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Pennsylvania State Senator Calls SEPTA Operators “Chauffeurs” in Farcical Letter Explaining Why There is No Money for Mass Transit
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Republican Cris Dush represents Pennsylvania’s 25th District in the State Senate. That’s a rural area in the north central part of the Commonwealth, covering a seven-county territory that includes Elk, McKean, Potter, Clinton, and Cameron counties, plus portions of Centre and Jefferson County. He has been sending this letter out in response to queries about SEPTA funding:
There’s a lot to unpack here, so we’ll do in chronological order.
1) I don’t think anybody disagrees that SEPTA has been poorly run. That’s why we’re in this position to begin with. But for Dush to base his stance on his experience with Leslie Richards is short-sighted. Richards stepped down at the end of 2024 and is no longer involved with SEPTA. And nobody who rides SEPTA decided to give her the $425,000 salary. It’s not like we went to the polls and voted for her and demanded that they pay her almost half a million dollars.
2) SEPTA draws from highway dollars, yes, but people in Southeast Pennsylvania also use highways! We’ve been driving on some of the shittiest roads in the Commonwealth for years. Dush seems to think that everyone in the Delaware Valley takes the train and that none of us drive, but we pay for gas and tolls and license renewal and car registration just like everyone else. Ironically, if more people used SEPTA and didn’t drive, perhaps the system would be more stable.
3) Can’t speak too much to the tourism and economic aspect of completing this C1 project, but I’ve driven route 219 from Toronto to DuBois and that stretch through Bradford PA is the middle of nowhere. There is absolutely nothing. No one is on that road.
4) There are discrepancies in funding for the people who “live and work in SEPTA’s region of operations” because we make up four of the seven largest counties in the Commonwealth. Montco alone is larger in population than all seven of the counties that comprise Dush’s 25th District. We also pay state taxes and federal taxes that are then allocated in areas where we don’t live, for instance, paying for highway maintenance in western PA and covering costs for rural towns that don’t have police and rely on state troopers instead. We can argue for days about how the money should be split up, and that’s exactly what we’re doing with SEPTA, but we all pay taxes that are then spread throughout the Commonwealth. We don’t only pay for what we use.
5) Calling bus and train operators “chauffeurs” is disrespectful. These are working class people just trying to make a living.
6) If you’re driving 60 miles each way to get to work, you should probably find a new job or go live somewhere else.
7) I wouldn’t call it a “luxury” to ride mass transit. The luxury is controlling when you leave and when you arrive, in your private vehicle. This guy sounds like he’s never been on a train in his entire life. Mr. Dush is invited to drive from Potter County to Fern Rock transportation center and take the BSL to the next Phillies game.
8) There’s no apostrophe in “Pennsylvanians.”
9) Nobody is asking that we take money from the “infirm” or the “elderly” to fund SEPTA. Not a single person is asking for that.
10) Dush’s district should get very little in return because it generates very little to begin with.
But I get what the guy is saying. Honestly. Why should the rest of the state have to chip in to fund SEPTA if they’re not using it? In a perfect world, the Yinzers would see 0 of Southeast Pennsylvania’s tax dollars, we would see zero of their tax dollars, and every region in Pennsylvania would support itself. But we all pay state taxes in addition to local. We pay property taxes that fund public schools that we might not even use. We all pay federal taxes as well. Look no further than the recent DOGE zeitgeist when thinking about taxpayer money and how it should be distributed and spent. How much money would we have for American bridges and C1 highway projects if we cut military spending by half a percent? Some are asking!
Bottom line, the biggest region in Pennsylvania needs a functioning and quality mass transit system. SEPTA moves hundreds of thousands of people daily, and they go to schools, hospitals, sporting events, jobs, etc. Things that keep the economy, education, and healthcare systems going. These Republican legislators elsewhere in the Commonwealth position the SEPTA topic as if Southeast PA is receiving some sort of government handout, but we also pay fares to ride SEPTA in the same way that highways generate revenue via tolls while receiving taxpayer money at the same time.
It’s really the same thing it’s always been, we’re just having a repeat argument in a different year. You need everybody to sit down at a table and act like adults and come up with a bi-partisan transit bill that gives every county in the Commonwealth what it needs, be it upkeep of rural roads or funding for mass transit. The problem with Pennsylvania is and always will be the Democratic strongholds of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh clashing with the Republicans elsewhere in the state. It’s a tale as old as time.
Now let’s get it back to the Eagles. Should they trade for T.J. Watt? 610-632-0975.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com