What to Know
- SEPTA plans to institute a 29% rate increase across the board on Jan. 1, 2025. This will increase base fares on bus and metro systems to $2.90 and increase costs for fares on all Regional Rail lines.
- The mass transit provider also expects to institute major cuts to service that would include scaling back the bus revolution and eliminating routes.
- SEPTA officials said Tuesday that the planned fare increase and service cuts were just the beginning of a "death spiral" that will likely continue without legislators stepping in to provide additional funds.
The fact that SEPTA needs help financially is not new information. The mass transit provider has long been open about its financial woes.
The service is currently deep in negotiations with workers as it looks to avoid a strike, every year SEPTA operates at a loss and, though there was a plan in the state budget that would have given SEPTA an influx of $161 million, it was shot down by legislators in Harrisburg earlier this year.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, officials said that with "no prospect of a statewide solution to help fund the everyday operating expenses of a public transportation system," SEPTA now plans a "historically high" fare increase of nearly 30%.
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"This is painful and it's going to be painful for our customers," SEPTA"s Chief Operating Officer Scott Sauer said on Tuesday.
Sauer said, beginning on Jan. 1, 2025, fares on SEPTA, across the board, will increase about 29%.
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That would mean base fares on SEPTA bus and metro lines would increase to $2.90.
Regional Rail rates would increase to be about $5 per ride in zone 1, $6.50 per ride in zone 2, $7.75 per ride in zone 3 and $8.75 per ride in zone 4.
"This is the beginning of what we have been saying is the transit death spiral," said Sauer.
He said that the cuts are needed -- "we held off as long as we could," he said -- and the mass transit provider has gotten to a point that cuts at SEPTA and scaling back plans, like the bus revolution, which will be scaled back, would not be enough to bridge the budget gap.
In fact, Sauer said, this fare hike won't close that gap either. But, he said, it should be able to get them through the fiscal year.
The new proposals, officials said, would generate about an additional $50 million annually. But service cuts and a decline in ridership, they said, would likely impact that number.
"It's heartbreaking," he said. "It's completely heartbreaking to see us in a state of decline that doesn't need to happen."
On service cuts, Sauer said that SEPTA will be announcing those sometime next year, but he expects cuts to service across the board along with the eliminations of some routes throughout SEPTA's system.
He said the service impacts could be as much as an overall 20% cutback in services across the system.
"This is not a position we wanted to be in," said Sauer.
A long simmering plan
This too is not really a new idea.
Last month, SEPTA officials discussed a less dramatic plan to raise basic fares to $2.50 and increase the costs of fares on Regional Rail.
Under that plan, SEPTA would have eliminated discounts for prepaid single rides, raise base fare for trolley, bus and metro to $2.50 and raise Regional Rail rates to anywhere between $4 to $11 depending on travel.
SEPTA hasn't raised fare costs since 2017 and it has been able to continue to provide regular services through utilizing federal COVID relief funding.
But, that is now exhausted and SEPTA is looking at new ways to generate funding -- like bringing back parking fees at twice the original price.
SEPTA officials said the increases they discussed on Tuesday would affect all modes of transportation and would be paired with service cuts.
There will be upcoming hearings on the plan to raise fare costs and to eliminate services. SEPTA plans to hold two hearings, the first on Dec. 13, 2024, on the fare increase.
SEPTA officials said hearings on planned service cuts will be scheduled sometime in the coming spring and summer months.
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