SEPTA Begins Public Hearings on Proposed Budget and Fare Hikes
By Kim Glovas
MEDIA, Pa. (CBS) -- The first of five days of public hearings was held today on SEPTA's proposed operating budget for the next fiscal year.
About two dozen people attended the hearing at the Delaware County Courthouse in Media. Among them was Rod Powell, a member of the SEPTA Advisory Committee on Disabilities, who says his main concern is the proposed increase in fares for the disabled.
"We're hoping that they will be merciful as far as the increases," he said afterward, "because I represent the group that is most dependent on public transportation. We don't drive, and we are solely dependent on public transportation to get to work, to get to other places that we need to go."
SEPTA's chief financial officer, Richard Burnfield, says all of the comment received during the week will be reviewed by the SEPTA hearing examiner and then submitted to the SEPTA board in May.
The fare increases and are expected to go into effect July 1st.
