SEPTA Service Restoration, Fare Hike: What To Know

PHILADELPHIA — After months of turmoil, uncertainty, and confusion, SEPTA is restoring all the services that were eliminated and reduced due to a massive budget shortfall.

Things will go back to normal for SEPTA's riders on Sunday, officials said earlier this week.

That means SEPTA will roll back the 20 percent bus and metro service cuts that started on Aug. 24.

Riders can find SEPTA's new schedules online here. Riders are also encouraged to use SEPTA's trip planner feature to navigate the new schedules.

Those service cuts and reductions included the elimination of 32 bus routes:

• 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 were also shortened. They were:

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

Eighty-eight other routes had reduced service, including 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.

SEPTA said it has worked to ensure all safety sensitive systems, including signal and dispatch systems, are updated with new schedule data. This also provides time to ensure bus operators, maintenance crews, and other personnel can safely transition to new work schedules.

While SEPTA's service is being restored, it will still implement a fare increase Sunday.

Fares will increase 21.5 percent across the system. The new base fare for bus and metro trips will be $2.90, tying New York's MTA for the highest in the country, SEPTA said.

The return of services comes after SEPTA was given approval by PennDOT to use $394 million in capital funds to support its operations over two years.

"This is a one-time fix – not a long-term solution to transit funding," SEPTA said in a new release. "SEPTA will continue to work with lawmakers and other stakeholders to secure a sustainable revenue source for transit throughout the Commonwealth. In the meantime, SEPTA will be able to keep service stable for riders, and continue to work on efforts to improve service reliability, and enhance safety, security, and cleanliness on the system."

SEPTA requested the release of the funds amid a lawsuit that alleged the transit authority manufactured its financial crisis. As part of the litigation, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Sierra Thomas-Street ruled that SEPTA must not implement service cuts and restore cuts that it has already made.

Thomas-Street's injunction on the cuts stopped more reductions that were set to take effect Sept. 1