SEPTA Postpones Large Fare Increase Following Governor Shapiro Funding Announcement 

On Friday, Governor Shapiro announced stop-gap funding that will help SEPTA fill its operating budget deficit for this year, Fiscal Year 2025. This will enable SEPTA to postpone a major 21.5% fare increase that was proposed to start January 1, 2025. Public hearings for the proposal, scheduled for December 13, have been cancelled.

“On behalf of SEPTA, our riders, our employees, on behalf of our region and our Commonwealth, I want to thank Governor Shapiro for standing with and supporting SEPTA. He has stated repeatedly that he would not let SEPTA fail and he has been true to his word.” – SEPTA Chair Kenneth E. Lawrence, Jr.

The $153 million being flexed to SEPTA at the direction of Governor Shapiro covers SEPTA’s projected operating budget gap through the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2025. However, SEPTA still faces an annual, structural budget deficit of at least $240 million without a permanent solution to Pennsylvania’s public transportation funding crisis.

Like many other transit agencies across the nation, SEPTA has hit a fiscal cliff as a result of the pandemic. One-time federal COVID relief funds were used to help cover the everyday expenses of running the system – maintaining service during the pandemic and supporting the post-pandemic recovery. Those funds were exhausted this past spring, creating a nearly quarter billion dollar annual budget deficit in the current fiscal year and beyond.

SEPTA’s Board on Thursday approved a plan that will increase fares by an average of 7.5% starting on December 1. That fare increase is not impacted by last week’s announcement. The larger, 21.5% proposal was announced recently, after the state legislature adjourned for the year without approving a plan proposed by Governor Shapiro that would have provided new, sustainable funding for SEPTA and all public transit across the Commonwealth.

SEPTA will continue to focus on providing safe, clean and reliable public transportation while taking steps to cut costs and enhance efficiency throughout the organization, including:
• Expanding efforts that are yielding some savings, such as cutting non-essential travel.
• Freezing hiring for most non-operational and safety-related management and administrative positions.
• Cutting consulting and third-party service contracts to the bare minimum.

“[The Governor’s] announcement pauses the death spiral and allows us to tread water. We still desperately need a permanent sustainable funding solution for SEPTA and mass transit in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. – SEPTA Chair Kenneth E. Lawrence, Jr.

Members of the Philadelphia and Southeast House and Senate Delegations have carried SEPTA’s urgent funding message to Harrisburg, and SEPTA will continue to support legislative efforts on a long-term funding solution in the coming months. At the same time, the Authority will have to prepare for the possibility of large fare increases and service cuts starting in summer 2025 if new funding is not in place. Details of those measures will be introduced as part of SEPTA’s FY 2026 budget that will be introduced early next year.