SEPTA Approves 2012 Budgets

On Thursday, May 26, the SEPTA Board approved operating and capital budgets for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The operating budget does not increase fares and maintains current service levels.

According to a release issued by SEPTA, the budgets reflect its ongoing commitment to control costs and increase efficiencies while improving customer service and modernizing its aging infrastructure.

The $1.22 billion operating budget represents an increase of about 3.5 percent over the 2011 fiscal year despite significant increases in areas such as health care, prescriptions and claims.

For the second straight year, SEPTA expects to defer dozens of improvement projects that it sees as vital to the short- and long-term health of the transit system. The $311 million capital budget represents a 25 percent reduction compared to funding levels of two years ago, leaving just enough to cover expenses such as debt service, new buses and paratransit vehicles, equipment overhauls, and mandates such as Regional Rail signal system upgrades.

Meanwhile, long-needed improvements—from City Hall Station renovations to critical overhauls for aging electrical substations—are delayed indefinitely.

These projects were expected to move forward with the help of Act 44, a measure approved by Pennsylvania lawmakers in 2007. Act 44 called for generating new revenue streams, including the addition of tolls on Interstate 80.

Last year, however, the federal government rejected the states I-80 plan—forcing SEPTA to cut 22 improvement projects from the 2011 budget. It has also halted many elements of the authority’s longterm Capital Improvement Plan, which in recent years has resulted in major infrastructure upgrades, the addition of new equipment and improvements in customer service.

According to the release, SEPTA remains optimistic funding for infrastructure improvements will be addressed. General Manager Joseph M. Casey pointed to Gov. Tom Corbett’s formation of the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding Advisory Commission, which is studying ways to fund transportation statewide.

“SEPTA looks forward to hearing the Transportation Funding Advisory Commission’s recommendations, and working with Gov. Corbett’s administration to find solutions to Pennsylvania’s transportation funding crisis,” Casey said in the release. “I also want to assure our riders that, despite these funding challenges, SEPTA remains committed to providing the highest level of service possible, and making further system improvements.”

SEPTA’s Fiscal Year 2012 operating and capital budgets can be viewed and downloaded at the authority’s website.