Local Elected Officials Join Governor and SEPTA Board To Champion New Funding
by Alex Lloyd Gross
It’s been a while since Josh Shapiro rode a train. Now that he is Governor of Pa, he can ride one anytime he wants. Today, he wanted to. He took a SEPTA train from Rydal to Langhorne to talk up new funding he hopes to spend on public transportation. Specifically, a $282.8 million investment, and nearly $1.5 billion in new state funding over five years in transit systems that Pennsylvanians rely on. This is statewide, not just for SEPTA.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com John Cordisco, a SEPTA Board member greets the governor.
The Governor had a private train that came from Montgomery County. He took Senator Art Haywood (d) and State Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll to Langhorne with him. It was there he spoke about his proposal. “I am the only state in the nation with a divided legislature”, Shapiro said. The Senate is Republican, the House is Democratic. Haywood, a democrat joined his colleague Frank Farry ( R) to announce that this was a bi partisan proposal.
Farry said that public transportation is vital now but would be even more vital in 2025 when many events will be held in Philadelphia to commemorate the 250th Birthday of America. Fary said that millions will rely on SEPTA to get them to those events. What he did not say was that many of the people that work and run those events rely on SEPTA for transportation to their jobs.
“SEPTA is grateful for the support of Gov. Shapiro, who has proposed an historic investment for public transportation across the Commonwealth,” said SEPTA CEO and General Manager Leslie S. Richards. “For SEPTA, this funding will ensure that SEPTA can provide the reliable service that hundreds of thousands of customers rely on every day. It will also allow us to hire dozens of new police officers and bolster efforts to ensure we are providing a safe, secure and clean system for our riders and workforce.”
Alex Lloyd Gross /Photo-Delaware Valley News.com State Senator Frank Farry gives his remarks.
Should this be approved, Richards said SEPTA will hire more police and more cleaners. This event was for the media. As soon as Shapiro was done speaking, he left in his car to another event. The train then took the media and politicians back to the Rydal station.