Tom Fitzgerald

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald |Kevin Riordan

Imagine South Street, a longtime cradle of creativity, buried under concrete like the Vine Street Expressway. It almost happened. Today, the Vine is sunken below grade, a stub of a freeway. Parking lots front blocks above, the thrum of vehicles is constant, and the air reeks of exhaust. On the east end, ramps to I-95 and the Ben Franklin Bridge and speeding cars on surface streets menace pedestrians.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

Nicholas Orlowsky graduated from the University of Texas at Austin last week, and he said that he decided to move to Philadelphia because of its transit system. “If SEPTA were in the state it will be in after these cuts, I likely would not have made the decision to move here,” Orlowsky testified at a budget hearing Monday. It was the first day of public hearings on SEPTA’s proposed doomsday operating budget for fiscal 2026, which would cut 45% of the transit system’s service and raise fares 21.5%.

3 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

SEPTA wants everyone to know that they haven’t just been waiting for manna from Harrisburg. It’s launching a second phase of Efficiency & Accountability that is projected to generate $76 million over the next three years from lower operational costs and new revenue. SEPTA released a progress report on Wednesday showing the program had generated $91.4 million since it began in 2021 in initiatives to increase efficiencies and revenue, many suggested by employees.

3 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

A chartered bus zoomed toward Harrisburg on Tuesday filled with fired-up members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 ready to yell and chant in the Capitol Rotunda. Their goal: convince elected officials to give more money to SEPTA and other public transit systems. Their pleading has become a standing appointment during the legislature’s last few budget seasons, and the outcome seems as uncertain as ever.

1 month ago | inquirer.com | Tom Fitzgerald

Montgomery County is one of the richest in Pennsylvania, but if you look beyond the median household income data, it depends more on SEPTA than one might think. Elected leaders, college officials, and students gathered Tuesday near the inbound platform of the Bryn Mawr regional rail station to talk about how SEPTA is woven into the life of the county, a big factor in its relative economic success — and to the futures of the thousands studying at the region’s colleges and universities.