Today, Governor Josh Shapiro of Abington Township directed PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll to transfer $153 million of federal highway capital funds to SEPTA immediately in order to avoid the transit agency’s recent proposal to increase fares by 29% and reduce services by 20% in January 2025.
Shapiro and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker discussed the emergency funds during a press conference at the Frankford Transportation Center on 5223 Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia at 11:00am.
From Governor Shapiro’s statement:
Until a comprehensive deal is reached, | must take immediate action as Pennsylvania’s Governor to ensure that the needs of the residents of southeastern Pennsylvania are met without causing hardship to any other Pennsylvanians. In order to prevent critically damaging service cuts and fare increases ahead of our next state budget, | have directed PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll to flex $153 million of federal highway capital funds to SEPTA immediately. This action allows for continued service and for SEPTA to avoid immediate service cuts and delay more significant fare increases until July 1, 2025. Critically, this funding shift does not jeopardize or halt any ongoing infrastructure projects already underway across our Commonwealth. The projects have not yet been put out to bid, and will still be completed.
On Thursday, SEPTA’s board approved an initial 7.5% fare hike that would take effect at the start of December.
On November 14, Representative Ben Waxman posted the following on X.com:
Today, I sent a letter to the Governor urging him to use all available tools—including flexing federal infrastructure funds—to prevent devastating SEPTA service cuts and fare hikes. Nearly a million Pennsylvanians rely on public transit every day. We can’t afford to let them… pic.twitter.com/JNoqkiG8DO
— Rep. Ben Waxman (@RepBenWaxman) November 14, 2024
In February, Governor Shapiro announced that his 2024-25 budget proposal will include nearly $1.5 billion in new state funding for public transit systems over the next five years.
Today’s full announcement, which was obtained by NBC10, can be found below:
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