SEPTA Cuts Starting This Month: See Timeline, Impacts

PHILADELPHIA — 11:59 p.m. was the proverbial cliff for SEPTA, and at midnight Friday the transit authority was thrown from that cliff. SEPTA needed to secure funding to cover a $213 million budget gap in order to stave off drastic service cuts that will impact hundreds of thousands of people daily by the end of the day Thursday.

But the Pennsylvania Legislature was unable to strike a deal that the Democrat-controlled House and the Republican controlled-Senate could agree on, leaving SEPTA and its roughly 770,000 daily riders, in the dust.

Starting later this month, 32 bus routes will be eliminated, and 16 will be shortened. A 21.5 percent fare increase will be implemented on Sept. 1, as will a complete hiring freeze for all SEPTA jobs.

Should SEPTA still remain in the red, more austerity measures will be implemented Jan. 1, 2026, including the reduction of five regional rail lines.

There will be a significant reduction in trips on all rail services, an end to all special service including the Sports Express, 18 additional bus route eliminations, and a 9 p.m. curfew for all rail services.

The cutbacks will include the elimination of these regional rail lines: Cynwyd Line, Chestnut Hill West Line, Paoli/Thorndale Line, Trenton Line, Wilmington/Newark Line.

Riders can see full details of the service reductions online here.

Starting Aug. 24, SEPTA will eliminate 32 bus routes. They are:

• 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
• 484

Sixteen bus routes will also be shortened. They are:

• 2
• 3
• 5
• 7
• 9
• 17
• 27
• 43
• 61
• 84
• 115
• 124
• 125
• 433
• 441
• 495

Eighty-eight other routes will have reduced service. These include dozens of bus routes, the Broad Street Line, Market-Frankford Line, the Media-Sharon Hill Line, trolleys (including the Girard bus/trolley route), and all 13 regional rail lines.

>>>RELATED: If You See This Sign, That Means Your SEPTA Route Is Slated For Elimination<<<

The impact of the service cuts will be felt throughout the city and region, as reliable options for everyday travel to school and work are greatly diminished, SEPTA officials said.

The first round of cuts will begin the day before the students in the School District of Philadelphia arrive for the 2025-26 academic year on Aug. 25. Roughly 49,000 of them use SEPTA to get to and from school.

Additional cuts are possible in subsequent years, officials have said.

Efforts to stave off the funding crisis led SEPTA to take on aggressive austerity measures, including a freeze on management pay and cuts to third-party consultants, have resulted in savings of $30 million. Other measures, including a 7.5 percent fare increase and the resumption of paid parking at Regional Rail lots, are generating new revenue.