By Kennedy Rose – Digital Producer, Philadelphia Business Journal
SEPTA is in a $350 million hole.
That’s the depth of a budget shortfall the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is projecting for its fiscal 2021 year ending in June as Covid-19 bludgeons its revenue and government support for the transit system withers. SEPTA is now weighing cutting service lines, closing stations and raising fares as it struggles to plug the gap in its operating budget, and it could take years before ridership figures approach anywhere close to pre-Covid levels.
More than 20 million passengers rode SEPTA each month before the pandemic but ridership collapsed in the spring as people were cautioned to stay inside their homes. Ridership on the country’s seventh-largest transit system plummeted close to 90% in April and May, leaving buses and rail cars empty but costing SEPTA for each stop they made.
For the 2020 fiscal year, the transit authority took in $403.4 million in revenue, 24% less than the $527.8 million projected. SEPTA is now losing about $1 million each day in revenue, SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards said.
“We would be collecting around $40 million a month, and we were lucky to get about $4 million this summer,” Richards said.
Ridership picked up slightly as some Greater Philadelphia restrictions eased over the last eight months and people gradually returned to work.
Richard Burnfield, SEPTA’s deputy general manager, predicts it will take until the end of 2022 to get anywhere close to pre-pandemic ridership levels, or reaching 80% to 90% of the 20 million passengers per month.
Covid-19 has also created an unprecedented reversal of SEPTA’s financial situation: Its capital budget is stable while its operating budget is in jeopardy.
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