A judge has issued a temporary injunction meaning that SEPTA cannot go forward with any more service cuts. According to the judge’s ruling, there will be no cuts as previously planned to Regional Rail starting on Tuesday, Sept. 2 and all activities surrounding the cuts must cease. “I think SEPTA has been double and triple talking the citizens of Philadelphia for months now. When the mayor said yesterday that student busing is going to be resumed on Tuesday, SEPTA said, ‘okay, we’ll do it.” attorney George Bochetto said. “What’s really going on here is SEPTA is trying to get even more money out of Harrisburg than they need to function.”SEPTA argued that the cuts are already in the works. “We will do our best to try to comply 100% with what the judge has asked us to do,” SEPTA’s General Manager Scott Sauer said. “Be patient with us. It’s likely to be very confusing to start next week.”The judge did not make any mention of the looming fare hikes expected to take effect on Monday, Sept. 1.Lawsuit claims SEPTA crisis is ‘bunk’Friday’s temporary injunction comes just days after a lawsuit was filed claiming the longstanding fiscal cliff that led SEPTA to make “nightmarish” service cuts throughout the Philadelphia region this week was all made up.“The problem is there is no fiscal crisis. SEPTA is making it up,” reads paperwork for the lawsuit filed against SEPTA on Aug. 27, 2025.The lawsuit, that was set to be filed by the law firm of Bochetto & Lentz, calls for SEPTA to undo the recent service cuts on behalf of a trio of Philadelphians. The lawsuit accuses SEPTA of “using the safety and economic well-being of an entire region – SEPTA’s riders – as pawns” in an effort to gain funding that, the paperwork claims, the mass transit provider doesn’t need.The lawsuit argues that SEPTA’s claims that it cannot operate at the same level of service without new funding leading to drastic service cuts and fare hikes are “bunk.”“That is complete and total bunk,” the suit claims.This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.
Judge orders temporary injunction stopping planned SEPTA service cuts
