‘Please help us. We need SEPTA.’ Riders speak out against potential transit cuts

Dozens of transit riders joined politicians and leaders from around the region to protest widespread cuts to SEPTA service on Friday at Dilworth Plaza.

The proposed cuts — which would eliminate 55 bus routes, and five Regional Rail lines while severely curtailing the remaining service — were announced Thursday as a response to SEPTA’s ongoing fiscal crisis.

Here’s what five SEPTA riders said about how the potential cuts could impact them.

» READ MORE: Is your bus route changing? A quick guide to how SEPTA's cuts could impact you.

After suffering a brain injury in 2021 that inhibits her from driving, Stephanie Wein has considered SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill West route to be her lifeline.

“I haven’t recovered my coordination and my reaction time enough to safely drive, but because I can take SEPTA I can get to work. l can get my kid to day-care. I can go out in the evening with my friends and stay late at a happy hour. I can live a really full life,” Wein said.

The idea that could be taken away fills her with “visceral fear,” she said.

Wein’s parents, who purposely bought a house along the Chestnut Hill West line to keep their mobility as they age, also stand to lose freedom.

“They wouldn’t be able to visit their grandchild and we wouldn’t be able to go visit them either,” Wein said, tearing up.

“It’s not just a line, it’s a way to see friends, to see familyl,” she said. “To me, what’s happening to SEPTA feels even more important that what’s happening in Washington right now.”

West Philadelphia resident Dawne Enggasser was pushing her baby’s stroller by City Hall when “save SEPTA now” signs stopped her in her tracks.

As a single mother to a one year old, she relies on SEPTA’s buses and subway to go to work, take her son to doctor appointments, and to go grocery shopping. The 43-year-old had not heard of the potential service reduction until Friday.

Enggasser held back tears.

“I’m scared because how am I supposed to get to his appointments,” Enggasser said. “It’s bad enough having to wait outside in the rain and the cold with the baby when services are delayed.”

On a typical day, Enggasser waits between 20 minutes to an hour to catch the bus that takes them to Center City. It’s a wait that she said pales in comparison to the idea of losing service all together.

Enggasser hopes a solution can be found.

“Please help us,” she said. “We need SEPTA. It’s not like it’s a luxury. It’s an absolute necessity for living a daily life.”

What most perplexes Pam Blalock about the proposed SEPTA cuts is that her morning commuter trains are hardly ever empty.

“How could they cut something that is so crowded every single day?” Blalock said while waiting for a bus along Market Street on Thursday.

Blalock, who says her commute to her workplace at a Center City courthouse takes at least an hour, is reliant on Regional Rail.

“If I didn’t have SEPTA, I would have a big problem,” she said. “I would have to drive in, and it would take longer than an hour.”

Finding and paying for parking in the dense area surrounding her workplace would be even more of a headache, Blalock imagines.

“It’s almost $30 a day,” she said.

After almost a decade working for SEPTA, Josh Willis, 52, said he and his coworkers knew “something pretty big was coming.” What Willis didn’t expect is to see the Regional Rail line that takes him to work everyday on the chopping block.

The Paoli/Thorndale line is one of five Regional Rail lines that could be eliminated in January.

“I’m really disappointed, but not in SEPTA’s administration. I’m disappointed that our governments can’t figure out a way to fund something that is for everybody,” he said.

If the cuts become a reality, Willis and his wife will both have to start driving to work. “I’m not looking forward to driving 45 minutes everyday, when I could just be sitting in the train for 15 to 20,” Willis said.

Standing in the rain, James Duesler and Sofia Gonzalez held a “Philly doesn’t stop at 9 p.m.” sign in protest of the potential budget cuts.

Duesler, 23, is a North Philadelphia resident, while Gonzalez lives along the Doylestown Regional Rail line. Despite their different zip codes, the pair agrees that the proposed service reduction would negatively impact their social lives.

They’re both concerned about SEPTA’s plans to end transit service at 9 p.m.

“If I’m not able to get back home safely or in a timely manner, I won’t be able to travel as far and l’ll just probably decide not to go,” said Duesler.

For Gonzalez, the disruption will be bigger. As a Temple University alum living in the suburbs, less trains will mean losing connections with her friends in the city.

“If you’re going to a show at nighttime or hanging out with friends in the city, it’s still pretty crucial to get back home safely at night because an Uber rate can be pretty expensive,” Gonzalez said.