Oct. 23
By Anthony Campisi
For PlanPhilly
Economic troubles continue to impact SEPTA’s bottom line, according to a financial report released at the authority’s monthly meeting on Thursday.
Passenger revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010 was $4.9 million, or 5.1 percent, worse than the approved budget. The authority’s cumulative deficit for that period was $5 million.
All but one of SEPTA’s service divisions performed worse than budget projections.
Previous SEPTA budget coverage
The Regional Rail Division saw a $34.7 million deficit before subsidies, 7.6 percent worse than budget projections, with passenger revenues $1.8 million, or 5.8 percent worse than budget.
The City Transit Division saw a deficit before subsidies of $114.9 million, which was 2 percent worse than budget. Passenger revenue was $2.9 million, or 4.8 percent, worse than budget.
The Frontier Division, which provides service from the Norristown Transportation Center and to eastern Bucks County, reported a quarterly deficit before subsidies of $5.5 million, 8.5 percent worse than budget.
The Victory Division, which provides suburban bus and trolley service from 69th Street Terminal, reported a quarterly deficit before subsidies of $14.4 million, 0.3 percent better than budget. Though passenger revenue was 3.1 percent worse than expected over the quarter, the division’s operating expenses were less than budgeted.
SEPTA CFO and treasurer Richard Burnfield attributed the losses to a weak regional economy and high unemployment, which is causing a decrease in commuters.
In other business, the board appointed Boston Millennium Health Partners (http://www.millenniumhealth.com/index2.html) to manage $5 million for SEPTA’s pension funds. The firm focuses on innovative health care companies and products.
The board also approved a series of contracts sent to it by SEPTA’s operations and administration committees (http://www.planphilly.com/septa-moves-ahead-capital-projects).
Contact the reporter at campisi.anthony@gmail.com
Comments
I don't own a car and do use SEPTA, but it seems completely mismanaged. Stations are dirty and decrepit. Buying tokens (already waaayyy outdated) is a pain. If you don't have a token you pay a surcharge for using cash -- HUH?! You can arrive at a station with cash in hand and NOT EVEN BE ABLE TO BOARD A TRAIN because you don't have exact change and there's no token machine. Even in the tourist-heavy areas, the service is completely unfriendly to riders. Regional rail lines stop running ridiculously early on weekends, so it is not conducive to theater-goers, etc. who might want to come into the city, have a drink afterwards and then take the train home.
These are just some examples of why folks don't like SEPTA. It seems completely antiquated compared to other systems in the US and abroad. Why is it that I can buy a roundtrip ticket on NJ Transit for travel to and from Philly IN NEW YORK, but can't do that here? Also NJT trains will wait at Trenton for the arriving SEPTA trains but SEPTA typically does not wait a few minutes for the hustling trainload of NJT passengers running for their train. Why? This is petty and punitive to riders.
Some truly independent oversight is essential to see why this system is so bad, and then maybe it can be fixed and revenues might improve.
It's not mismanaged. It's a wonderful authority. People complain about everything. SEPTA is by far the best transit system in the country. They operate everything. It's a sustainable authority. The people like those who complain are the ones who cause trouble. there's nothing to complain about. learn how to read a schedule, wait for the train and hop on. it's very simple.
Do you work for SEPTA (or maybe you're some sort of bus bot and this is an automated response)? Have you travelled very much, because there is no way you can claim it's the best? San Francisco, Boston, etc. all seem to work better and are more pleasant to use than SEPTA. Many other cities, especially in Europe, simply do a much better job. Even NYC seems to have cleaner, better maintained stations. And SEPTA does shut down too early on weekends, discouraging ridership by those who come to eat, drink and party in the city.
Clean, safe, and reliable service will increase ridership and revenue more than demolishing and rebuilding Dillworth Plaza. Philly has great existing infrastructure, but sparse regional rail schedule may deter ridership. It would be nice to see more trains scheduled on Weekends.