4/16/2025: No budget without Transit!
[Image Description: A large crowd of people with signs at Philadelphia City Hall.]
No budget without transit! SEPTA announced major service cuts and fare increases beginning August 2025.
What does this mean for riders?
Catastrophic cuts to transit service included in SEPTA’s proposed budget for the next year, impacting the whole Philadelphia metro area.
In the last decade, the funding formula for public transportation has remained stagnant, even as costs for transit agencies have continued to rise. Now we are fully at a crisis point: SEPTA has announced fixed route service cuts up to 45% and fare increases of 21.5%.
This would effectively kill public transit in our region, and the ensuing damage to our riders, our economy, our healthcare system, our road congestion, and air quality is incalculable.
On April 10th, SEPTA announced the cuts they would have to make in order to operate under the proposed budget, and they will impact every rider no matter if you’re traveling from Overbrook or South Philly. If enacted, the cuts would increase fares to New York City prices with a shadow of the service that Philadelphia used to receive. And the impacts on disabled riders would be even more profound, with 40,000 paratransit trips per year no longer served by SEPTA ACCESS, and fares increased by 35%.
But transit riders and workers are ready with a response that meets the scale of the crisis.
Our statewide coalition, Transit For All PA!, is organizing thousands of riders across the state to push for a new, dedicated funding source for public transit in the state budget. From Pittsburgh to Pottstown, Erie to Philly, we all need abundant, protected public transportation. And we can win it, together!
Use our tool to email your state elected officials, Want to take your actions further? Sign up to visit your legislator, join an issue coalition focused on disability or human services, or join one of our regular committees. Our actions and tools are being updated all the time right here.
Email your representatives Join the Transit for All PA! campaign
3/6/25: What’s Next: Winning Transit That Moves Us All
Image Description: Group of people of different backgrounds with sunglasses with arms raised and signs reading “Transit For All PA!” At center is a person in a power chair with a microphone. At right, a yellow block in the shape of Pennsylvania with a red cartoon bus and the blue text “Transit For All PA! and blue text below reading “We Can Win Transit That Moves Us All!”
Thanks for joining us last Thursday to build a Platform for Visionary Transit! That call was just step one to winning funding by June 30.
Over 175 riders, advocates, and operators from across Pennsylvania signed up to share their stories, learn the background of our statewide campaign, and join the fight. Now, we need your help with research and communications, organizing in rural and suburban communities, analyzing funding solutions, and shaping our path to victory through the Spring.
2/21/2025: Transit Equity Day Recap
Earlier this month, Transit Forward Philadelphia along with the Temple University Office of Sustainability hosted the Transit Equity Day workshop to reflect Governor Shapiro’s recent budget announcement.
