Pa. legislators should treat SEPTA funding like an emergency

As our incoming president nominates a fracking company CEO to head the U.S. Department of Energy, and Philadelphia just starts to drizzle its way out of an extreme drought, the challenge of the climate crisis grows both more dire and more difficult. Pennsylvania has never been at the forefront of the fight for a clean energy future, but we do have an incredible asset hiding right under our nose: public transit.

SEPTA’s buses, trains, and trolleys are the Delaware Valley’s lifeblood. Nearly 800,000 of us and our neighbors ride with SEPTA on an average day, and SEPTA contributes billions to the statewide economy. SEPTA makes our region more vibrant, affordable, productive, and livable. And SEPTA’s green credentials need no polishing to shine. Its trains, trolleys, and subways have run on electricity for decades, one-fifth of which it sources from homegrown Pennsylvania solar. Walking, biking, and transit are hands down the cleanest ways to get around. This is why our commonwealth’s 2021 Climate Action Plan calls for increasing public transit.

Yet, legislators in Harrisburg are ready to watch SEPTA starve. The COVID-19 pandemic slashed ridership, cutting SEPTA’s revenue. Pandemic-era federal funding filled that gap, but that funding cut off abruptly in April before ridership had a chance to fully rebound. Now SEPTA is barreling toward a fiscal cliff. Two weeks ago, the Pennsylvania General Assembly closed up and went home for the year without funding transit. That left SEPTA riders like myself faced with the prospect of increased fares, service cuts, and the dreaded “transit death spiral,” where riders abandon the service and it ends up shutting down.

Facing this prospect, people swung into gear. Philadelphia City Council passed a resolution earlier this month calling on the governor to “flex” existing Federal Highway Administration funding to save transit, as many states have done. The next day, Gov. Josh Shapiro brought us back from the brink by flexing $153 million, enough to fund SEPTA through the end of June. This is a huge win for the whole region.

This stopgap measure gives us breathing room but does not solve SEPTA’s funding crisis. For that, we need a new funding structure that provides ongoing support to keep SEPTA running. As much as beating up on SEPTA is a hallowed Philadelphia tradition, this is not the transportation authority’s fault.

The pandemic caused a nationwide transit fiscal crisis. But other states have decided to invest in their people by saving transit. And it can be hard for us Philadelphians to imagine, but some regions do better than letting their transit systems just barely stagger forward from crisis to crisis. Investments in better service from Washington, D.C.’s Metro system have led to more ridership, which in turn helps to further stabilize the system.

Let’s be clear: The death of SEPTA would be the death of the Philadelphia region as we know it. As neighborhoods become less convenient and affordable, businesses shutter, and families move out. Southeastern Pennsylvania, which generates roughly two out of every five dollars in the state, would hollow out.

And letting our transit agencies fail would be a climate and public health disaster. Commuters switching to driving triple their climate pollution and ramp up what is already the greatest contributor to dirty air in the region: road traffic. Many would be faced with the choice of buying or driving cars they may not be able to afford, or being unable to reach their jobs.

Tomorrow could be another November day in which we wake up to the smoke and the reek of South Jersey on fire. I want a future with a strong and resilient Philadelphia where we get where we want to go safely and swiftly. I want a future with clean, wholesome air and a stable climate.

City Council has stepped up. Gov. Shapiro has stepped up. Now we need our legislators to move past their partisan squabbles and give our region the durable, plentiful investment in our transit we all deserve.

Alex Bomstein is a transit rider and the executive director of the Clean Air Council in Philadelphia.