phillyallthewaydown t1_j9x1669 wrote on February 25, 2023 at 4:14 AM

Reply to comment by AbsentEmpire in SEPTA approves $125 million for KOP rail project’s final design by RoughRhinos

I don't think they were saying SEPTA blocks Philadelphia projects. I'm guessing they were talking about the 11 SEPTA board members. There are 2 board members from each county +1 additional member. Philly is denser and more of its residents utilize public transportation than any of the other 4 counties, yet they all have the same number of board members. So Philly projects can get voted down more easily in favor of suburban projects that don't affect as many riders

AbsentEmpire t1_j9x8c5k wrote on February 25, 2023 at 5:22 AM

Again that's just pure bullshit, as I pointed to already in terms of recent and coming major capital projects.

The Philadelphia board members have veto power, they have disproportionate power on the board compared to the other members, additionally most of SEPTA's capital spending had been on city projects.

Everyone in here trying to push this conspiracy theory that the SEPTA board has it out for Philly, and that the suburban members block funding projects in the city is an idiot who who clearly doesn't know shit about SEPTA, how it operates, how it's funded, what it's agency objectives are, and what it's done already.

Quite frankly so many of the takes in this thread are from people who just to moved to Philly 5 minutes ago. That or they're actually still children who don't know shit about how SEPTA works and what it done just in the last 20 years.

They certainly don't know the dynamics of the metropolitan region, or how major infrastructure projects get done in the real world.

phillyallthewaydown t1_j9xekdp wrote on February 25, 2023 at 6:29 AM

It would be helpful if you shared some resources for everyone rather than calling them idiots and children and accusing them of conspiracy theories. You may know all the things, but many of the answers and details aren't readily available.

How does SEPTA work? How does it operate? How is it funded? What are it's objectives? What has it done in the last 20 years? How does the veto power and the ability to override the veto work? What are the dynamics of metropolitan area? How do major infrastructure projects get done in the real world?

I have a slightly above average understanding of how SEPTA works and yet I can't even answer all those questions. I'm not a child, idiot, or conspiracy theorist, and I have lived in and around Philly my entire life. I'd argue that very few people understand how infrastructure projects as large and unique as the KOP rail line get done in the real world, even plenty of people involved.

My biggest question is why a project projected to move 10k passengers per day would be prioritized over a project projected to move closer to 100k passengers. Similar cost estimates. Questioning that is not a conspiracy theory, it's a legitimate question about how cost benefit decisions are made