The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority recently confirmed to WHYY’s Billy Penn that its previously postponed Bus Revolution, an overhaul of the agency’s bus network, is being revived. The first stage of the initiative is already being implemented, with six lettered bus routes being assigned numbers in February.
While being pulled from the shelf, the “Bus Revolution” nomenclature has been retired in favor of “New Bus Network.” The changes are tentatively set to proceed under the umbrella of SEPTA’s “Better Bus” initiative, which includes capital projects like bus lane installation, bus-mounted-camera traffic enforcement and a rebuilt Wissahickon Transportation Center.
However, the elephant in the room remains: SEPTA’s ongoing budget crisis. While the agency has reported finding savings of $27 million, expected to grow to $30 million by fiscal year 2026, it still expects a shortfall of $213 million come June.
This may leave it with inadequate funds to retrain drivers and actually implement the overhaul.
“We will have to make a go/no-go decision by mid-spring to put us on track to have new schedules, signage and other materials ready for service changes that would go into effect in late August,” spokesman Andrew Busch told Billy Penn.
The original Bus Revolution was on track to begin this summer, meaning the New Bus Network is not far behind schedule. However, any route redesign going forward will be sensitive to the political climate in Harrisburg.
State lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement to fund the difference, with the Democrats’ proposed tax on skill games failing to gain Republican support. Furthermore, with the State House of Representatives tied along party lines, no agreement has even advanced to the Republican-led State Senate. Amidst the gridlock, Governor Josh Shapiro resorted to an emergency reallocation of state highway funds to SEPTA in November.
Aid in the upcoming state budget does not appear forthcoming, and SEPTA is already preparing a worst-case “austerity budget” for FY 25-26 with a 21.5 percent fare hike and steep service cuts.
The New Bus Network will not bring any cost savings. While its stated purpose of streamlining operations and reallocating resources sounded like a pretense for service cuts, the agency pledged that the program would be cost-neutral, meaning all savings would be invested back into service.
The network redesign is the result of three years of hearings and more than 10,000 comments, many being skeptical. After countless revisions, SEPTA’s board approved it last May. The redesign marks the first comprehensive reform of the region’s bus system, which largely maintains the shape that SEPTA inherited in the 1960s and ’70s from a patchwork of privately owned bus and trolley operators.
It is unclear whether any further route revisions have been made since approval last May.
Another coming cash outlay is a replacement for SEPTA’s Key payment system. Developed by Conduent Transportation, it has been plagued with reliability issues, delayed implementation and has gone tens of millions of dollars over budget. SEPTA announced that its Key 2.0 will be developed by Cubic Transportation Systems, a major industry player, to the tune of $230 million.