SEPTA Miracle Time

First Michael 'Strait-shooter' Nutter gets elected mayor of Philadelphia, and now SEPTA has plenty of funding and wants to focus on "pet projects." What next?

The Metro/Philadelphia continued it's string of article that address the state of affairs of our local transportation agency today (well, the newspaper's name is that of a subway, duh) -- I didn't read the Metro at my usual time and just saw this one:

http://philly.metro.us/metro/local/article/With_more_money_SEPTA_goes_green/11872.html

I think it's evident that SEPTA is riding the wave of environmental awareness by promoting itself as a clean carbon emission's source compared to car (this was always the case, no?). However, for the company's GM to state that he plans to "address some of the overcrowding on the system" fills one with wonderment.

Apparently -- through $16o,000,000 in aid from the state -- SEPTA is in the black for the first time in a long time. I would like to know if this is how other metropolitan-area transportation systems finance themselves (it's certainly the case in Caracas, Venezuela, where a ride on the subway costs about 25 cents!). Could this have been the problem all along? Perhaps any transportation company would have faced the same existentially grim circumstances as SEPTA if they had been likewise denied public funding. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt -- but it doesn't feel right.