Reducing the Price of SEPTA - Blog #3

Joe Sestak:
“I believe that it is essential for public transportation to be reliable and affordable for all Americans.”

Raymond LaHood:
Secretary of Transportation for the United States

The only problems with this idea lie with why the strikes came about in the first place. There is a need for income in SEPTA workers and part of the cut for the budget could come from their salary. We are reaching a point in SEPTA’s history where they vehicles need servicing. SEPTA has just put into affect the use of some of the new cars that they’re ordered. “The three cars are the first of 120 ordered by SEPTA, at a cost of $274 million...” and are a reflection of the need for replacement for the “73 railcars built in the 1960s”. This necessary use of spending hurts the budget of not only the transportation of Philadelphia, but Philadelphia’s budget deficit in general. It is a ripple affect that will hurt how we travel along with how we function in other areas of our daily lives.

Along with the fact that workers would possibly receive budget cuts, it is almost impossible to even touch their income because of their contract.
In one blog, it is pointed out that SEPTA targets who they want to target. In 2007, it was debated apon for what price to raise. They decided on raising the transfer rate instead of the rate of tokens. This would target people who unfortunately have to travel quite far for what they need such as”...poor school kids and moms taking their kids across town to church!” Therefore, SEPTA could be a problem when it comes to talking about their reliability and rates. They wouldn’t want to incriminate themselves or make it harder on the people they want to protect.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many people doing anything about this problem, possibly because of the budget crisis in Philadelphia. However, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t still an important issue. This only means that someone needs to commence the idea of having a more reliable and affordable SEPTA.