Advocates rally for SEPTA funding in North Wales

As local advocates rallied outside North Wales Borough Hall to call for funding SEPTA, a familiar horn was greeted with cheers.

And as a regional rail train pulled into the town’s SEPTA station just a few blocks away, advocates called on state lawmakers to fund the transit agency and consider the impact on people across Montgomery County.

“The servers, the teachers, the healthcare workers, the families — and my brother Randy, who relies on SEPTA every single day. This crisis is not about numbers on a spreadsheet. This is not about a minor inconvenience. This crisis is about people’s lives, and their livelihoods,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Jamila Winder.

“For so many people, this isn’t about traffic delays. It’s about whether they can keep their job, whether they can care for their family, and whether they can make it home safely. But this crisis could have been avoided,” she said.

Service cuts began on Monday after weeks of local and county officials calling on state lawmakers to fund the transit agency, with rail and bus routes across the region being cancelled or cut back as legislators wrangle over a state budget and how much would go toward SEPTA.

In a rally organized by Transit For All PA, Transit Forward Philadelphia, and several local labor groups, rail and bus riders told their stories of relying on SEPTA to get around, as Democratic officials called on Republicans in the state Senate — and Sen. Tracy Pennycuick in particular — to back a funding plan.

“Montgomery County is one of the economic engines of Pennsylvania. But more than that, we’re a community of people who simply expect our government to have our back. Our neighbors deserve to see and feel their tax dollars at work. They deserve buses and trains that run when they need them, not endless excuses from politicians,” Winder said.

    Towamencin supervisor Kofi Osei and resident Jenn Foster speak to residents favor of SEPTA funding at a rally in North Wales on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
 By Dan Sokil | The Reporter 

    Lucinda Reichley of North Wales speaks at a rally in favor of SEPTA funding in North Wales on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
 By Dan Sokil | The Reporter   

  

“Gov. Shapiro has put forth a plan. The commonwealth has the money. The only thing missing is political will. So let me be clear: Senate Republicans, stop playing politics with people’s livelihoods. Do your jobs, protect our workers, protect our seniors, protect our families, protect southeastern Pennsylvania. Do right by the people of Pennsylvania, and fund SEPTA now,” she said.

Winder said afterward that the commissioners are “still hopeful there will be some level of investment” from the state, and said she’s keeping in mind constituents like her brother, who has no driver’s license and relies on SEPTA to get around.

“He relies on the bus to get to work, to meet up with his son for his custody visits. Not everybody is fortunate enough to have a car, and some people don’t have licenses. We need to think about all of our friends and neighbors that rely on the bus and the trains to do everyday things that sometimes us with cars take for granted,” Winder said.

Her most recent SEPTA ride? “Probably about a month ago” at a similar rally, and she’s heard from towns ranging from Narberth to Norristown to North Wales about the need.

“Every single town has some level of reliance on transit. And so we’re a community of friends, neighbors, hardworking people, seniors, and the common thread is that every single township, obrough, there are our friends and neighbors that are relying on this funding. So I think it’s our duty as electeds to get this budget passed,” she said.

“Let’s use the King of Prussia Mall as an example: you’ve got individual employers that make up a destination mall, for people to go shopping. Think about the workers in the food court, or working at Macy’s, that rely on transit to get to the mall. Local employers want to make sure their employees can get to work — and those employees that are working an hourly rate, if they’re late an hour or two, that gets deducted from their pay. So it has that ripple effect, the decisions — or lack thereof — that we’re making,” Winder said.

Local lawmakers take aim at colleagues

Democratic state Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-148th Dist., said she “used SEPTA for decades, working in Philadelphia, I took that train back and forth, every day, and it was part of the reason that I stayed in the town that I grew up in: Narberth. I stayed there because we had the train, it was a 14-minute ride into Philadelphia, and it got me in to my job for years and years,” she said.

The lawmaker then drew applause from the dozens of gathered supporters by noting that she currently uses a SEPTA senior card: “I make sure to tap in, and when I get back off of the train, so that SEPTA gets money from the Pennsylvania lottery. These are not free rides, they’re paid rides,” Daley said.

She and fellow lawmakers also use Amtrak, the federally run national railroad, to travel from their districts to Harrisburg for legislative business, and said those routes may also be in jeopardy if SEPTA  does not secure funding.

“What did Senator Pittman say? He grew up in a small town. I grew up in a small town, and I still believe that we need public transportation,” she said.

