PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia judge has issued a temporary injunction preventing the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority from raising fares on Sept. 1 and making cuts to its Regional Rail service on Sept. 2.
The order today (Aug. 29, 2025) by Judge Sierra Thomas-Street of the Court of Common Pleas also blocks layoffs, furloughs, and “all other actions soon to be underway in connection with the Service Cuts [Phase One].” It will remain in effect until Thursday, Sept. 4, when the parties involved will return to court to present additional evidence. It is in response to a suit filed Wednesday on behalf of three SEPTA riders that argues the agency is “making up” its financial crisis in order to gain additional state funding.
The judge did not require the agency to roll back the cuts it made on Aug. 24 [see “SEPTA service cuts begin,” Aug. 25, 2025].
The ruling comes a day after the City of Philadelphia announced it would use some of a $135 million transit subsidy in its budget to restore some trolley and bus service to aid students.
The suit filed by lawyer George Bochetto claims SEPTA is sitting on a $400 million stabilization fund that it could use to address its financial needs, but WCAU-TV reports a SEPTA spokesman has previously said the fund is used to pay the agency’s bills and is not a “rainy day fund.”
SEPTA General Manager told reporters the agency will move to comply with the ruling.
“The judge wants us to keep service at the levels that we’re running today; that’s going to take a lot of effort,” Sauer said, as reported by KYW-TV. “We know we needed 10 days to turn this around, so we’re going to take a look and see how best we can comply with that order.”
Meanwhile, the city’s use of its subsidy will restore service frequencies as of Sept. 2 on the T2 and T5 trolley lines, as well as nine bus routes, to avoid overcrowding and stops that are skipped as a result. Eight other bus routes that had been cut will be restored on Sept. 15, and another route that had been trimmed will have a portion restored.
“We are proud that our City teams moved quickly with SEPTA to find a way to restore transit services in the areas where students are most affected by the cutbacks that started on the first day of school this week,” Mayor Cherelle Parker said in a press release. “Making sure that all of our city’s children and youth can get to school on time and safely is one of our top priorities.”
We live in a dictatorship of judges. This is an example of a judge ruling without any authority to do so. The judge has no authority to set transit fares. The ruling will be reversed but meanwhile SEPTA has to dance to the judge’s music. With no money to do so.
Doesn’t mean I support the SEPTA cuts — I don’t. But it’s not up to the judge.
In 1983, I was active in Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers. Maybe I was vice president or something at the time, I don’t remember. SEMTA cut funding for the Detroit-Pontiac commuter trains on GTW. MARP went to court for a temporary injunction to keep the trains running. The injunction was granted. Lasted about a day until reversed. But I was horrified. Back then, just as now, I opposed dictatorship by judges. I informed MARP I was no longer a member and told them why.