SEPTA STRIKE OVER, BUT FARE HIKES LOOM:
Now that buses, subways, and trolleys are running again after a six-day transit strike, SEPTA riders can brace for the next unpleasantness: a fare hike.
SEPTA has been planning to increase fares in 2010 ever since it last boosted them in 2007.
Regular smaller increases are better, SEPTA officials maintain, than infrequent big increases.
SEPTA won't say how much fares may go up, But the agency has budgeted for a 9.5 percent increase in passenger revenue in fiscal 2011.
[Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen, 11-10-09, from Philadelphia Inquirer website report]