As I write this, SEPTA is set to make deep cuts to bus, trolley, and train service — and significantly raise fares. These cuts and hikes will be catastrophic, and they were entirely avoidable if the Republican-controlled Senate had simply done its job.

When I went to Harrisburg this week, I was stunned to hear Pa. House Republicans say during debate that funding SEPTA was a “waste of money.” We were voting to give the Pa. Senate a fifth bill that would provide SEPTA the funding it needs. One Republican representative even said the “solution” was to just jack up fares again. In other words, make students, working families, and older adults — people already struggling with high costs — pay even more just to get where they need to go. That’s not a plan, that’s sticking riders with the bill for a problem they didn’t cause.

Without a real funding bill, SEPTA fares will jump to $2.90, tying New York City for the highest in the nation. This is the start of a death spiral: higher fares, fewer stops, and trips pushing more riders away.

The bill we passed this week was introduced by Rep. Sean Dougherty (D), who grew up riding SEPTA to school and took SEPTA to work as a public defender for the city. Dougherty’s bill includes a funding stream to save SEPTA, accountability reforms the Republican Senate requested and already approved, and major road and bridge funding for all 67 counties. Instead of taking this balanced approach, most House Republicans voted no.

House and Senate Republicans should care about SEPTA. Forty percent of Pennsylvania’s economy comes from Southeastern PA, which funds infrastructure, roads, and bridges statewide. SEPTA is the lifeblood of that economy and a lifeline for thousands of Pennsylvanians.

SEPTA gets nurses to their shifts, kids to school, older adults to doctors, shoppers to small businesses, and workers to their jobs. Cutting service or raising fares doesn’t just inconvenience people, it cuts them off from opportunity, healthcare, and community. Here in our neighborhood, the entire length of Main Street and everyone relying on the Chestnut Hill West line would be left behind.

The Senate’s so-called transit plan is worse than inadequate. It covers only a fraction of what’s needed and raids SEPTA’s safety and security fund to do it, forcing transit systems to choose between safety and service. That’s like trying to fix one pothole by digging another.

Thanks to neighbors and groups like “Save the Train,” the Senate finally admits there’s a crisis. But their budget is six weeks late and basically a photocopy of last year’s, violating the mandate from the courts to fairly fund our public schools, slashing $2 billion from hospitals, and potentially forcing cities like Philadelphia to raise taxes.

I’ll keep fighting in the State House to get SEPTA and other transit agencies the funding they need without putting the burden on riders. I urge riders, advocates, and community members to keep speaking out. We need robust transit to grow our economy and keep neighbors, students, workers, and tourists moving. That starts with basic funding and real investment in transit projects, because buses and trains don’t run on hot air and broken promises from politicians.

Tarik Khan is a Democrat who represents Manayunk, Roxborough, and parts of Chestnut Hill and East Falls.