A coalition of Northwest Philadelphians who hope to preserve service on the Chestnut Hill West rail line amid a SEPTA funding crisis is staging a rally aboard the train itself on Sunday morning. The group, which calls itself ‘Save the Train,’ is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Sunday at Richard Allen Lane station.

The group plans to take the 10:50 a.m. train to Chestnut Hill West, then take the 23 bus, which runs along Germantown Avenue, back to Mt. Airy. 

“The goal is not just to increase ridership, but also to get kids to ride the train,” said Anne Dicker, a West Mt. Airy Neighbors board member who helped organize the event. She said the event will be family-friendly, and parents with kids and strollers are highly encouraged to attend. “We want to promote the choice of riding the train over driving cars.”

The event comes on the heels of a Zoom meeting held Tuesday, in which more than 350 residents from across Northwest Philadelphia gathered to voice support for saving the line, which they fear could be cut entirely by SEPTA given its relatively low ridership amid a potential $240 budget shortfall slated for this summer. 

City Councilmember Cindy Bass, who attended the Tuesday Zoom meeting, called for urgency, and said circulating a petition – while useful – would not be sufficient. 

“I don't really think we have time for that right now,” she said. “It's my strong recommendation that we need to call the governor's office…We need to let them know that this is extremely important.”

Bass also said she’d spoken to SEPTA representatives and asked them whether SEPTA would cut service on the Chestnut Hill West line completely if the funding wasn’t acquired.

“They wouldn't answer the question directly,” she said. “But if you ask me, I would bet money that this is where they’re heading.”

Those who attended the Tuesday meeting mostly came from Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy and Germantown. 

“We cannot let this happen to our beloved Chestnut Hill West,” said West Mt. AiryNeighbors board member Anne Dicker, who helped organize the meeting. “We cannot let this happen anywhere. So we need to fight and we need to fight now.”

Dicker, along with Councilmember Cindy Bass, urged residents to reach out to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s office, urging him to make funding for public transportation a priority in his budget address, which he’s slated to give to the state’s legislature in Harrisburg on Feb. 6. 

Dicker and other members of the group have circulated a petition, which will be sent to Shapiro, to make him aware of the community’s desire to have SEPTA fully funded.

As of this time of writing, the petition has more than 3,300 signatures. Dicker’s goal is for the petition to reach 25,000 signatures.

State Representative Darisha Parker, whose district covers part of Southwest Germantown, said that the effort should include the Northwest Philadelphia business community as well.

“If individuals aren't able to take public transportation to certain businesses, then they don't get foot traffic and they don't get the income,” she said. 

If SEPTA fails to close its budget gap, it would almost certainly result in a series of service cuts and fare increases for the transit agency. That would lead to decreased ridership, a process known in the industry as a “death spiral,” said SEPTA’s CEO and General Manager Leslie Richards. 

SEPTA’s Chief Communications Officer Bill Webster, told the Local earlier this month that “nothing has been decided” yet in terms of what could be cut. But he did say that the transit agency would be looking at a 20% cut in service on all modes – not just Regional Rail, but buses, trolleys and the subway – if the funding isn’t procured.

In a statement to the Local, Mayor Cherelle Parker spokesperson Joe Grace said she was advocating strongly to representatives in Harrisburg, including the governor, to find the money necessary to fully fund SEPTA. Increasing the use of public transit in the city, he added, “is an important part of the long-term vision” for Parker’s first 100 days in office.

The Mayor, “strongly supports public transit for Philadelphians as the best way to get to work, to go to school, and to get around our city,” Grace added.

Local cuts already in effect

On Wednesday, SEPTA announced that the Chestnut Hill East ticket window would be one of 14 ticket windows at Regional Rail stations to close on Feb. 2.

“A wide variety of purchase options available for customers, including SEPTA Key cards and on-board payments, has significantly reduced the number of in-person sales at these locations,” the transit agency said in a press release. 

The list of closed ticket windows also includes those at St. Martin’s, Chelten and Carpenter Stations, all of which are along the Chestnut Hill West Line. Mt. Airy Station, which is on the Chestnut Hill East line, is also on the list.

The lines are also historically significant, Chestnut Hill Conservancy archivist Alex Bartlett said, because they played a significant role in the Northwest’s development. The Chestnut Hill East line, which originally opened in 1832 and was extended to Chestnut Hill in 1854, was run by the Reading Railroad. The Chestnut Hill West line was opened in 1884 and run by the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

“The two railroads together helped turn Chestnut Hill into a city-suburb or community suburb for those working in Center City,” Bartlett said.

Chestnut Hill West has the lowest ridership of any SEPTA Regional Rail line, not counting the Cynwyd line, which has only five stops. Another disadvantage, Bartlett said, is that unlike Chestnut Hill East, the line overlaps with some Amtrak property between the Philadelphia Zoo area and 30th Street Station. 

“There are frequent scheduling conflicts where Chestnut Hill West line trains have to wait for Amtrak to pass through,” he said. “SEPTA has to pay some kind of rent for the use of the tracks.”