[ad_1]
The Philadelphia attorney whose lawsuit led to a judge ordering SEPTA to fully restore its service has officially filed another lawsuit, this time to stop the transit agency’s fare increases.
On Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, attorney George Bochetto confirmed he filed a class-action lawsuit against SEPTA to roll back its 21.5% fare hike.
SEPTA continues to face a financial crisis after Pennsylvania lawmakers failed to reach a deal to secure funding for a $213 million budget deficit. SEPTA initially implemented major service cuts to their buses, subways and trolleys in August and planned to implement further cuts to Regional Rail service in September in order to deal with the crisis.
On Aug. 27, however, Bochetto filed a lawsuit against SEPTA on behalf of a trio of Philadelphians. The lawsuit accused the transit agency of “using the safety and economic well-being of an entire region – SEPTA’s riders – as pawns” in an effort to gain funding that, the paperwork claimed, the mass transit provider didn’t need.
The lawsuit also argued that SEPTA had the money to avoid cuts in a stabilization fund.
After Bochetto’s initial lawsuit, a judge ruled that SEPTA restore its service and halt their planned Regional Rail service cuts. SEPTA ultimately tapped into their state capital assistance funding over the next two years in order to comply with the judge’s order and fully restore their service.
While SEPTA’s service was fully restored on Sept. 14, however, their planned fare increases of 21.5% still went into effect. When announcing his second lawsuit against SEPTA in late September, however, Bochetto accused the transit agency of violating the statute for having a public hearing on their fare hikes.
“If there was an emergency situation, they are allowed to take temporary action,” Bochetto told NBC10 back on Sept. 26. “But this fare increase is not a temporary action. This is permanent. And if you’re going to take permanent action, the statute says you need to have a legitimate public hearing.”
He also said the transit agency is sitting on a $300 million reserve fund which he claims could pay for the $30 million collected from the fare increase.
“They want to punish riders to put pressure on Harrisburg and it’s outrageous,” Bochetto said.
Despite the latest lawsuit being filed, Bochetto warned that it could take months before a decision is made. After his second lawsuit was officially filed on Wednesday, NBC10 reached out to SEPTA for a response.
“We just received it a short time ago, so legal counsel is still reviewing,” SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch wrote. “For now, we are going to decline to comment.”
The lawsuit comes as SEPTA continues to inspect more than half of its Regional Rail fleet following a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on five train fires that have occurred this year involving Silverliner IV railcars. After the report in which the NTSB recommended SEPTA suspend the Silverliner IV railcars, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued an emergency order requiring the transit agency to implement daily inspections among other actions.
The inspections have led to numerous Regional Rail service cancellations and delays over the past few days. SEPTA said it’s working on a timeline but that the inspections could last weeks. Under the order, the transit agency has a month to finish all the required work.
[ad_2]
David Chang
Source link