HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has approved the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s request to use up to $394 million in future capital funding to continue operators.
In a brief press release today (Sept. 8, 2025), the Shapiro administration said the funds will be used to maintain transit service for two years, using future capital funding from fiscal 2025-26. No already-committed money from the Public Transportation Trust Fund will be redirected.
SEPTA requested the ability to cap the capital funds after a Philadelphia judge blocked further service cuts to address the agency’s $213 million deficit, and rolled back cuts that had already occurred [see “Judge orders SEPTA …,” Trains.com, Sept. 5, 2025]. The transit agency said last week it was working to restore all service by Sept. 14 if it received approval to use the capital funding; that same day, a 21.5% fare increase permitted by the judge will take effect [see “SEPTA aims to restore service cuts …,” Trains.com, Sept. 5, 2025].
Use of the Public Transportation Trust Fund for SEPTA operations is part of the ongoing legislative impasse that has left Pennsylvania without a state budget — more than two months after the budget deadline — as well as without a solution to transit funding issues in Philadelphia and elsewhere. The state Senate passed a bill calling for the redirection of PTTF money for both transit operating funds and road and bridge repairs, while a House bill would provide money for both areas from an increased percentage of state sales tax.
Just curious – One of my issues with “congestion pricing” on vehicles in Manhattan, with the proceeds used to offset MTA losses, is the hundreds of millions in revenue losses reported from fare beaters and turnstile jumpers. Is this an issue with SEPTA, especially the Phila. subway?
Easy peezy fix, set the fare at a rate to offset operational costs and then request money from the Commonwealth for capital projects.
Not really. It’s still the Philly area always looking to the rest of the state to bail them out for their politicians decisions.
Pennsylvania and SEPTA is taking the same road that has put NJ Transit in a fiscal hole that they can never get out of. Using Capital to pay Operating Costs!
Why not? In America, people take a HELOC out of their house to pay day-to-day expenses. Until they end up with no house to borrow against.
NJT serves the entire state. SEPTA only operates in the 5 PA SE counties. That’s a major difference. Actually, it makes sense for NJT to continue their rail service on from Trenton all the way to Philly if it could be worked out between the 2 states.
Steve, Never thought about NJT running to 30th Street, interesting concept. The NJT Atlantic City line already is a tenant at 30th Street
Michael,
Yes, that was 1 of the 2 reasons I had in mentioning MJT taking over the Trenton to Philly portion since the Feds have already approved NJT crossing into PA. The other reason was having watched the crowds changing between NJT and SEPTA at Trenton about 10 times or so, I got thinking why have an artificial barrier verses the normal station stop that occurs daily on all commuter RR’s? It would be better then the current service and allow the commuter run to serve a major city “all trains stop” location (30th Street) with many direct connections to the South.
Let’s reward fiscal mismanagement by taking funds from other parts of the state. especially the neglected western part of the state. Might be time for a recall vote.
Exactly. Quit trying to get the rest of the state to bail out SEPTA. It is time for the politicians in the area served by SEPTA to step up and ask the voters if they are willing to tax themselves some to keep SEPTA operating as SEPTA wants. If the voters say “no”, then step up fares and cut services.
With this move, I am reminded of the phrase “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. What capital purchases will now be delayed or cancelled, thus hurting SEPTA’s future operations and viability.