Private school students are among the many groups that would be affected by the proposed upcoming SEPTA cuts.
SEPTA’s vast network of Regional Rail lines, trolleys, buses and metro lines allow students around the Delaware Valley to reach schools within the city, including here in Northwest Philadelphia.
At St. Joseph's Preparatory School in North Philadelphia, roughly 30% of the students use SEPTA to get to school, according to the school’s Director of Communications, Bill Avington.
“I think the one that will affect us the most is the Paoli/Thorndale line …
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Private school students are among the many groups that would be affected by the proposed upcoming SEPTA cuts.
SEPTA’s vast network of Regional Rail lines, trolleys, buses and metro lines allow students around the Delaware Valley to reach schools within the city, including here in Northwest Philadelphia.
At St. Joseph's Preparatory School in North Philadelphia, roughly 30% of the students use SEPTA to get to school, according to the school’s Director of Communications, Bill Avington.
“I think the one that will affect us the most is the Paoli/Thorndale line because we have a lot of students from out in Delaware County, but we certainly get a sizable number from Chestnut Hill. So, the Chestnut Hill West line being eliminated would hurt our students,” Avington told the Local.
St. Joseph’s principal Andy Cavacos lives in Mt. Airy and often takes the Chestnut Hill West line, commuting exclusively through SEPTA to St. Joseph’s.
Cavacos told the Local, “I am also able to exercise care for the environment, and do my part to make life a little better by taking one car off the road and one car out of the [St. Joe’s] parking lot.”
He added, “I will still use SEPTA to commute if there are service cuts, but am concerned that I will have to follow an onerous schedule or drive on more occasions.”
St. Joe’s does have a bus system for students, but that’s an added cost for families, Avington said.
With the possible cuts scheduled to start in the summer, students will need to determine if they are affected, as more cuts are planned for September and January.
Avington said, “We usually ask people to sign up in late May, early June, for next year, and then we put a route together based on who wants it, where they live, and go from there. … With (the cuts) happening in the summer, a lot of people may not know what their needs are yet, and so we will always adjust and help people - if this goes into effect.”
With the state legislature resuming budget talks in June, Cavacos hopes “State [government] bridges the funding gap. Though SEPTA is a ‘Philly thing,’ our city and suburbs are the major economic engine and source of tax revenue for the Commonwealth. SEPTA plays a huge role in driving that engine.”
He added, “I hope SEPTA continues to address fare evasion, which is a significant problem. Steps are being taken, and I believe that if SEPTA cleans things up, like the New York City MTA did, their funding issues will not be as dire in the future.”
The extent of the cuts
In April, SEPTA officials announced a budget proposal that would see fare increases and drastic cuts, ending service to several Regional Rail lines, including Chestnut Hill West, if the state legislature cannot pass a budget resolution.
Last week, SEPTA held public hearings on their proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which includes service cuts of 45% and fare increases of 21.5% to address a $213 million structural deficit.
Ahead of the hearing on Monday, residents and Save the Train Coalition members took the Chestnut Hill West line to SEPTA headquarters for a rally alongside elected officials and other advocates of public transportation.
Bob Previdi, policy director for Save the Train, told the Local, “I don't think people realize this time around, because SEPTA has been suffering cuts for 20 years now, how deep this round of cuts is going to end up reaching … I think that's what makes this round of cuts so alarming. What I would equate it to is they’ve really ripped all the meat off of the bones, and we're down to the skeleton.”
If the plan is approved, a 20% service cut would start on Aug. 24, with 32 bus routes eliminated, 16 shortened, and service cuts to Metro and Regional Rail lines. A 21.5% fare increase would go into effect Sept. 1, with the base fare increased to $2.90, along with a hiring freeze for SEPTA.
On Jan. 1, SEPTA would eliminate five Regional Rail lines, including Chestnut Hill West, Paoli/Thorndale, Cynwyd, Wilmington/Newark, and Trenton. A 9 p.m. curfew would go into effect for all remaining Metro and Regional Rail services. January would also see the elimination of 24 more bus routes.
Riders in the Northwest would be directly affected by the elimination of the Chestnut Hill West Line and reduced service to Chestnut Hill East and the 18, 23, 51(L), 53, 71(H), and 81(XH) bus routes.
Previdi and Save the Train have emphasized repeatedly that SEPTA has effective plans in place to “revolutionize” public transit in Philadelphia. They just need the funding.
Political squabble
When the cuts were announced back in April, Governor Josh Shapiro said, “These cuts to SEPTA’s service — which would hurt our economy and make it harder for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians to get to work, school, and wherever else they need to go — are completely avoidable.”
In the last year, the Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed legislation funding SEPTA and other transit agencies three times, only for the bills to stall out in the Republican-controlled state Senate.
Republicans hold a four-seat majority in the state Senate, with members Joe Picozzi, Tracy Pennycuick, and Frank Farry among those in whose districts SEPTA operates.
Here in the Northwest
At Springside Chestnut Hill (SCH) Academy, 51 students have transit passes this school year. The average weekly SEPTA ridership includes 15 to 20 students, along with two teachers.
In a statement sent to the Local, SCH wrote, “We have been following SEPTA’s updates and recognize that service reductions could impact our families. SCH is committed to keeping our families informed and supported as more information becomes available.”
The statement continued, “We’re hopeful that public dialogue will lead to solutions that consider the needs of all students in the region.”
Ellen Kruger, an upper school physics teacher at SCH, takes the Chestnut Hill West line twice a week from Jefferson Station. Kruger, a teacher at SCH since 2002, has used SEPTA since she started working in Chestnut Hill, but has relied more heavily on it in the last five years.
Kruger told the Local, “I think it's a really big mistake for SEPTA to lose funding to the point where they're considering cutting the Chestnut Hill West line. I and a lot of my students use the train, some because it's more convenient, but some because it's really the only way they have to get to school.”
She added, “I think having the train access at SCH helps us have students from a wider range of zip codes. It's really just a matter of equity that we acknowledge that not all families can necessarily drive their kids to school every single day. … I think for some of our families, they would probably have to consider whether they could even send their kids to SCH if they didn't have the train access.”
Along with the Chestnut Hill West line, Kruger said many of the students take the 23 bus on Germantown Avenue to and from school.
While Kruger does drive three times a week, she shares a car with her partner, who needs it the other two days. If they lost the train line, Kruger and her partner would have to consider buying a second car, which she said would be a “big financial burden.”
She added, “As a science teacher, it really worries me from an environmental standpoint. I don't want to be a two-car household. I don't want to have two cars on the road - in terms of climate change.”
If the cuts go through and SEPTA isn’t funded, Kruger doesn’t see any other option than buying a car.
She said, “If a student lives in Center City, or where I live in South Philadelphia, and they have a parent who needs to get them to school, if they can't put their kid on the train, [getting to school] just becomes either difficult or impossible.”
Tommy Tucker can be reached Tommy@ChestnutHillLocal.com