SEPTA service cuts must be reversed immediately, judge says

PHILADELPHIA — SEPTA must reverse all cuts to services immediately, a Philadelphia judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Sierra Thomas Street ordered SEPTA to “immediately reverse all service cuts,” which began last month as the transit agency faces a significant financial shortfall and the state budget has not yet allocated funds amid a monthslong budget stalemate. SEPTA cut 32 bus routes, shortened 16 others and trimmed service across the board.

The judge’s order applies to route cuts, service reductions, and staffing reductions but does not apply to proposed fare increases. The agency is also barred from implementing any new cuts.

SEPTA didn’t have any immediate comment Thursday evening but the agency could appeal the judge’s order.

The injunction is not accompanied with an opinion explaining the judge’s rationale in making her decision, a common practice in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

The injunction followed a second day of testimony in a City Hall courtroom, during which SEPTA’s chief planning and strategy officer, Jody Holton, said that the transit system is losing $517,000 a week without planned fare increases that the transit agency was barred from enacting under a previous court order.

George Bochetto, the Bochetto & Lentz attorney who sued SEPTA on behalf of three riders, proposed a 60-day order during his closing arguments that would take effect in 20 days to give the transit system time to revamp services. But the judge’s order doesn’t have a time frame on it.

After the hearing, but before the judge issued her order, Bochetto said that there was no reason SEPTA couldn’t comply quickly with an injunction.

“It’s not that complicated,” Bochetto said. “You fill a bus up with a tank of gas and you put it out on the route.”

SEPTA has said it would take at least 10 days, which must end on a Sunday, to restore full service.

Asked after the hearing how the transit system was able to comply with an injunction on Friday that halted Regional Rail cuts and fare increases that were set to take place over Labor Day weekend, SEPTA’s general manager Scott Sauer said it is easier to hit the breaks than restore service.

“It was easier to not do anything than it will be to change things,” Sauer said.

Bochetto said during the hearing that the “elephant in the room” was SEPTA’s Service Stabilization Fund, which as of last week had more than $300 million in it.

SEPTA filed a 56-page brief Wednesday night, arguing the transit system conducted a thorough analysis of the impact of cuts on riders of color and those from low-income communities.

In his closing argument, Matthew Glazer, a Cozen O’Connor attorney representing SEPTA, said that Bochetto was asking the court to “appoint itself as a de facto treasurer” of the mass transit agency.

Glazer rejected the notion that SEPTA could just tap into its stabilization fund to avoid the cuts. The money in it pays for ongoing bills, SEPTA has said throughout the process.

“Plaintiffs suggest there is some easy, magical fix that SEPTA has simply overlooked,” Glazer said. “If only that were true.”

SEPTA has already used more than $200 million from the stabilization fund, according to the brief, to avoid further cuts. Dipping further into the funds would go against PennDot’s goal for the agency to maintain three months of a cash on hand. It could also force SEPTA to tap its line of credit, which Erik Johanson, interim treasurer and chief financial officer, testified would be costly.

What happens next?

SEPTA didn’t have any immediate comment Thursday evening but the agency could appeal the judge’s order.

Sauer said after the hearing that SEPTA would assess all legal options if the judge issued a sweeping injunction.

What led to this?

The hearing in a City Hall courtroom came after Thomas Street last Friday ordered SEPTA to halt planned service cuts to Regional Rail and fare increases that were scheduled to take effect this week. The judge allowed earlier cuts to bus, subway, and trolley lines to remain in place for the time being.

That ruling set the stage for the hearing Thursday, when the judge was expected to weigh whether to scrap, extend, or expand her earlier order.

The litigation began last week when a consumer advocate and two riders filed a lawsuit accusing SEPTA of concocting a fake fiscal crisis and alleging that the transit agency’s service cuts illegally harmed marginalized groups.

SEPTA says the cuts were necessary to save money as the agency awaits funding from the politically divided Pennsylvania Legislature, which has yet to pass a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.

The cuts caused headaches at the start of the school year in Philadelphia last week as an estimated 52,000 public school students rely on public transit. Some of the bus and trolley service those students depend was restored by advancing city funding to SEPTA.

And the reductions threatened to disrupt travel to the Philadelphia Eagles’ Thursday night home opener against the Dallas Cowboys, though Thomas Street on Wednesday ordered SEPTA to maintain Sports Express service for the game. Sports betting platform FanDuel agreed to foot the bill in any case.

Thursday’s hearing focused mainly on SEPTA’s equity considerations when deciding which route to cut.

Holton testified at length about the methodology SEPTA deployed to assess racial inequity and mitigate its harm. The transit system is obligated by federal law to assess whether any major cut has a disparate impact on low-income and minority communities. Holton said that the analysis showed that overall cuts disproportionately impacted Regional Rail riders compared to bus riders, and higher-income and nonminority communities.

“A cut of this magnitude, we took absolute care that we made choices that would impact the fewest riders,” Holton said.

What’s going on with budget?

The Democratic-led Pennsylvania House and Republican-controlled state Senate have so far been unable to reach a deal on the budget. How to fund mass transit has been one — but not the only — sticking point among lawmakers in Harrisburg.

Democrats in the House passed legislation last month that would increase the share of state sales tax revenue dedicated to mass transit. Senate GOP leaders oppose that plan because, they say, it would mean less money for other worthy programs. And they note the state already spends more money that it brings in.

For their part, Senate Republicans passed a bill that would help fund SEPTA and other mass transit systems by tapping money from a part of the Public Transportation Trust Fund that pays for capital projects.

Democrats initially called that a nonstarter, but House leaders and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro have since said they are open to the idea as long as any legislation also includes a recurring revenue stream for transit.