During a recent visit to the Pittsburgh area, Daley added, she heard from residents and counterpart lawmakers there about a lack of transit, including buses or regional rail, from the major airport in Pittsburgh to the towns it serves.

“I said something about taking the train, and they said, ‘We talk about having trains here in Pittsburgh every day.’ Which was an awakening for me, because a lot of the grief comes from western Pennsylvania senators who don’t want to fund this,” she said, before adding that she and her husband are frequent, and recent, SEPTA riders: “We took the train into Philadelphia on Saturday, so we could go to the Barnes museum, I took the bus back and forth to my district office, just because I wanted to be a presence on a SEPTA vehicle. I have gotten so many emails that I could have written, that say ‘I took this job because of where the train station was.’”

Fellow Rep. Liz Hanbidge, D-61st Dist., said she’s also seen how crucial SEPTA is, as a family member relied on it for transport to medical appointments.

“When my mother was fighting leukemia, until she became too ill to do so, she depended on SEPTA to get to multiple medical appointments each week. For her, public transit was not a luxury; it was her connection to lifesaving care. It was her connection to the blood and the platelets she needed to continue her fight,” she said.

“For thousands of people in southeastern Pennsylvania, they survive because of SEPTA. SEPTA is not optional; it is essential. It’s how nurses get to night shifts, it’s how students get to college, it’s how seniors in Willow Grove get to doctors. It’s how people in our communities survive, thrive, and stay connected,” Hanbidge said.

She then took aim at the other side of the aisle, and Pennycuick in particular.

“The House has passed SEPTA funding five times in the last 12 months. We’ve done our job. We’ve delivered a plan. We’ve stood up for working families, for seniors, for students, for small businesses. What has the senate done?” she said, drawing a reply of “Nothing” from the crowd.

“If Senator Pennycuick doesn’t act to fund public transit, we’re losing 50 bus routes, five regional rail lines, 66 stations, and we’re having our fares hiked 20 percent. This is not hypothetical. These cuts are real. The damage is real. And people who pay the price are not sitting in the capital: they are the workers and families we were elected to serve,” Hanbidge said. “What the Republican Senate, and Senator Pennycuick, are telling my constituents is: ‘You’re on your own. Figure it out. Walk to work. Skip your chemo. Drop out of school.’ That’s not public service, that’s abandonment.”

Rail riders share stories

Dmitry Kuznetsov said he’s a frequent rail rider who said he decided to attend his first-ever rally Tuesday “because I do care about transit, and I want to have good, reliable transit in the region, and everywhere.” He lives in Abington and most days rides the rails to North Wales station, then takes a shuttle bus to work, and “there are always employees who take the trains, and ride those buses to get to work.”

“In our business, every single employee counts, and every single employee brings their own unique skills and expertise. We all have different reasons why we prefer taking transit instead of driving,” he said, before holding up a SEPTA schedule from last week showing several trains cancelled due to spending cuts: “Eight trips on Doylestown line were cancelled. Without funding, these days will happen more and more often in the future, as the regional rail fleet keeps aging. That’s why I urge the Pennsylvania Senate to do their job, and find a solution.”

Bill Talvitie of Telford said he rides the now-cancelled SEPTA Route 132 bus line from there to the Montgomery Mall, or did until the first round of cuts.

“There is no other way, even to get to the train, without that bus. It’s the only thing we have,” he said. “One of the fellows in my building is 93 years old, and he’s regularly riding the bus. It’s not just for seniors, but there’s a lot more seniors these days, and we want to be productive, and educating ourselves, and be interested in life, and doing some kind of work, and riding on public transit makes all of that possible.”

Talvitie added that he recently had a heart attack and used SEPTA to attend follow-up appointments, before pointing out problems with car alternatives: “You can go to university while you’re riding on SEPTA, you can run a business, you really can’t do that and keep your eyes on the road.”

“What’s going to happen when we can’t get to appointments or follow-ups? I go every time, on the bus and the train, and I walk, and that helps improve my cardiac health. It’s just crazy — we can’t clog up (Route) 309 any more than it is. We need to have public transit, and we need to have better public transit,” he said.

Lucinda Reichley said she moved to North Wales from Green Lane about 25 years ago due to that rail access, and used it to commute to work, and still does now that she’s retired.

