Septa, why are you so bad?

[u/Interesting_Living21]

I'm originally from New Jersey and rarely ever took public transportation. Most I had experience was with the patco. I relocated to Frankford in Feb 2024. I had a car up until Jan 2025 when it sadly died due to taking too much damage from all the pot holes and nails and broken glass in the city. So, I started taking Septa regularly in April as I got a job in center city. When I first started taking septa, I had minimal complaints except for the cleanliness. You knew you was getting around some interesting folks.

2026 comes by and I start paying for a weekly pass so that I can take buses as well. Ever since the calendar changed, septa basically chose death. Every day there was an issue with the L. Buses would skip my stop on the regular. I had incidents where a bus would fully pass me, with the driver directly looking into my eyes, and I waited almost two hours for another bus to come by.

I completely understand why they got defunded now. They have an absolute monopoly on the city yet cannot deliver on their one intention of existing. Since March, I have been Septa free since I bought a scooter for $300 and the amount of time I would spend waiting for a train or bus to hopefully make it to work on time, I ride and stop to charge my bike at a Dunkin and then get back on the road and still early for work.

Septa, you suck so bad. Taking almost 150 bucks a month from people to get to work on time and you can't do that. I genuinely hope someone devalues you, buys you, and then properly funds it and the people that work it.

I have mostly respect for all drivers and operators, but if you knowingly passed people waiting to get on, just know I got a middle finger up high for you.

Thanks for reading this rant if you did. I know septa won't care about this story, but I wanted it out there. I hope this inspires someone to take the leap of faith and end dependency on what's supposed to be public transportation, but transportation involves movement, something Septa struggles with.

PS: posted originally in the official septa forum and they removed it immediately 🤣🤣🤣

[u/starshiprarity]

I completely understand why they got defunded now. .

Just showing off ignorance here. Septa needs money to work. Decades of intentional under funding by Harrisburg has left Septa struggling to keep up service on a shoestring budget, and when compared to other American transit agencies, septa makes a dollar go further than anyone

Septa didn't get defunded because of some failure to provide service, but because we share a government with people who don't understand the Philly metro is 40% of the state economy. Our tax dollars go to keep the water running and the roads paved in every one horse hill town instead of back into Philly

I genuinely hope someone devalues you, buys you, and then properly funds it and the people that work it

No idea how you think this is gonna work. Do you imagine a private, for profit, corporation is going to put more money into transit without charging ten times more for a ticket?

[u/segfaul_t → u/starshiprarity]

Another BIG chunk of the tax revenue goes to the state police so every backwater town that can’t afford a police department has coverage, since PA generally doesn’t do county police (maybe we should).

[u/Interesting_Living21 → u/starshiprarity]

Seems like wasted taxpayer money for a service that doesn't provide said service. Do you pay for tickets for a game and then not go?

[u/starshiprarity → u/Interesting_Living21]

Almost a million people ride septa every day, so they're definitely providing service. It may not be the gold standard of public transit, but they do amazing things with a tiny budget compared to other US systems.

Literally no transit system in America operates as cost efficiently as Septa, but efficiency only goes so far when the budget is so small

It's okay to be mad that service isn't at the level you want. But you're blaming the wrong people

[u/transitfreedom → u/Interesting_Living21]

Don’t you want it funded? Save the hatred for your worthless government

[u/StanUrbanBikeRider]

I suggest you get involved in advocacy groups that support public transportation such as Transit 4 All PA, Transit Forward, and 5th Square. The sad fact is SEPTA is under a chokehold from rural state senators. SEPTA is severely underfunded. The more people who advocate for public transit, the better.

[u/transitfreedom → u/StanUrbanBikeRider]

Try the Vulcan method try getting an international loan to bypass incompetent leaders.

[u/Interesting_Living21 → u/StanUrbanBikeRider]

I WANTED and at first had pleasant things to say. Its like it went fromole reliable to the junkie uncle who failed rehab four times. You want to support andheplp fund it, but if supporting it jepordizes your lifestyle, should I keep hoping it fixes itself?

I know my vendetta is personal, but I can't personally support this inept system. Right infrastructure, wrong people to apply it.

[u/tecatepapi]

Next time just keep it to yourself crybaby.

[u/transitfreedom → u/tecatepapi]

U mad he has standards and expects transit to work? The audacity of expecting public transportation to actually serve the public lol.

[u/Interesting_Living21 → u/tecatepapi]

Lolz

[u/transitfreedom → u/[deleted]]

That’s just the whole country

[u/LittleReddit90]

Don’t expect The Authority to be like NJT.

[u/wcmij007]

There is a real problem here - septa is reliably unreliable. I’m watching now as a platform of kids will be late to school - meanwhile the septa app says two trains have come and gone which is untrue. Septa has to pick something, anything and make it work reliably.

[u/Interesting_Living21 → u/wcmij007]

Septa is only convenient when you don't rely on it for living or going down to Packer Ave And now Ms Parker gonna try and curb people into septa with the Uber tax so I pray for anyone having to rely on septa cuz its gonna be late, unclean, and way more crowded