Leslie S. Richards on Nov. 29 will step down as General Manager and CEO of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). Her contract was to expire in 2027.
Richards made the announcement Oct. 24, according to SEPTA, the sixth-largest public transportation agency in the U.S. where she has served for five years overseeing regional rail, buses, trolleys, subways, and a high-speed line. Previously, she was a SEPTA Board member and PennDOT Secretary, the first women to hold that role.
“It has been an honor to lead SEPTA, and especially to lead our 9,500 employees, each of whom brings incredible expertise, dedication and heart to serving our community,” said Richards, a Railway Age Women in Rail award honoree in 2020. “I’m proud to have led a workplace known for its collegiality, dedication to efficiency and equity. Working together, we have positioned SEPTA for a bright future, increasing frequent mobility and access to opportunities for our region.”
Richards said that upon her departure she will be expanding her role as a Professor of Practice in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania’s (Penn) Weitzman School of Design and “pursuing other opportunities to serve the community.” Richards received a master’s in regional planning from Penn, and early in her career worked in the private sector as a senior project manager for environmental and civil engineering firms.
Richards took the throttle at SEPTA in January 2020, succeeding Jeffrey D. Knueppel. During her tenure, she “stewarded SEPTA’s continuing recovery from the COVID pandemic and its dramatic impact on the agency’s ridership and finances, while also overseeing a redesign of SEPTA’s bus network, introducing the SEPTA Key Advantage system, and working to secure additional public funding for transit amidst the reality of a $240 million projected FY2025 operating deficit,” the agency said.
SEPTA has eyed fare adjustments, among other measures, to address that deficit as federal COVID relief funds run out. According to City & State Pennsylvania, House lawmakers on Oct. 22 approved “legislation that would increase state funding transfers for public transportation across the commonwealth as part of an effort to stave off mass transit service cuts.” The increase, it reported, “would amount to a $186.5 million transfer to the [Public Transportation Trust] [F]und in Fiscal Year 2024-25 and a $287.9 million transfer to the fund in Fiscal Year 2025-26. Lawmakers from the Philadelphia area stressed the importance of delivering more funding for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and other transportation systems across the commonwealth.” While the Senate was to consider the bill, the session ended Oct. 25, according to the media outlet.
A nationwide search for Richards’ successor is expected to begin “in the coming weeks,” SEPTA reported. Chief Operating Officer Scott Sauer will serve as General Manager in the interim.
“Leslie has been a dedicated public servant for nearly 20 years, and at SEPTA she has been a true champion for public transit and for our region as a whole,” SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth Lawrence said Oct. 24. “She faced an extraordinary set of challenges over the last five years, and we deeply appreciate her service to the cause of public transit. We wish her well in her future endeavors.”
