SEPTA plans to cut service on dozens of routes and may lay off staff amid funding crisis
The transit agency’s budget for fiscal 2026 calls for major service reductions and higher fares if state aid doesn’t come through.As drafted, SEPTA’s budget would hit transit riders hard with deep service cuts that raise questions about the long-term survival of the system.
Under the proposal, 32 bus routes spread across Philadelphia and the four suburban counties would get the ax, 12 routes would be shortened, and 63 more would offer less frequent service.
Those and other cuts totaling 45% of SEPTA service would be implemented in two phases, starting this fall — if the Pennsylvania legislature doesn’t pass Gov. Josh Shapiro’s latest proposal to increase state aid for mass transit systems.
Fares are also set to rise 21.5% in the fall.
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The plans are contained in SEPTA’s $2.6 billion budget for operating expenses and capital projects for fiscal year 2026, to be unveiled Thursday.
SEPTA says that it has no choice but to be prepared, and that the eye-popping reductions are not a political threat but a realistic assessment of the bad choices available as it faces a $213 million annual structural deficit.
“I think there has been a little bit of disbelief that this was true,” said Scott Sauer, interim general manager of the transit agency.
“SEPTA has a long history of being underfunded, and we’ve in turn had to ask many times for additional funding. … None of the solutions in the past were meant to carry us all the way through to 2025, and so that’s why we’re here again.”
The new fiscal year begins July 1.
SEPTA also plans a complete hiring freeze, beginning in September. Operator positions would be included despite a shortage. The agency also will count on reducing head count by about 300 due to attrition in the last three months of the year.
Layoff notices could be sent beginning in January 2026.
How SEPTA got here
Over the years, several programs have pumped additional state money into SEPTA and other transit agencies in times of fiscal crisis, but they were not permanently funded.The commonwealth does provide operations funding for transit systems from various taxes and fees; SEPTA’s share of that is just over $1 billion a year.
But years of deferred maintenance, underfunding, the COVID-19 pandemic, and inflation have put SEPTA and many other U.S. transit systems in a deeper hole.
Advocates for SEPTA and Pennsylvania transit see the current moment as an existential threat and have been preparing to fight what they expect will be deep cuts.
“I can’t fault SEPTA for doing the things we need to do in a post-COVID world to figure out where transit fits in people’s lives now,” said Bob Previdi, a ridership expert who worked for the Metropolitan Transit Agency in New York. He is policy director for Save the Train, a Northwest Philadelphia group with 8,000 members.
Members of the Save the Train Coalition gathered at the Richard Allen Lane Regional Rail Station last year.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
“But this change needs investment,” Previdi said. “It’s not the time to walk away, and I hope and pray that elected leaders realize that.”
If doomsday dawns, cuts would be hitting just as Philadelphia prepares to host international events in 2026: the FIFA World Cup and the 250th anniversary of the United States. Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game is also scheduled to take place in the city next year.
SEPTA officials say that some or all of the cuts could be avoided if Harrisburg produces an aid package, depending on the timing.
“The closer we get to the day that we flip the switch, the harder it becomes to reverse it,” Sauer said.
The initial impact
The first service cuts, of 25%, would take effect Aug. 24, and a 21.5% fare increase is scheduled for Sept. 1.Right away, commuter train customers would face reduced service on 13 Regional Rail lines. There would also be fewer trains and longer waits on the Broad Street and Market-Frankford Lines, and for trolleys.
If no funding deal is reached by the end of the year, SEPTA would implement another round of cuts next January.
If SEPTA doesn't receive more state money, the transit agency plans to eliminate five Regional Rail lines in 2026. Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
All rail service would be shuttered at 9 p.m., two trolley routes would be converted to bus service, and Regional Rail lines that run over Amtrak-owned territory infrastructure would be terminated.
Those are the Paoli/Thorndale, Wilmington/Newark, Trenton, Chestnut Hill West, and Cynwyd lines.
SEPTA leases the right to operate on Amtrak property for about $60 million a year.
State law requires SEPTA’s board to hold formal public hearings before routes and fares can be changed.
Hearings on the operating budget are scheduled for May 19 at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. at SEPTA’s headquarters, as well as on May 20 at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Hearings on the capital portion of the budget are scheduled for May 21 at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Will state funding materialize?
So far there has been little public evidence that a deal is brewing between the governor and the legislature on transportation funding.Last year, state Senate Republicans blocked Shapiro’s proposal to pump $283 million annually in new state aid to public transit by increasing its share of sales tax revenue. That would have brought about $161 million to SEPTA.
They wanted to combine money for transit with new money for roads and bridges in a grand bargain. Shapiro endorsed talking about it and SEPTA supports it, but it did not come together.
SEPTA plans to cut service on dozens of routes and may lay off staff amid funding crisis
SEPTA's budget, unveiled Thursday, cuts 45% of service and raises fares to make up a monetary deficit that has been brewing for years.
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gonna suck for late night work and creep gang.
Broad Street Line cars are from the 80s.
even though they are nearly 20 years older than the Broad Street Line fleet 
Holy hell, I remember when junkies would just dance and throw bottles and shyt.
