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“We ride the train! We ride the bus! We say ‘No’ to service cuts!”
A crowd of Philadelphia transit riders, community advocates and elected officials chanted these words over and over again outside of City Hall this morning. The group is pulling a bold stunt — riding SEPTA transit for 24 hours straight in an attempt to thwart budget cuts and fare increases.
Transit Forward Philadelphia worked to organize the stunt. The group will be taking transit all across the region, on buses, trains and trollies, over the course of the day.
The hope is to make services such as the city’s Zero Fare Program — which covers free around-the-clock fares for students — a permanent addition. They are proposing a Transit Access Fund charter amendment and advocating for more inclusive programs.
“SEPTA moves us,” said Julio Rodriguez, policy director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. “Whether it’s from Trenton to Delaware to Lansdale to Overbrook to the airport, so it is crucial. Last year, students were late and didn’t show up because of the SEPTA cuts. That is unacceptable.”
Council member Mark Squilla pointed to the city’s ability to make a goal a reality when the need is there, especially this past month with America 250 celebrations and the FIFA World Cup.
“The transit situation made the city more accessible,” Squilla said. “Made people go down to the arena area and the stadiums where the parking lots were half empty, and still be able to transfer 70,000 people down there. That doesn’t need to be a special occasion. That needs to be every day.”
Gloria “Smooches” Cartagena Hart, a community organizer for the Kensington Corridor Trust, noted just how important SEPTA access and student Key cards have been.
“This access Key card helps our people and their family to get to where they need to get to,” Cartagena Hart said. “We greatly need it. If they take it away, it’s going to be a lot of suffering and struggling. It’s bad enough people are already financially struggling, concerned about where they’re going to get their next meal.”
“Now school is starting,” she added. “How are the kids going to get to school?”
The crowd at City Hall included community members from different ages, backgrounds and neighborhoods — many dressed up in transit-themed T-shirts. Some made makeshift bus signs that read “transit moves us to our family and friends” and “bus lines are lifelines.”
Civic leader and disability advocate Nico Meyering said many transit stops are still missing important amenities, like elevators, and that SEPTA costs can be even higher for Philadelphians with disabilities. Meyering books his rides a day in advance at a cost of $5.75 one way, instead of the typical $2.90.
“As someone who works full time and takes SEPTA to get to work every day, who takes SEPTA to get to my doctor visits, and who uses SEPTA to get my own wife, who has her own disabilities, to her own care needs, SEPTA has been a valuable partner and an integral part of my life here in Philadelphia,” he said. “Without SEPTA, I wouldn’t be able to work full time, and I wouldn’t be able to hold the civic leadership roles that I do.”
The 24-hour ride will include stops in between, said council member Rue Landau. Connections, after all, are a typical part of many SEPTA commutes. Essentially, however, this ride will be all day.
“This is an essential experiment here for Philadelphia,” said Landau. “That’s going to show everybody how interconnected the city is by transit, how easy and accessible it is, and how the more we fund it, the more we expand it, and the more we fund low fare programs for low income people and students and our community college students, the better it will be.”
While spending all day on the train won’t necessarily be easy, the group appeared ready to go.
“I think that riding SEPTA for 24 hours is a great way to show how this system powers our city,” Meyering said. “And this system doesn’t sleep any hour of the day for any rider that needs it.”
Cartagena Hart was similarly excited to embark on the 24-hour journey.
“Listen, I prepared myself to get a nice rest, sleep, and keep it going,” Cartagena Hart said. “It’s like Katy Perry, the song ‘Roar.’ If you don’t open your mouth and speak up, nobody’s going to hear you, so that’s what we’re doing today.”
