Entering 2025, SEPTA faced a dire fiscal crisis that threatened to slash up to 45% of its service by the start of next year.
For the roughly 790,000 people who use SEPTA’s mass transit on an average weekday, the backbone of transportation in the Philadelphia region rested in the hands of lawmakers in Harrisburg to come up with a fix in the state budget.
- Looking Back at 2025: PhillyVoice is revisiting notable stories from this year and looking ahead to how they could continue to develop next year:
What ensued during the spring and summer was a contentious standoff. On one side, Gov. Josh Shapiro and his Democratic allies proposed a range of transit funding solutions. On the other, Senate Republicans said SEPTA’s woes were a product of mismanagement. A monthslong budget standoff put SEPTA and other public transit agencies in the crosshairs of a stark urban-rural divide in state politics.
SEPTA’s board, faced with an annual $213 million shortfall in its operating budget, voted in late June to approve a phased plan that would eliminate 50 bus routes, cut five Regional Rail lines and impose a 9 p.m. curfew on all remaining rail services. The plan also called for a 21.5% across-the-board fare increase, which took effect in September…