Hmmm. I heard SEPTA was Screwing Everyone in Philadelphia Time & Again.
Philadelphia has a weird relationship with its public transportation provider which is a semi-governmental agency that is accountable to nobody. The board of directors is nominated by the counties, the state house majority and minoritiy leaders, the state senate majority and minority leaders and finally the governor and so even in the most favorable of times (like now with Rendell in Hbrg) the city has a minority say in the operation of SEPTA even though in excess of 80% of the ridership is in the city. Here's the formula: 2 - Philadelphia 8 - surrounding counties 5 - State. Philadelphia does get veto power, however. They haven't used it much. Perhaps they ought to more, but generally service is cut back which hurts us in the city more than our suburban neighbors because the city relies on it more. SEPTA is funded by a combination of federal, state and local subsidies as well as whatever farebox revenue they generate. The state revenue really ought to be part of the gasoline tax but there is a constitutional amendment preventing this. Amazing, that. So the state has cobbled together all sorts of other revenue streams to direct at public transportation (not just SEPTA, there are many organizations all over PA) which has its own formula. SEPTA gets the biggest piece of this pie, with Pittsburg second and several regional transit authorities getting equal shares further down the scale. This share has shrunk over the years because some of the sources of funding didn't work out. An example was a surcharge on electricity that shrank after de-regulation. The federal share is the next biggest chunk, I think. That has remained unchanged for years even though the cost of providing transportation has risen. The current leadership in DC are not interested in funding mass transit. That is why Amtrak is about to go belly up, even with its ridership at its all-time high. Next comes the share that our fair city puts in. Rendell threatened to cut the city share in '97 when SEPTA was raising the fares unless they restored one of the three "suspended" trolley routes that were discontinued in 1992. The restoration of the rt 15 was the result of this. The city also owns the Broad Street Subway, the trains on the BSS, trackless trolley routes 75 and 66 (in the northeast) and, I believe, the Frankford El side of the Market-Frankford line. The city also is the owner of some percentage of the regional rail cars, though those trains are pretty old now and may have been completely depreciated. Then the counties have to put up some dollars. Combined, their total may equal more than the city, but I don't think so. They aren't really well set up for efficent mass transportation anyway. There's plenty of squabling amongst the counties, too as they compete for some of the transportation pie. Finally there is farebox revenue. This used to be a wild card because as SEPTA raised fares, fewer people would ride. Now SEPTA has cut away almost all of their discresionary ridership and so what is left are the carless. Generally these folks are poor and they don't vote regularly so their wants and needs are constantly washed aside. It does make guessing SEPTAs revenue easier, however, because most of the folks who are left will stick with it simply because they have no good alternatives. Nobody really holds management at SEPTA responsible for much of anything and so things just kind of keep on keeping on. To their credit, they have managed to squeeze operating dollars out fairly well but have screwed up pretty big on several capital investment projects as well as planning things like a rail line to Reading. The labor side isn't blameless, either with some well publicized stories such as the worker who rigged up a device in the Powelton train yard that would wake him if anyone approached so that he could get some Zzzs on the job. Public transportation isn't really that sexy. Nobody really wants to talk about it and nobody really wants to think about it. You aren't going to get the bright young management types eager to join up some kind of mess like that because they can get paid more and appreciated more at any private firm in the world. The city, however, relies on public transit. Imagine if SEPTA really did shut down! Everyone in the city would buy a car, and there isn't that much room for them all. All the arguments on this list about who parks where would seem like a plesant dream if there were four times the number of cars out on the road! John Street was quoted in the inquirer as saying "I don't think Philadelphia gets a good return on its investment" when refering to the subsidy that it gives SEPTA. That was one of the most impressive things I've heard from him since the election. I'm starting to think that Philadelphia needs to secede from SEPTA and run the service the way it sees fit. We would still have the largest transportation system in the state even if we didn't keep most of the railroad. Things that need to be build then could be, like the Roosevelt Bvld subway, or returning trolleys to the #23 line. 'kay. Those are some of my thoughts. I ride SEPTA quite a lot, but I don't rely on it because it simply isn't reliable. - J. Scott Clinton -----Original Message----- From: Turner,Kathleen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 1:54 PM To: 'Pete Coyle'; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [UC] SEPTA Told to me by a Regional Rail conductor, during the strike about 9 years ago: SEPTA = Slowly Eliminating Public Transportation Anyway. Kathleen -----Original Message----- From: Pete Coyle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 1:04 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [UC] SEPTA Car-Share rocks. I love SEPTA's tag line on the trolleys. "We're getting there." It's tragically pathetic. :Pete On Thursday, September 16, 2004, at 12:37 PM, Christy Bracken wrote: > Yeah. I think we'll need to get in on the CarShare thing big time if > SEPTA stops running altogether on the weekends. And I guess I could > always use the bike more. > > >> From: "Dubin, Elisabeth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Reply-To: "Dubin, Elisabeth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: "Sarah Scheckter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> CC: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Subject: RE: [UC] SEPTA >> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 12:17:36 -0400 >> >> I'm glad you brought it up. I saw the postings yesterday and was >> suitably horrified until I forgot all about it. Thanks for reminding >> me. The fliers said something like: >> >> "Because the city is in such dire straights and the state refuses to >> come to our aid, base fares will be raised to $2.50 per ride and >> weekend service will be completely eliminated on all lines you ride >> on. Regional rail service will be likewise eviscerated." >> >> I thought about going to the hearings, but felt like a sucker. I >> thought it was a bluff and didn't want to waste time going to a >> pointless hearing. So I thought about writing to the governor's >> office, the mayor's office, and the city council. Who else should I >> write to? >> >> >> >> >> ELISABETH DUBIN >> Hillier ARCHITECTURE >> One South Penn Square, Philadelphia, PA 19107-3502 | T 215 636-9999 | >> F 215 636-9989 | hillier.com >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sarah Scheckter >> Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 11:52 AM >> To: Sarah Scheckter >> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Subject: [UC] SEPTA >> >> What do people think about this upcoming SEPTA crisis? I haven't seen >> much about it in the news. SEPTA has proposed cutting all weekend >> service _as well as_ raising fares, unless they get bailed out by the >> state. I don't know if it's poor management on SEPTA's part, or >> simply the difficulty of running a public transit system in the >> black, but I am shocked and worried that this might actually come to >> pass. (A senior person at the company said that this time "we aren't >> bluffing"). >> >> Any thoughts? >> >> There's a hearing on Oct. 19 at 1200 Market St. I'm planning on >> going. >> >> Sarah >> >> >> ---- >> You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named >> "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see >> <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. >> >> ---- >> You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named >> "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see >> <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. > > _________________________________________________________________ > Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's > FREE! > > hthttp://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ > > ---- > You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the > list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see > <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. > > check out the battle blaster blog at http://mysite.verizon.net/vze3nxh2/ word ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
