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The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) board recently approved a $1.2 billion operating budget for fiscal-year 2012, a 3.5 percent increase compared with FY2011.

The new operating budget, which will begin July 1, contains no fare increases or service cuts. The board also approved a $311 million capital budget, which represents a 25 percent reduction in spending vs. two years ago.

“For the second straight year, SEPTA expects to defer dozens of improvement projects that are vital to the short- and long-term health of the transit system,” SEPTA officials said in a prepared statement. The approved capital budget “leaves just enough to cover expenses such as debt service, new buses and paratransit vehicles, equipment overhauls and mandates, such as regional rail signal system upgrades.”

The board’s action will delay indefinitely “long needed improvements,” including City Hall Station renovations and overhauls of aging electrical substations, they said.