion-dollar budget and its operations, they are influential because of the money and contracts they control and the role they play in shaping transportation and development in the region.

After decades of directing an agency in perpetual financial crisis, SEPTA's leaders now have dedicated funding from the state, a new general manager, and a new transit-friendly mayor of Philadelphia. Bus, subway and train ridership is up. An electronic "smart" fare card is finally in the works.

"The board has to change its vision from wringing every last dime from the budget," said economist Richard Voith, a former vice chairman of the board. "The world has changed, and the board needs to focus on the future and create a vision of what the agency could be."

"Now they need to make a compelling case for what kind of transit agency we want to be when we grow up," Voith said. "It's now or never."

Geopolitics is always a driving force on the board. SEPTA's board makeup gives the four Republican-dominated suburban counties more clout than Democrat-dominated Philadelphia, although the city provides most of the riders and most of the local subsidy.

So the relationships between the board members and their sponsors are key.

Two members represent each of Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties. The governor has one appointee, as do the Republican and Democratic leaders in the state House and Senate.

The board has no representative of the transit-riding public, although SEPTA gets about 40 percent of its operating budget from fares.

"I believe the CAC should have a voting spot on the board," said Clearfield, who said riders' complaints had often fallen on deaf ears. "They should have someone from the public."

Eleven Republicans and four Democrats are on the board. As always since the creation of SEPTA 40 years ago, the chairman is a Republican; Deon, a Bucks County real estate developer, is a major GOP contributor.

"I think it's a pretty amazing board," said Deon, who has been there since 1995. "Very rarely is it political. The primary interest is what's good for the authority."

"I got to where I understood that SEPTA is really the economic engine of the region," he said. "If something is good for this system, it's good for the region."

Deon said he didn't see a need for a rider representative on the board: "I think the board is set up properly. If it was much bigger, it would be like herding cats."

Nutter will appoint two members within "a few weeks," press secretary Douglas Oliver said. They will replace lawyers Jettie D. Newkirk, a longtime community activist, and Christian A. DiCicco, who is the son of Councilman Frank DiCicco and an unsuccessful candidate last month for the state House. Newkirk's term expired in 2002 and DiCicco's in 2005, but they will remain until replacements are named.

Two other new members, from Chester County, took their seats this year: Kevin L. Johnson, a transportation engineer active in Republican politics and a member of the county planning commission, and lawyer Joseph "Skip" Brion, chairman of the county Republican Committee.

"You really need people who are civic-minded," said Voith, who left the board in 2000. "It is very important to have people who will devote the time to learn about transit management and structure."

He said board members "generally respond to their appointers first and foremost. . . . They're less responsive to riders, but that's not their job, really."

Deon said board members were "very responsive to customers. . . . Most of our requests from the board are for service to customers."

The board of the Delaware River Port Authority.