The Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Inquirer, in an effort to persuade the state government to provide more money for the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, undermined their own argument with just two sentences:

And for many Pennsylvanians, public transit is simply not part of their daily life. Nor is it for about 45% of Americans, who have no access to public transportation at all.

The obvious question is: why should people who don’t use SEPTA, and don’t even have a chance to use public transportation, see more of the tax dollars they pay go to SEPTA?

Gov. Shapiro should seize the chance to help SEPTA in its time of need | Editorial

The beleaguered transit agency, which faces a $240 million deficit in 2024, missed out on a chance to win more funding from Harrisburg. Could the governor come to its rescue?

by The Editorial Board | Thursday, December 28, 2023 | 5:00 AM EST

In his first year in office, Gov. Josh Shapiro has cultivated a reputation as a man of action. Few will forget his rapid response to the partial collapse of a section of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia in June, which saw a temporary bridge constructed in just 12 days. It was a stunning display of how effective government can be when it wants to. Commuters and truckers who travel the corridor breathed a sigh of relief.

For Pennsylvania’s public transit users, however, that same sense of urgency and responsibility from state officials has not materialized.

Despite pleas from SEPTA, the commonwealth’s largest public transit agency, the long-delayed state budget deal did not include any increased funding for public transportation.

SEPTA now faces an operating deficit of around $240 million in 2024 and expects to make devastating service cuts, raise fares significantly, and explore more radical options for cost reductions.

There’s more at the original. But note what the editorial writer — probably Daniel Pearson — stated, that the “state budget deal did not include any increased funding for public transportation.” Public transportation — not just SEPTA — is already getting money from the Commonwealth, 4.4% of the revenues generated by the sales tax. The sales tax rate itself would not increase from its current 6.0%, it’s just that the other government functions which depend on the tax for money would have less available.

SEPTA’s fares are very low, especially for SEPTA Key holders.

SEPTA’s share of the proposed, but not passed, increased sales tax diversion would have been roughly $190 million, without which the system’s grossly overpaid CEO, Leslie Richards, said would require “draconian service reduction and extraordinary fare increases.”

Really? According to the link that the editorial provided, based on October 2023 ridership, there is an average of 710,564 unlinked passenger trips per day, across all transportation modes in the system.

So, let’s do the math. 710,564 trips per day times 365 days in the year yields 259,355,860 trips per year. SEPTA is anticipating a roughly $240,000,000 deficit for 2024, which means a $1.00 fare increase would lead to a roughly $19 million surplus. General fares have not increased since FY2018, so system riders have been given a break from the inflation rate, which has hit everything else since then.

Would a $1.00 fare increase be “extraordinary,” as Miss Richards described it? Considering how low the fares are now, $2.00 a trip, with SEPTA Key holders getting two transfers for free, I can’t see $3.00 as a horrible rate. The fares would still be heavily subsidized, and the taxpayers in poor areas like Summit Hill and Mahonoy City wouldn’t see more of their tax dollars going to the wealthier people in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties.