The ignored Public Crisis of Local Public Transit!

Public transportation is the lifeline for millions of Americans. Without public transit, legions of commuters would not be able to get to work, shopping meccas, doctor visits, sporting events, family destinations, leisure hot spots, faith-based houses of worship, or business meetings. Facts!
The American Public Transportation Association reports that…
· 34 million times each weekday, people board public transportation.
· 9.9 billion trips on public transportation.
· Public transportation is an $80 billion industry that employs more than 448,000 people.
Indeed, these are impressive and staggering statistics that underscore the significant importance of public transit systems in America. “Public transit is a connector of ‘people, places, and possibilities.’ It also builds thriving communities, creates jobs, eases traffic congestion, and promotes a cleaner environment.”–American Public Transportation Association.
With all these novel attributes buoying public transit, public transit has its unique troubles. Some of its woes were magnified by the two-year COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with Vox, a national news service, David King, professor of urban planning at Columbia University, said that “Transit in the US is caught in a vicious cycle. We push for low fares for social reasons, but that starves the transit agency, which leads to reduced service.”
Though low fares are great for creating greater access to public transit services, it spurs some problems. Low fares allow ease of access for the homeless and drug addicts, which negatively impacts the quality of service and ridership.
For instance, in New York City “…tight quarters, dirty handrails, filthy floors and the reality that many residents experiencing homelessness are seeking shelter on trains–from top to bottom the COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed New York’s public transportation system and its staff,” reports ABC News.
The New York Post reported that “the subways had degenerated into a rolling homeless shelter. The trail of trash and fluids included 27 reports of trains covered in poop, 26 trains covered in vomit, 21 soaked in urine, and six cars soiled by blood, according to MTA records.”
In Philadelphia, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the nation’s 6th largest public transit system, is suffering from similar issues plaguing New York City’s MTA public transit system. SEPTA has become a go-to mobile shelter for the disenfranchised and a motley crew of hooligans. Panhandlers, drug addicts, malefactors, and the homeless have become prevalent fixtures on rail and bus services. Degrading sanitary conditions and increased safety risks are contributing to SEPTA’s lower ridership and public appeal.
In particular, SEPTA’s Market Street-Frankford rail line has become notoriously plagued with open drug use by hardcore addicts shooting up heroin–weed smokers openly smoking on the trains, and the homeless sleeping on train cars day and night. The Market Street-Frankford rail line is one of SEPTA’s major transit arteries serving two major Pennsylvania counties, Philadelphia County and Delaware County, the #1 and #5th largest counties respectively in the state.
Drug addicts and homeless people are responsible for the great filth, feces, and urine degrading the sanitary and aesthetic conditions of SEPTA’s transit vehicles. In a 2021 NBC 10 News interview, Philadelphian Mona Scruggs lamented about how filth is everywhere on SEPTA trains, “I had to buy a newspaper every day, just so I could sit on the newspaper because I didn’t want to sit on the seat.”
I’ve been riding SEPTA for over 40 years, and I’ve never seen the Market Street-Frankford rail line in such deplorable conditions. The trains are so unsanitary, I don’t sit during my commutes into and out of Philly!
NBC 10 News reporter Matt DeLucia detailed that in 2021, “SEPTA had to close the Somerset Station on the Market-Frankford line due to a litany of problems. The station had piles of trash as well as urine and feces in it. So many needles had been thrown into the elevator – and the elevator had been urinated on so often – that it was unusable.”
The prevalence of the homeless and drug addicts has created safety and facility issues for SEPTA. “The mechanics have been damaged by urination, by discarded needles being jammed into floorboards,” said Leslie Richards, SEPTA’s general manager.
With all these horrendous problems that SEPTA has with the homeless and drug addicts degrading and destroying their transit system, no major inroads or impactful strategies seem to be making a noticeable difference. Complaints are made, but the problems persist. It seems like the homeless and drug addicts will remain unpleasant fixtures for commuters to tolerate on the SEPTA transit system.
Last year, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported that SEPTA planned to spend $3.6 million on social services to address the homeless and drug addicts that plague the transit system. This social service endeavor, as benevolent as it may be, should not be SEPTA’s sole responsibility! The fact is, SEPTA is not a social service agency and should not venture to be!
The problem of the homeless and drug addicts destroying the sanitary and public safety conditions of SEPTA should be a top-of-mind concern for all politicians and other community stakeholders. Public transit riders are valued constituents of politicians, so why are politicians so silent on this issue? Their constituents depend on public transit for work, school, and shopping – three major economic engines that help generate commerce for their cities and communities. Yet, to date, no political leader has stepped up to become the poster child to advocate for a safer-cleaner transit system.
Commuters and riders of public transit deserve better, we the general public, should not have to tolerate a transit system that’s been transformed into a trashy-smelly homeless shelter and a mobile drug den for hardcore drug addicts! There is no justification for this!
Where are the city and state leaders?
Where are the city/county social service agencies?
Where are the community leaders?
Why aren’t the SEPTA Police patrolling its rail lines plagued with such problems?
Political leaders and social service agencies that should be aggressively involved are sadly silent and invisible concerning these critical issues. SEPTA leaders should not have the sole responsibility of addressing the herculean task of resolving the homeless and drug addict issues that are ruining one of America’s largest transit systems. And, I hate to draw the race card, but would such deplorable problems and conditions be allowed to persist on public transit routes that serve predominantly white affluent communities? I think not.
Full disclosure, I serve as a member of SEPTA’s Community Advisory Committee, I’ve been appointed to represent Delaware County, Pennsylvania. I have had meetings with SEPTA’s executive leadership, I have registered complaints online via SEPTA’s website, I’ve made complaints to political leadership, and I’ve critiqued and chronicled these problems via social media and the response and results remain a grave disappointment.
I repeat, SEPTA is not a social service agency and it should not be their sole responsibility to absorb the crisis of dealing with the homeless and drug addicts that are causing unsanitary and dangerous riding conditions on public transit.
We are at DEFCON 1 levels of seriousness concerning the homeless and drug addicts’ infiltration and negative impact on our local transit system. This is no longer a problem that politicians, city/county agencies, and other stakeholders can turn a blind eye to and claim that it’s SEPTA’s problem. NOPE, it’s not just SEPTA’s problem, and I’m sick and tired of the apathetic and lackadaisical band-aid approaches being devoted to this crisis!
If our region is to have premium-quality public transit service, some political leaders and social service agencies will have to do more (much, much more) to resolve the homeless and drug addict issues that are destroying SEPTA. Failure to act on this crisis issue will create a colossal domino effect that will hinder ridership and commerce of communities that depend on public transportation. This is a crisis that needs fixing now!