As SEPTA cuts loom, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, leaders and riders raise concerns
Kira hopped off a bus at SEPTA's Norristown Transit Center late Tuesday morning, waiting to transfer and continue on her route. The Pottstown resident said she switches modes several times during her hours-long commute to get to school at the Automotive Training Center in Exton.
She also knows this commute could get more challenging soon with the SEPTA cuts starting in just days.
"I try to just not think about it and hope," she said. "The last resort would be to drop out. I was just coming back to school from being off for two years, and I come back to this."
But Kira said she'll have to take her chances navigating the changes to routes and schedules. She already acknowledged she'll soon be paying more, as SEPTA intends to implement 21.5% fare hikes in September. And an Uber or Lyft to school is just too much.
"$30 to and then $30 back," she said. "That's $60 a day!"
Kira is one of many Montgomery County riders bracing for changes coming to their commutes. County Commissioner Neil Makhija said leaders are trying to make sure people know the cuts are coming, and understand how they can get around.
But Makhija believes Montco will see an outsized impact from the changes.
"The economic impact of these SEPTA cuts is actually hardest on Montgomery County than anywhere else in the Southeast," Makhija said.
According to county officials, seven of the 32 bus routes SEPTA plans to cut starting on Aug. 24 run through Montco. Around 19 other bus and rail lines in the county will operate on reduced service by September.
Makhija, who also serves as a SEPTA board member, pointed to areas like Suburban Square and Conshohocken that he says have grown around access to transit. Without that, he believes the county could face falling property values and a drop in tax revenue.
"If you're taking away service from SEPTA, you're losing economic value and that harms so many different systems from the education system to the way we pay for infrastructure," Makhija said.
Infrastructure was another concern Makhija expressed Tuesday morning. With less transit service, he expects more people with access to cars to use them. He says county leaders are warning people to expect more crowded roads if they choose to drive.
"I don't think there's any voter out there who says to their state legislators, 'Please take action that would cause more traffic on 76,'" Makhija said.
Makhija called on residents to keep the pressure up on Harrisburg, where so far, lawmakers have been unable to reach a deal. The Democratic-led House and Republican-led Senate have each passed competing bills that would fund transit. But neither have been able to pass the other chamber, bringing leaders back to the drawing board.
On Tuesday morning at an unrelated event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Gov, Josh Shapiro said talks over transit funding continued as recently as that morning. He said sides need to find common ground to get a deal done.
"The House and the Senate need to compromise," Shapiro said. "They've got to make tough choices, and they've got to remember this isn't a political game."
Shapiro said the Senate's action last week, while it wasn't supported by SEPTA and didn't get out of a House committee, was encouraging because it shows both chambers see this as an important issue. He said his focus now is trying to broker deal.
"I'm going to continue to try and bring the Republican leaders in the Senate and the Democratic leaders in the House together to come up with a solution here prior to these cuts going into effect," Shapiro said.
But with no deal in place now, riders in Montgomery County are left to figure out what's next.
"I'm just trying to make sure that I understand what the new schedule is, make sure that I give myself extra time to do things," said Cristin Kist of Norristown, who takes SEPTA to work in Center City.
"I'm just gonna pray," Kira said. "I don't have a plan at all. I'm just gonna hope it works out for me."