How SEPTA Cuts Will Impact Plymouth Meeting

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA — Catastrophic cuts to SEPTA's existing bus and train services are set to go into place on Aug. 24, bringing significant impacts to Plymouth Meeting and the greater Montgomery County area.

The Manayunk/Norristown regional rail route, which connects the Schuylkill River corridor from center city Philadelphia to Manayunk, Conshohocken, and Norristown, has been reduced to hourly service. Weekend service has been reduced from hourly to every two hours, and "limited stop" express trains will no longer run on the route.

Several bus routes connecting key points around Montgomery County to the Plymouth Meeting Mall will also be slashed or significantly reduced, authorities said.

• 150 - Parx Casino to Plymouth Meeting has been fully eliminated.
• 98 - Plymouth Meeting to Norristown Transportation Center will reduced by 20 percent and the route will be shortened. Service in Blue Bell will be discontinued.
• 27 - Broad/Carpenter to Plymouth Meeting will be reduced by 20 percent, and shortened to operate between the mall and City Hall. Service to Barren Hill has been eliminated.
• 93 - Pottstown to Norristown Transportation Center will reduced by 20 percent.
• 96 - Lansdale to Norristown Transportation Center will reduced by 20 percent.
• 99 - Phoenixville to Norristown Transportation Center will be reduced by 20 percent. Time between buses will increase to 30 to 40 minutes.
• 131 -Audubon to Norristown Transportation Center will be reduced by 20 percent. Time between buses will increase to 45 minutes at peak times.

The 90 and 97 bus routes, both of which serve the Plymouth Meeting area, will not be impacted.

Related: SEPTA Cuts Would 'Paralyze' Education In Montgomery County, Leaders Warn

All told, starting Aug. 24, 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.

Drastic budget cuts brought SEPTA to its knees in the spring, and the Pennsylvania legislature's failure to reach a deal to bring SEPTA its needed $213 million by last Thursday night pushed the transit agency past a "point of no return" on the service cuts.

SEPTA's 770,000 daily riders rely on trains and buses for work and school and many of them don't have the financial flexibility to find an affordable solution, analysts have warned.

Officials specifically pointed to access to college campuses and various regional educational facilities in the county that is made affordable by SEPTA regional rail and bus lines. The county is home to around 300,000 college students and 30 universities.

"Our universities are engines of opportunity, but that engine can’t run without SEPTA to fuel it," Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija warned back in May.

While wealthier students can simply drive cars, many of those 300,000 students don't have those resources. Not to mention, a growing population in the suburbs has already led to increasing traffic spikes and calls for years to expand SEPTA's network, not dismantle it.

Republican Commissioner Tom DiBello concurred.

“Students in Montgomery County work hard every day going to classes and working part-time to support themselves through college," DiBello added. "We want them to be able to study, live and work here. Without reliable public transit, the students, the schools, and our local businesses all suffer. Other major metropolitan areas invest more money in their transit systems. We need to be expanding SEPTA’s network, not cutting back, to keep our region competitive.”