SEPTA's Budget Cuts and Their Effects on Masterman Students

Amid a transitional period in all federally funded programs, SEPTA finds itself looming directly over a cliff. On April 10th, the South-Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) announced drastic service cuts for the coming year. Already considered one of the most efficient transportation agencies in the country, SEPTA had nowhere else to turn when budget cuts were approved by the Pennsylvania State Senate. The COVID-19 pandemic brought a tipping point to the already sinking agency, when ridership dropped off by the millions. The lost ridership has left a gap in funds, especially after post-pandemic ridership failed to return to pre-pandemic numbers. Emergency federal funding was appointed to SEPTA in 2021, but that money has finally run out with no more in sight.

Without the desperately needed 213 million dollars, SEPTA has been left with no choice but to completely eliminate fifty bus routes and five regional rail lines. Along with service cuts, SEPTA recognized the need to raise fare prices by 21.5% as an attempt to capitalize on the system changes. There will be a few phases of the plan, implemented over the next year. On July 1st, SEPTA’s new fiscal year begins, and the money disappears. Starting on August 24th, dozens of bus routes will be eliminated including the 1, 8, 12, 19, 30, 31, 35, 47M, 50, 62, 73, 78, 80, 88, 89, 91, 106, 120, 126, 133, 150, 201, 204, 206, 311, BLVDDIR, 452, 461, 462, 476, 478, and the 484. All across SEPTA, service hours will be cut back, and special services for major events will be canceled. By January 2026, twenty-four additional bus routes will be eliminated, including the 28, 32, 44, 77, 90, 92, 95, 103, 118, 127, 128, 132, B1 OWL, L1 OWL, 446, 447, 448, and the 490. Regional rail lines also face cuts, with the complete termination of the Cynwyd Line, Chestnut Hill West Line, Paoli/Thorndale Line, Trenton Line, and the Wilmington/Newark Line.  An estimated 750,000 riders will be affected by the lack of transportation, including 63,000 public school students. 

For Masterman students, who travel from the far corners of the city to arrive at school each day, these changes will be devastating. Elijah Barkan (‘27) explained,  “With the Chestnut Hill West Line being shut down, I will have to take other, less convenient options, or find unlikely ways to drive to school. Most of my daily schedule revolves around the trains, and when they come. The SEPTA cuts make it much more difficult for me, and all the other students in my neighborhood.” For some students, the alternate option means waking up earlier or traveling on a more inconvenient route.  Maram Osman (‘28) shared, “The schedule cuts mean that I would have to wake up much earlier in order to arrive on time for school. I would have to get up at 5 am in order to take a 6 am train, just to arrive at school by 7. This means school wouldn’t even be open at the time that I would arrive. The train that gets me on time to school at a decent hour right now would be eliminated.” In an already stressful school environment, it seems like attending Masterman has just become a little bit harder.