Last Thursday, December 21st, the SEPTA board met. Removed from the agenda, without explanation, was the “Bus Revolution.” The Board did not state when it would vote on the motion to adopt the consultants’ recommended changes.
The Board did announce that SEPTA had failed to secure the state’s sales tax allocation change that would have provided SEPTA with the funds it needs to avoid what SEPTA calls the “doomsday” scenario; 30% cuts in service and a 20-30% fare hike. There was no discussion from the members of the Board as to what should be done to ensure that SEPTA receives the funding it says it needs. Nor did any of SEPTA’s executives inform the SEPTA board how much money SEPTA has in its “fare stabilization fund.” During the “Bus Revolution” hearings, SEPTA’s staff refused to answer a direct question about how much was in the Fund. The” Hearing Examiner” refused to instruct SETPA to answer the question.
How much is in the Fund remains unclear.
During the hearing on SEPTA’s budget, SEPTA did not dispute the amount of around $415 million dollars.
Five riders spoke to the Board.
Two urged the SEPTA board to ride the “El” to see the deplorable conditions and why people may not be returning to SEPTA. Two argued for adopting the Bus Revolution, saying meeting with community groups doesn’t help improve the service. One rider spoke about SEPTA’s new web page, saying it still doesn’t tell riders when the next bus is coming.
The SEPTA board awarded, through no-bid contracts, to insurance brokers $1.9 million dollars for cyber insurance and $ 709,000 in liability insurance. No Board Member asked about putting the contracts out to bid.
In a special Board Meeting held the same day, the Board approved the contract with the SEPTA police.
As of today, the “Bus Revolution” consultants have still not emailed everyone on the list the hearing examiners’ report, the new routes just announced, or the frequency of the newly designed routes. No Board Member asked when that information would be announced. Nor did any Board Member ask which routes the hearing examiner was referring to when she recommended that SEPTA develop alternative routes that were being eliminated.
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