In the last two weeks, SEPTA has held four public meetings on its “Bus Revolution.” At each meeting, SEPTA has announced changes to meet community demands. For example, at the meeting near Broad and Olney Transportation Center, SEPTA’s spokespeople announced what they called “wins” for the community. Bus lines scheduled to be eliminated are no longer being cut. For example, routes 16, 28, 67, and 32 will be kept, and new routes will be added.
The riders’ responses did not change. Riders continued to say their priority is a cleaner, safer system.
On its face, these changes appear to serve the riders better. What SEPTA has not said is what it will cut to make up for the routes being reinstated or added.
Throughout the sessions, SEPTA made it clear that the amount of service would remain the same. The changes must be budget-neutral. If a bus route was to be reinstated or added, other bus routes must be cut.
Hall Monitor asked SEPTA directly where the cuts were going to be made. SEPTA responded, “I think that is a really fair question; we have been making adjustments based on all the feedback we have gotten. The new routes that we are talking about, we feel very strongly about. We have been very clear, we hear what people are saying, people want these routes back, we are going to put them back. We are going to figure out a way to get them back in, we are going to try and minimize . . . to make the map work, we are going to have to make adjustments”.
Those coming adjustments have not been announced. SEPTA says it will make those cuts and adjustments over time. As of yet, its Bus Revolution web page has not been updated. For example, route 32 is listed as being discontinued, and route 16 is listed as being terminated. According to SEPTA, neither will happen.
So, what is the actual proposal? What will SEPTA decide on? The answer can not be known. SEPTA riders are facing unknown changes., SEPTA’s hearings, where riders could raise issues before the SEPTA board was held on a plan that no longer existed.
In most hearings, that would be enough to throw them out any decision that was reached. After all, one set of facts was presented at the hearing, and now another set of facts is being discussed.
It should matter.
Many people, including members of the Inquirer Editorial Board, urged SEPTA to ignore City Council’s input and the additional public hearings. It is unclear how they feel about SEPTA deciding that the new rounds of public hearings were meaningful and helped craft a different proposal. Will those who urged the adoption of the old proposal oppose the new one? Will they demand to know what the new proposal is?
According to SEPTA, the underlying reason for the “revolution” was the decline in ridership. At the monthly board meeting, SEPTA’s general manager acknowledged that ridership was increasing at a faster pace than in the previous months and without any change in routes.
What has also been missing is an analysis of what happened in other cities where a “bus revolution” was undertaken. In New Orleans, the 2022 changes were unpopular; riders complained about the longer walk to busses and increased transfers. The Public Transit system, citing faster bus routes, didn’t listen.
As in Philadelphia, the public transit system focused on new routes rather than the most pressing issues. As a result, New Orleans is now making major service cuts and addressing its major problem: its aging system.
The change in Houston Bus service is more complex and harder to judge. Instituted before COVID, it met with mixed reviews. Now, years later, it appears to be a failure. Service cuts are being implemented as the number of riders has failed to come close to projections.
To date, SEPTA continues to fail to find the drivers it needs to operate the buses it currently has. SEPTA still needs to receive the funding it says it needs to avoid draconian service cuts and fare hikes.
SEPTA has refused to use any of its 400 million surplus to make the system cleaner and safer. And no one from SEPTA at any of the public meetings or hearings has told the public what happened in other cities where such route changes were tried.
Now that the public hearings have ended, the actual plan and what will happen next remain a mystery. Perhaps this may remind readers of the Wizard of Oz saying, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
Our reporters sit through hours of city council meetings, dig through piles of documents, and ask tough questions other media overlook. Because we’re committed to addressing Philadelphia’s poverty crisis — and challenging those who sustain it. If you think this work is important too, please support our journalism.
We’re counting on readers like you.
