SEPTA fare increases and Regional Rail cuts can’t start next week, judge rules

A Philadelphia judge on Friday ordered SEPTA to halt planned service cuts to Regional Rail and fare increases due to begin next week, following a daylong hearing in a City Hall courtroom.

Judge Sierra Thomas-Street issued her order from the bench, telling the attorney for the transit agency that “everything must stop.”

“Status quo must be maintained,” Thomas-Street said.

The parties will meet again in court on Thursday, when Thomas-Street will consider whether to make the order permanent and expand it to include reversing cuts already in place.

The order puts SEPTA in a difficult position logistically. General Manager Scott Sauer testified during the hearing that new transit schedules can only take effect on a Sunday, and require preparation the 10 days prior.

» READ MORE: From alerting riders to changing Google Maps, here’s how SEPTA is preparing for service cuts

Cozen O’Conner attorney Matthew Glazer, who represented SEPTA in court, told the judge that the earliest the agency could reverse the planned cuts is Sept. 14. Thomas-Street rebuffed that notion, saying no new cuts were to go into effect.

“The judge wants us to keep service at the levels that we’re running today. That’s going to take a lot of effort. We know we needed 10 days to turn this around, so we are gonna take a look to see how best we can comply with that order,” Sauer said.

The ruling came after attorney George Bochetto filed a lawsuit this week in Common Pleas Court on behalf of a consumer advocate and two riders who argued the transit agency’s actions were unlawful. They contended that the cuts — which started Sunday amid a state budget stalemate — would have a disproportionate impact on marginalized groups, violating their rights protected by the Pennsylvania Constitution.

“The judge is saying: No more further cuts,” Bochetto said after the ruling. “Enough double talk, enough triple talk. Do it.”

Last week, SEPTA eliminated and shortened several dozen bus routes, among other cuts, in response to a projected $213 million annual deficit and a lack of state funding. Fare increases were set to take effect next week, along with a slashing of midday trains on Regional Rail. The state legislature has yet to adopt a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.

More SEPTA cuts, including the elimination of five Regional Rail lines, are planned for January if additional state funding is not approved.

Yet even as SEPTA dramatically reduced service for buses — whose riders are predominantly Black and Latino, as well as low-income — the agency largely left Regional Rail intact in its early cuts, benefiting that service’s largely white and higher-income constituents, the lawsuit said.

The transit agency has said it “conducted a full equity analysis in accordance with all applicable regulations” before adopting its austerity schedule.

The suit was filed on behalf of consumer advocate Lance Haver and two Black Philadelphia residents, Tennille M. Hannah and Johndell Gredic. It says that the agency created a fake fiscal crisis using passengers as “hostages” in “political theater” to secure more state funding, all while having funds to cover the cost of the services that were cut in the agency’s Service Stabilization Fund.

“It’s completely irresponsible, illegal, and frankly, just shocking that SEPTA would perpetrate this fraud on the public and use its riders as pawns to squeeze more money out of Harrisburg,” Bochetto said during the hearing Friday.

A large portion of the hearing was dedicated to Act 44, which created dedicated funding for SEPTA in 2007. Former state Sen. Vincent Fumo, who was the sponsor of the act, testified that it was intended to create a stopgap for SEPTA exactly for moments like this through the creation of the Service Stabilization Fund.

“I want my legislation to be followed,” Fumo said.

Haver has argued that SEPTA should use its stabilization fund to avoid cuts, viewing it as a rainy-day cushion. SEPTA officials said the fund is akin to a checking account the agency uses to pay bills and unexpected expenses, as well as a reserve for potential catastrophes.

Sauer testified Friday that there is just over $300 million in the fund, as the agency is already using more than $100 million from it to fill some of the budget deficit. The cuts save roughly $5 million a month. Bochetto asked Sauer whether he could use the fund to cover the budget gap, which the attorney says is required by law.

Sauer said the agency could do that, but such a move would “run the risk of accelerating SEPTA’s path to fiscal insolvency.”

“We never wanted to cut services or raise fares,” SEPTA’s general manager said, adding that the agency was “compelled to do so because of a shortfall of state funding.”

The only witness the defense had time to call was Erik Johanson, SEPTA’s interim treasurer and chief financial officer. Johanson spent an hour explaining the importance of the Service Stabilization Fund, and said that PennDot — SEPTA’s primary funder — set a goal for agencies of three months’ liquid cash to show fiscal health.

The finance executive said the cuts were a reflection of SEPTA’s realization that funds that existed in the past might not be there in the future, so the agency has to plan for that reality.

Hannah and Gredic also testified about the impacts of the cuts on their lives.

Hannah said she has been spending more money on rideshares as a safety precaution for her 14-year-old and 17-year-old because her children need to take the El subway line to school with the Route 12 bus eliminated. And she has to walk 45 minutes to work because her new commute without Route 12 is not reliable.

“To the executives here from SEPTA, how many of you actually wait for the bus?” Hannah said.

Bochetto celebrated the ruling and seemed confident that the judge could go even further next week.

“We couldn’t be happier for the citizens of Philadelphia,” the attorney said.