Local Student Helps SEPTA Riders Rally Against Service Cuts
A Philadelphia-area student has created a website to help SEPTA riders rally against funding cuts for the transportation services provider. Save SEPTA collects information about reduced transit service initiatives and presents…
PHILADELPHIA – OCTOBER 31: Buses sit idle at SEPTA’s (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) Frankford Transportation Center as members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 and United Transportation Union Local 1594 picket during a strike October 31, 2005 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Much of the Philadelphia region’s mass transit system is shut down leaving some 400,000 subway, bus, and trolley riders without transportation. One of the major stumbling blocks in negotiations is SEPTA wants unionized workers to pay for a portion of their healthcare benefits. No new negotiation sessions are scheduled. (Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)
A Philadelphia-area student has created a website to help SEPTA riders rally against funding cuts for the transportation services provider.
Save SEPTA collects information about reduced transit service initiatives and presents the public with advocacy information and ways to contact local and state government officials. The goal of Save SEPTA is to make information about the proposed budget cuts more available and give people easy ways to let their voices be heard.
A local college student named Nick, who requested to withhold his last name due to privacy concerns, created Save SEPTA.
“It's really just about raising awareness and giving people the tools to take action themselves,” Nick told the website Technical.ly in an interview.
Nick developed the site in response to an early April budget proposal released by SEPTA. In the proposal, SEPTA officials have proposed cutting its service by 45%, reducing its workforce, and increasing fares. The proposal detailed 56 bus routes and five regional rail lines that would be cut and outlined a 9 p.m. curfew for rail lines. Included in those proposed cuts are:
- Broad-Ridge spur (B3)
- Chestnut Hill West line
- Cynwyd line
- Paoli/Thorndale line
- Sports Express
- Trenton line
- Wilmington/Newark line
According to Save SEPTA, these cuts are in response to a $213 million budget deficit SEPTA is facing following the expiration of federal COVID-19 relief funds, increasing operational costs, and reduced turnpike funding transfers from the state.
Nick envisions more robust features for Save SEPTA, including an interface that allows riders to enter their departure and arrival points to determine if their routes are affected.
“I hope it can motivate people to go out there and talk to their representatives and get funding through,” Nick said.
