SEPTA To Get Shittier, More Expensive

Yesterday, SEPTA announced that it wouldn’t be raising fares this fiscal year, a cry that is usually met with resounding exhales and handshakes all around and everyone pretending that everything’s going to be okay.

Not the case this time. Some choice quotes from SEPTA officials in Larry King’s Inquirer report on the lack of fare increases and Brian Schneid’s Courier Times article.

• GM Faye Moore: “The storm is coming.”
• Board Chair Pat Deon: “It’ll be much worse than it was before.”
• Spokesman Richard Maloney: “It ain’t hunky-dory, and it gets dramatically worse next year.”
• Budget Director Richard Burnfield: “There’s never an easy or painless option.”
• Deon: “We’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
• Burnfield, on the replacement of buses: “You wind up having to keep them longer than you should.”
• Deon, on the changes of the state legislature plugging next year’s $140 million budget deficit: “What are the chances the Eagles win the Super Bowl this year?”

Here’s what happened: SEPTA diverted money planned for capital projects — installing security cameras, refurbishing old stations (Girard, Spring Garden, City Hall), buying new buses — to offset a $36.8 million shortfall in this fiscal year’s operating budget. No fare increases, no service cuts.

But next fiscal year — which begins July 1 — is going to be a disaster. With a deficit of up to $140 mil next year, SEPTA is planning a 25 percent fare increase, service cuts on the weekends and other cost-cutting measures. The SEPTA board also plans to hire workers to punch riders in the throat as they pass through the turnstiles, just so it all sinks in.

Hey, for now, though, enjoy those buck-thirty tokens and seven dollar trips to Trenton. They’ll be gone in a little over six months!

Financial crunch for SEPTA [Bucks County Courier Times]
SEPTA averts fare hikes — for now [Inquirer]