Philadelphia can choose to lead on public transit — or be the first domino to fall

What we see in cities around the globe is that transit is not just a service; it’s a core strategy for economic prosperity, environmental resilience, and quality of life.

by Sylvie Gallier Howard and Maurice Jones, For The Inquirer (read original article here)

Published Aug. 5, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET

SEPTA, one of the nation’s largest transit systems, is hurtling toward a $213 million fiscal cliff. Absent new state funding, the region could see a 45% service cut and a 21.5% fare hike — disrupting millions of daily trips, shrinking access to jobs, and deepening inequality. These drastic measures would cripple the system, displace riders, and jeopardize Philadelphia’s economic future — just as the region prepares to host the Semiquincentennial, the 2026 World Cup, and other major events.

The choices made today could determine whether Philadelphia becomes a national model for sustainable urban mobility — or a case study marking a heartbreaking collapse of public transportation in one of America’s great cities. Transit systems across the U.S. are grappling with similar pressures: declining ridership, rising costs, and a fragile post-pandemic recovery. Philadelphia could become a recipe for disintegration — or a model for reinventing mass transit.

The city doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. We need courageous leadership bold enough to act with a sense of urgency. While we stall, places around the world are meeting these same challenges head-on with bold investments, visionary leadership, and the bravery to act.

Paris, which funds nearly half its metro system through an employer payroll tax that it has collected since 1971, has exceeded pre-pandemic ridership and is investing in a 68-station metro expansion serving two million daily riders while simultaneously banning cars from key corridors. Paris isn’t just investing in transit — it’s reshaping its entire urban fabric around sustainable mobility.

Bogotá, Colombia, built a cable car that connects marginalized hillside communities and 25,000 passengers each day to its rapid bus network — cutting travel time, increasing economic mobility, and boosting civic pride.

Madrid electrified its entire bus fleet, reducing fuel costs and carbon emissions, benefiting over three million residents, one million commuters, and nearly six million visitors.

And Lagos, Nigeria, a megacity with intense congestion, led an inclusive and collaborative process to integrate its informal transit providers into a formal bus rapid transit system — serving more than 200,000 daily commuters in the first year of this transformation, significantly cutting travel costs, congestion, and traffic fatalities.

We can also learn from public transit systems that also face fiscal challenges.

India’s Nagpur Metro, launched in 2019, raised fares in early 2023 to make up for underperforming ridership; however, the metro then saw further decline in ridership, prompting it to reverse course and reduce fares by 33% a year later. Recognizing that fare box increases have an adverse effect on ridership and revenue generation efforts, Nagpur is now exploring other revenue models such as leasing commercial space at stations, transit-oriented development, public-private partnerships, and other innovative financing models.

What we see in cities around the globe is that transit is not just a service; it’s a core strategy for economic prosperity, environmental resilience, and quality of life. The success these cities are experiencing isn’t luck. It’s leadership, policy, funding, and vision.

Without adequate and intentional investment in SEPTA, the Philadelphia region, which accounts for more than 37% of the state’s general fund revenue, risks losing more than buses and trains — it risks its future as a competitive, connected, and livable metro. The question is not whether we can afford to fund transit — it’s whether we can afford not to.

As 2026 approaches, will Philadelphia — the birthplace of our nation — lead the charge to reinvent American public transit, or will it be remembered as the place where the system began to collapse?

Sylvie Gallier Howard is the CEO of Equitable Cities Collaborative. Maurice Jones is the CEO of MJ Connects. Both are curators of Equitable Cities Collab: Cities for People and the Planet, a global community of changemakers passionate about building more equitable and sustainable cities.