Regional commuters continue waiting on Pennsylvania lawmakers to see if they will approve legislation that will provide SEPTA with enough funding needed to avoid service cuts on Aug. 14, including in Delaware where close to 4,000 people use the service daily.
Pennsylvania's state Senate approved a budget on Aug. 12 advancing legislation that would fund SEPTA and other transportation infrastructure in the state for two years, according to reports. But the plan is opposed by Democrats, who control the state House of Representatives where the $1.2 billion transportation proposal is heading.
SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer told the Philadelphia Inquirer he needed more clarification about funding sources and expected "to remain in close contact with all parties in this negotiation as we continue to await a solution that will provide adequate sustainable funding for SEPTA's future."
More: As SEPTA service hangs in the balance, Delaware looks to build its own passenger rail line
Sauer initially criticized the Senate's proposal, saying it “creates new problems,” according to the Inquirer, but his change in attitude came after discussions with Senate Republican staff.
The Senate's plan matches Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's request for $292 million for transportation and infrastructure in the state, but rather than using sales tax revenue like Shapiro proposed, the money would come from the Public Transportation Trust Fund, according to WHYY-FM.
Democrats expressed frustration with the change, telling WHYY that money from the Public Transportation Trust Fund is already earmarked for necessary system and safety upgrades. Republicans argue the fund's remaining $1.1 billion is more than enough to cover the costs.
SEPTA, which carries close to 4,000 passgners per day in Delaware, is set to start cutting services as legislators are unable to agree on long-term funding for the service. SEPTA faced a budget deficit of at least $213 million as of July, and officials have described the potential cuts as a "death spiral" for transportation infrastructure in southeastern Pennsylvania and beyond.
What Delaware can expect
The cuts will be punishing in Delaware.
Services in the First State would be cut in half within the next six months and there would be a winding down of service on its Wilmington/Newark Line, a commuter rail line from Newark to Temple University in north Philadelphia.
Without additional funding from Pennsylvania, SEPTA service in Delaware would immediately become more expensive. Fares would increase by an average of 20% across the network for reduced service. SEPTA has the rail line and one bus route that stops at the Claymont Transit Center, which was a $90 million investment into regional public transportation that would become a big bus stop.
The first effects will be felt this month with midday trains being reduced from hourly to every two hours, and some peak and evening trains would be terminated. In January, trains stop coming, replaced by a bus that will go to Chester Transit Center, and then to 69th Street Transit Center in West Philadelphia. The closest train line ending would be at the Wawa station in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Bus route 113 from Claymont to the 69th Street Transit Center would be reduced by 20%. That route takes an hour and a half.
According to numbers from the SEPTA data group, the Wilmington/Newark line carries about 4,000 passengers every weekday.
That's about half of 2019 ridership, but ridership had been crawling back since the worst of the pandemic in 2020. A Delaware Department of Transportation spokesperson said on April 11 that Delaware's train line saw the highest ridership since that fateful year.
'Downward decline'
The cuts are a result of a SEPTA Board operating budget approved in late June when Pennsylvania lawmakers couldn't resolve funding issues.
Their budget came despite Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer writing a letter to SEPTA board members in May offering to collaborate on solutions. In his plea, Meyer said he understood the funding challenges for the service, but cutting services would "perpetuate a downward decline."
The deal that operates the trains in Delaware was signed between the Delaware Transit Corp. and SEPTA in November 2002. A Delaware Department of Transportation spokesperson told Delaware Online/The News Journal in April that any kind of programming adjustments to Delaware rail service must have 90 days' advance and be mutually agreed upon.
The agreement can be terminated by SEPTA if Pennsylvania does not provide sufficient funding to service as it existed in 2002.
The Delaware Transit Corp., which runs the DART buses, pay around $10.6 million every year to SEPTA for the trains and Amtrak to use its Northeast Corridor tracks, which run through New Castle County. Newark and Wilmington will continue to have Amtrak trains, no matter what happens with SEPTA.
The system has served Delaware since 1989, first at Wilmington and then growing to Claymont, Newark and Churchmans Crossing over the next decade.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware SEPTA users wait on budget funding before service cuts
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