“I take SEPTA now to medical appointments, I take it to events I want to go to. I rely on SEPTA. I take SEPTA because my great-nephew loves the train. Senator Pennycuick is my representative, and she needs to fund SEPTA. The reason I pay taxes is to get the services I need: SEPTA is a service that I need, and she needs to listen to her constituents here in North Wales,” she said.

Doris Weinstock, also of North Wales, added that she used to ride SEPTA to and from work in northeast Philadelphia, and said she came out to show her support by sporting a “Stop SEPTA cuts” poster: “There’s plenty of people who take the train every day. Who’s thinking about them?” she said.

And Marsha Edwards said she usually rides from the Lansdale or Pennbrook SEPTA stations into Philadelphia, and they’re usually full: “We need transportation, just to improve the economy. People need the ability to get from one place to another without spending hours in traffic jams. When you get on SEPTA, you know when you’re going to get there. Without it, Pennsylvania’s economy goes down,” she said.

Advocates speak out

Chris Thomas, rail rider and executive director of the Montgomery County Democrats, said he’s a volunteer firefighter and is concerned about how many of those who use SEPTA now will end up on the roads instead. “When we get a call, minutes matter, and seconds matter. These cuts will lead to more traffic: SEPTA says up to 275,000 more cars on our already overcrowded and busy roads. That will lead to more accidents and slower response times,” Thomas said.

“Whether it takes days or even years, we will not stop until every Pennsylvanian has access to safe, reliable, and affordable transit. And real funding solutions, not short-term fixes, not political gamesmanship. This isn’t just numbers on pages, it’s people’s lives and livelihoods on the line,” he said.

Connor Descheemaker, coalition manager for Transit For All PA, said he and members of that group planned to ride SEPTA from Center City to North Wales for Tuesday’s rally, but had to switch to a rideshare after an equipment breakdown, another symptom of funding cuts.

“Our train was cancelled. C’mon — that’s some garbage. Why do we think that we can take money from capital funding, when our trains can’t even remain in service? And there are visionary plans, like trolley modernization, and reimagining regional rail. Those are languishing, while the Pennsylvania senate sacrifices our safety and accessibility for short-term gains,” he said.

Those continued efforts will target other state senators and lawmakers to look at the bigger picture, he said.

“SEPTA won’t be paying rent to Amtrak anymore, and that’s going to jeopardize service that runs from Harrisburg to New York. We already know the train goes to New Jersey, the train goes to Delaware, so they’re not just nuking us in Philadelphia. They think they’re being cute and just hurting Philadelphia, but they’re hurting everybody,” he said.

He and fellow Transit for All members then steered the crowd toward tables full of sign-up sheets to learn about similar ‘Transit Tuesday’ rallies for local lawmakers, and to postcards they could fill out and drop off with a representative of Pennycuick’s staff, holding office hours within borough hall.  As he held the door open for those postcard holders, Towamencin supervisor Kofi Osei sported an “I heart SEPTA” shirt he snagged at a similar rally, and said he’s been riding SEPTA since high school.

“Lansdale has stations, Upper Gwynedd has a station, and we have the turnpike exit. So if more cars are getting on the road, they’re going to be coming through Towamencin,” he said.

“Every job I’ve had in Montco has had someone take the bus: that’s retirement homes, warehouses, insurance companies. It’s one of those issues I wish Senator Pennycuick was more responsive on. Commissioner (Tom) DiBello has been really intent on doing the Reading rail (service) restoration, and that would have stops in Senator Pennycuick’s district. It feels weird that all of the local (officials) are in favor of SEPTA funding, but she’s trying to be obscure about it, and cut it,” he said.

Inside that office, a representative of Pennycuick handed out copies of a Philadelphia Inquirer article quoting Gov. Josh Shapiro as willing to use the state’s Public Transportation Trust Fund “as part of a broader package,” and declined to comment further.

In a Facebook video posted Tuesday, Pennycuick said she and several other senators “had a great meeting with SEPTA” the day before, and were continuing talks on finding funding “not only for this current deficit, but also for some long-term funding, so we don’t have to go through this drill every year.”

“This morning, Gov. Shapiro said he would be open to using the Pennsylvania Transportation Trust Fund as part of a broader package. That’s exciting news. So what I need you to do is get on the phone with the Democratic House members and tell them to get back to work, look at the bill, bring it up for a vote, and start getting us over the finish line. We are now eight weeks past due on a budget, and they are holding up the progress,” Pennycuick said.

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