SEPTA says it'll comply with order to restore deep service cuts

Philadelphia's public transit agency announced Friday that it will restore services it eliminated after a judge ordered the agency to undo the two-week-old cuts that were challenged in court as discriminatory toward low-income and minority communities.

- by Marc Levy, Associated Press

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said it is working on a plan to restore service, and it moved to divert funding set aside for capital projects to keep those services intact for another two years.

SEPTA — one of the nation’s largest mass transit agencies — had described the cuts as more drastic than any undertaken by a major transit agency in the U.S. but necessary to deal with a deficit of more than $200 million.

At a news conference, SEPTA’s general manager, Scott Sauer, said the solution wasn’t ideal or sustainable, and “over the last two weeks, we’ve seen the devastating effects the service cuts have had on our riders.”

In a letter to the state Department of Transportation, Sauer asked for permission to use up to $394 million in state-provided capital funds to restore services and avoid other planned cuts for the next two years.