A new editorial from the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board highlights an uncomfortable truth for state Republican lawmakers. While Pennsylvania’s transit funding crisis grabbed headlines because—in a surreal twist—a sports betting company bailed out SEPTA so Eagles fans could attend last night’s season opener, Philadelphia’s students have been struggling to get to school every single day since draconian service cuts kicked in. After Republicans derailed a transit funding deal, SEPTA was forced to hike fares and cut service—disrupting school attendance, hospital commutes, and threatening game-day travel. Lincoln Financial Field’s travel advisory for the opener underscored how the crisis has reached one of Philly’s biggest stages. But as the Inquirer notes, “the city’s schoolchildren can rightfully ask why the struggles of football fans [...] have gotten so much more attention than their own.”

FanDuel’s sponsorship of Broad Street Line service may have helped fans avoid a transportation nightmare for the home opener, but it did nothing to fix SEPTA and other state transit agencies' deeper problems. A one-night bailout from a betting app doesn’t solve the hundreds of thousands of missed rides, overcrowded buses, or mounting barriers that students, nurses, and working-class Philadelphians face every day.

ICYMI: The Philadelphia Inquirer: In the ongoing SEPTA crisis, getting fans to games outranks getting kids to class | Editorial

September 4, 2025
By: The Editorial Board

Key Points:

• Spectators at Lincoln Financial Field Thursday night will get to see the Eagles raise their second Super Bowl banner in eight years before the team takes the field against the Dallas Cowboys. Fans will also be fortunate to avoid what could have been a transportation nightmare.
  
  
• Thanks to a sponsorship from FanDuel, an online gambling platform, SEPTA will be able to run sports express trains for the game.
  
  
• While Eagles fans are understandably excited about this resumption of game-day normalcy, everyday SEPTA riders are still being left behind.
  
  
• That’s because Harrisburg has yet to pass a budget or a sustainable solution for transit funding across the commonwealth. Until that happens, the region will remain exposed to the chaotic transportation conditions Eagles fans will manage to evade, with the city’s economic vibrancy, educational outcomes, and quality of life at risk.
  
  
• The city’s schoolchildren can rightfully ask why the struggles of football fans — with at most a dozen home games a year — have gotten so much more attention than their own, which are a part of their daily lives.
  
  
• The same Republicans who relentlessly push for school vouchers to help students “escape their zip code” are unwilling to fund the transit system children rely on to get to class.
  
  
• Per SEPTA, roughly 100,000 daily rides are already missing from the transit system, and nearly 1,000 riders per day have been unable to board their usual buses because of overcrowding, four times the usual rate.
  
  
• Fortunately, there is some recognition in Harrisburg that transit funding is a problem that needs to be addressed, even if the negotiating parties seem to lack the urgency the crisis deserves.
  
  
• Moving forward on a transit funding solution might be what Pennsylvania needs to solve the current budget impasse, which has now lasted for more than two months — especially since there’s increasing clarity on what a final deal might look like.
  
  
• These leaders owe it to all Pennsylvanians, not just transit riders, to finalize an agreement. Our students, seniors, and commuters can’t count on FanDuel to bail them out.

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