Buses came and went as usual Monday at the bus stop at 15th Street and JFK Boulevard.

However, television news vans with blooming satellites that were lined up across the street indicated it was not another routine day at City Hall.

Inside, Judge Gary DiVito was mulling over a decision that could vex the budgets of thousands of SEPTA users.

Though DiVito’s decision was unlikely to be the last word in the matter, he was expected to issue a ruling that would either force SEPTA to keep its $.60 transfers or allow it to eliminate them.

The move was part of a proposal that SEPTA officials hoped would raise revenue and streamline its ticketing processes in a year when it faced a $150 million budget deficit.

However, the agency’s plan so angered city officials last week that the city filed suit to block implementation of the plan.

And so the matter landed on DiVito’s desk.

For riders waiting to catch a bus, there was no doubt what his decision should be.

“I think they should keep [transfers],” said William Taylor of Olney, motioning to the small crowd of people waiting for the bus. “You have working class people here.”

Taylor uses SEPTA every day to go back and forth to work and “do whatever I have to do.”

“So many people here rely on public transportation,” he said. “This is the only transportation system we have.”

Cutting the transfers would force riders moving between routes to pay full fare every time they make a move.

SEPTA officials have said that the cut would only affect occasional riders as most daily users rely on transpasses.

Taylor didn’t quite see it that way.

“Everybody can’t afford a transpass,” he said.

It’s time for people to let officials know their point of view, he said.

“We have to get back to demonstrating and picketing,” Taylor said. “Somebody needs to fight for the rights of the lay person.”

He was particularly worried about the cost of sending his four kids to school: “We’re talking $60 to $70 a week.”

The plan also angered a woman who asked to be identified only as Madeline.

“They don’t have no right to do that,” said the West Philadelphia resident. “SEPTA is always crying broke. Why do we have to pay double? What are these poor people going to do? Blacks are really going to suffer.”

She blasted transit officials and their decision-making process.

“You’re neglecting the little people. When they make a decision, they don’t look at all the factors; the only thing they think about is how to make money,” Madeline said indignantly. “It’s like people aren’t really people.”

She also wondered where the extra money would go.

“The service isn’t that great anyway,” she said.

Standing nearby, Bernice Jones of Mount Airy emphatically agreed.

“It gets very expensive,” she said, adding that she uses the system every day. While she often buys a transpass, there are days she’s stuck using transfers.

“In the city alone today I had to get two transfers,” she said. “If I had to spend a token each time, it would cost me $6.”

With the transfers, it cost her $2.60.

“It’s terrible making somebody pay double fares,” said Demetrius McDowell as he moved toward his bus. “They have to get some good management, somebody has to get some control.”

He uses SEPTA every day he said and had no other choice.

“They’re the only game in town,” he said.

Questions have been raised about what would happen to students if transfers were eliminated. It was a problem that gnawed at McDowell.

“Those are the ones that need to get around the city more than anyone else,” he said.

Sharon Williams of Hunting Park kept her views short but sweet, summing up the opinion of everyone at the bus stop.

“I think it’s wrong,” she said. “You got poor people out here who are struggling.”