The Philadelphia City Council continued to hear testimony on the controversial 76ers arena downtown on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, city council members heard testimony from those opposed to the arena, including development and business leaders in Chinatown. Union leaders expressed their support.
But one group that didn’t take sides was SEPTA. The transit agency is a big part of the plan for the proposed arena.
The arena would be located on top of Jefferson Station, and the Sixers set a goal for 40% of visitors to reach the arena by public transportation. can cause traffic congestion if the goal is not achieved.
Officials stated that this number is possible, but comes with a cost.
Officials estimate that SEPTA’s construction costs would be between $20 million and $50 million and that operating costs would reach $25 million per year.
But the agency emphasized that they cannot afford that. Officials were asked what would happen if they didn’t get the extra money.
“The first option is that we don’t provide any additional service,” said Elizabeth Smith, SEPTA chief of staff. “We leave our Regional Rail frequency trains every one to two hours. We don’t believe we’re going to get that 40% throughput split without better frequency on those trains. We think it’s likely we won’t get to 40%. and according to The city’s own traffic impact study would cause gridlock in the areas surrounding the arena.”
SEPTA is already acting with a large budget deficit plans to increase fares and shorten routes.
Public comment will also take place on Wednesday morning and Thursday evening.
