SEPTA (Phila) chief prepares layoff notices to help close budget gap

[malachi]

Philadelphia went Kerry 80+%. puke payback time from rest of this god awful state.

With no action apparent in Harrisburg to pump needed money into SEPTA, the transit agency's general manager, Faye Moore, announced today that she was preparing Jan. 1 layoff notices for 1,400 employees.

Moore has said that if state aid is not received to close a $62 million budget gap, SEPTA would be forced to fire workers from its 9,000 person staff, end weekend service and raise fares.

"As people play chicken and poker in Harrisburg, we are continuing to play with people's lives," Moore said in an interview in King of Prussia. She appeared alongside legislators in a forum dedicated to the state shortage of highway, bridge and transit funding.

Lawmakers are to return to Harrisburg Monday for a lame-duck session, but the Republican leadership does not have the issue of transit funding on its agenda.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/10109504.htm

[makhno]

1. Just like NYC

The city is pumping billions into the rest of the god damned state and then we get fucked up the ass with constant service cutbacks and fare hikes on the subway.

[malachi]

2. Time to secede and link up wuth NJ.

2 Dem Sens, a Dem Gov and legislature, ltd number of rednecks. Not a bad record.

[makhno]

4. Sounds good to me

I've always felt a greater affinity with the NY-Philly corridor than with the welfare rednecks upstate.

[KamaAina]

3. Elimination of *all* weekend service?!

http://www.septa.com/news/press_releases/090904.html

These measures would include an average 25-percent hike in all transit fares, an "across the board" 20-percent system-wide reduction in transportation service – including elimination of all weekend service, region-wide – and a workforce reduction of approximately 1,400 SEPTA jobs.

:wtf:

How many colleges are there in suburban Philly? Around 60? And almost all of them are near regional rail (not Amtrak) stops. Then' there's the not-so-small matter of Eagles games at the Linc on Sundays, including playoffs...

Rendell has GOT to get something done PRONTO. This could really threaten Philly's status as a major city. Then there's the precedent it could set nationwide... :scared: