SEPTA Losing $1M Daily With Ridership Down 70 Percent

PHILADELPHIA — With the coronavirus surging in the Philadelphia region, SEPTA is feeling the financial squeeze.

According to SEPTA, each day results in a $1 million loss in fare revenue.

SEPTA said ridership on buses, subways and trolleys/light rail, is down about 70 percent from pre-coronavirus levels. Additionally, Regional Rail ridership is at about 10 to 15 percent of pre-coronavirus levels.

"In terms of overall combined ridership across all modes, we provided approximately 1 million trips (measured as one-way trips by customers) per day pre-COVID," SEPTA Chief Press Officer Andrew Busch told Patch. "Today, there are only about 300,000 trips per day."

Busch said SEPTA is not at a point yet where it can define a new baseline for ridership given the uncertainty of the coronavirus.

"We want to be part of the recovery," he said. "When its ready and safe, we want to be that resource."

With such low ridership due to people working from home, closing retail businesses, and fewer people taking trips to restaurants and stores, SEPTA projects an operating revenue shortfall for fiscal year 2021 — which runs from July 2020 to June 2021 — of approximately $350 million.

SEPTA got $644 million from CARES Act funding, but Busch said those funds will be depleted in 2021. At the end of October, about $150 million of those funds remain.

Busch said SEPTA has been working with Pennsylvania's congressional representatives and senators to lobby for additional stimulus funds to keep SEPTA's services going.

"Without additional assistance, SEPTA will consider all options to cut costs, including layoffs and service cuts," he said. "Other transit agencies are looking at the same thing."

Busch said SEPTA doesn't have specific routes as to how to address funding shortfall.

"So many who people rely on us are often essential workers at hospitals, grocery stores, and cleaning services," he said.

While SEPTA's operational budget is taking a hit, its capital budget is safe. For now.

Busch said SEPTA's capital budget comes from Act 89 funding through mostly turnpike bonds.

But that agreement is slated to end June 30, 2022.

At that time, it will be up to state legislators to move SEPTA's capital budget to a state budget issue, rather than funded by the bonds.

"We are working with Harrisburg to make sure that happens, that they know the need for SEPTA," Busch said. "Even if we get back to normal, we would still have to deal with capital improvements."

He said two-thirds of regional rail trains date back to the 1970s and need to be replaced, as well as work to modernize the trolleys.

"We've had funding crises in the past," Busch said. But the idea of simultaneous capital and operational budget crises is something SEPTA has not encountered.