Throughout the last four years during SEPTA’s cost-neutral bus network redesign, members of the Philly TRU have consistently witnessed conceptual and process issues throughout each stage of the project. Awareness that a redesign was taking place was low and the mostly online outreach only reached a small fraction of riders. And even then, they lacked the resources to sufficiently serve the small group of riders they did reach. The Zoom meetings where feedback was solicited had capacity limits set lower than one car on the Broad Street Line.

On December 14, 2023, Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law Act 40, legislation designed by Republicans to disenfranchise Philly voters. The law allows PA Attorney General Michelle Henry to appoint a “special prosecutor for mass transit” for crimes occurring on SEPTA, only within the city of Philadelphia. This law effectively denies Philly voters of their right to elect their prosecutor. The members of the PA Senate and the PA House who voted for this legislation do not believe that Philadelphians should have that right.

SEPTA Hearing Examiner, On behalf of the Philly Transit Riders Union we are writing about SEPTA’s cost-neutral bus network redesign, marketed as “bus revolution.” According to SEPTA’s website, the public comment period will close at the end of this week. This is premature. Many many many riders who will see a SIGNIFICANT CHANGE in service under the “Revolution” are still unaware of changes that will be made to their ride. We continue to hear from riders who are just learning about the proposed changes for the first time.