PHILADELPHIA – Today, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker shared updates about the SEPTA budget crisis and resulting Phase 1 service cuts that started yesterday, August 24, 2025.

The Mayor was joined by Deputy Managing Director of the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems Mike Carroll, Finance Director Rob Dubow, and Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia Dr. Tony Watlington, Sr., all of whom provided updates about the status of state budget discussions in Harrisburg and information that can help transit users, especially students and seniors, adapt to SEPTA cutbacks.

“I have great faith in Governor Josh Shapiro and legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle, and I continue to be optimistic that we can get to yes and find a solution that benefits all Pennsylvanians,” said Mayor Parker. “I have been in constant communication with Governor Shapiro and leaders from both parties, and I’m doing everything in my power to be part of a solution for mass transit funding in the Philadelphia region and across this Commonwealth.”

The City’s overall contribution to SEPTA – operating and capital – through its Five-Year Plan and Six-Year Capital Program is $792 million. In this year’s budget, the City has included $135 million in SEPTA subsidy in the operating budget. SEPTA’s budget shows that in addition to the City’s contribution, the match amount for operating costs for the PA counties surrounding Philadelphia is about $28 million.

“The hardships many are facing due to SEPTA’s anticipated cuts are not lost on us,” Mayor Parker said. “And that’s why we are taking an all-of-government approach, and we are collaborating with SEPTA, the school district, universities, employers, non-profits, and community groups to deploy alternative solutions and minimize disruption for residents.”

The Mayor noted today that more than 700,000 people use SEPTA every day to get to work, school, medical appointments, sporting events and for many other reasons, and an estimated 52,000 students take SETPA every day to get to and from school in Philadelphia.

This morning when 117,000 Philadelphia school district students made their way to the first day of school, those who take SEPTA to get there on time were navigating the service cutbacks and had to wait for their bus or subway for a longer amount of time and experienced a greater number of riders and crowding.

In addition, about 65,000 senior citizens consider SEPTA a lifeline since they ride SEPTA every day to get to doctors’ appointments, buy groceries, and get to other critical services. Today was the first day that all of these riders felt the impact of SEPTA cutbacks and realize that more are coming, including fare increases of 21.5 percent next week, September 2.

“The Managing Director’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS), Department of Streets, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), the Office of Public Safety, Police Department, and Neighborhood Action Centers have been working collaboratively for weeks to develop a strategy and action plan that we hoped we would not have to implement – but yesterday, we hit ‘start’ on that plan — given that SEPTA has been forced to operate based on its “Dooms Day” budget. Service reductions are locked in,” said Mike Carroll.

Starting today, the Department of Streets intensified its monitoring of the traffic network to identify possible areas with greater impact. This involves:

• Observing traffic volumes and travel time across arterial and expressway networks.
• Looking for changes in when travel peaks and routes are taken.
• Identifying delay corridors, congested intersections, and breakdowns in level of service.
• Tracking external factors that reduce reliability like electrical issues or street work.
• Work with parking operators to anticipate parking patterns that may affect traffic.

This data will support efforts to maximize traffic progression on key corridors, minimize signal downtime and loss of camera and signal communication and focus enforcement efforts to maintain reliability and will guide refinement of our traffic management approach over the ensuing weeks.  This monitoring ensures the Streets Department is on top of changes in commuter behavior and are then able to be most effective in deploying resources to manage trouble spots the department observes. Maintenance efforts and other preparations are already underway to manage increased traffic pressure when employees and residents return from vacation, and more schools start the new academic year.

“Given the historic $792 Million investment from the City to SEPTA that the Mayor highlighted, we want to ensure the greatest benefit to our residents is achieved even during this funding crisis,” said Carroll.  “We are particularly interested in the impacts to school-related travel.  Therefore, we are exploring creative concepts to maintain transportation options for school students. We are currently working on proposals to do this and will provide updates on that topic later in the week.”

The Director of Finance explained that the Parker Administration has consistently shown its commitment to stepping up in times of crisis.  At the same time, the City has also shown its commitment to fiscal stability.

“We’ve done that through the choices we’ve made in the budget process, through our position on tax investments and through our approach to collective bargaining. That means that we will do what we can to help SEPTA riders get through what we hope are temporary service cuts. But we will also live within our means,” said Rob Dubow.

The City is maintaining a blog post with resources for transit riders and commuters, which will be updated regularly as new information becomes available. The Office of Emergency Management also encourages residents to sign up to for READY PHILADELPHIA alerts. To receive text alerts to your phone on emergencies, text ReadyPhila to 888-777 or go to the Read Philadelphia web site.