Last updated 7 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA says it will eliminate metro fare discounts for most riders, in an effort to close a $222 million budget gap . The transit agency outlined the reasoning behind its plan on Thursday.
Currently, riders who use a SEPTA Key Travel Wallet or contactless payment pay only $2 to ride buses, subways and trolleys — a break from the $2.50 cash fare. “That is no longer going to be the case,” said SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards. “It will be $2.50 for everybody on Metro, regardless of their payment.”
Most riders receive the discount, with only 7% paying the cash fare, said Erik Johanson, SEPTA’s senior budget director. The fare changes would take effect Dec. 1.
TransPass and TrailPass prices would remain the same, but the cost of most individual Regional Rail rides would rise by about $1.
SEPTA is including some measures to soften the blow, such as allowing a round trip on a single fare within two hours, and adding three Regional Rail stations to Zone 1, the least expensive of the four concentric zones that ring Center City.
The new fares are necessary, Richards said, because SEPTA received only a quarter of the $161 million it requested in new state funding from this year’s budget.
“We will not be able, again, to avoid some more fare increases as well as service cuts if we don’t see more money coming out of Harrisburg,” Richards added.
"If we start to talk about service cuts, there will be significant negative impacts as far as losing ridership, and it will be very, very hard — if not impossible — to get that ridership back."
Gov. Josh Shapiro and legislative leaders provided SEPTA with about $46 million in one-time funds in this year’s budget, with the intention of revisiting the issue of transit funding this fall. Senate Republican leaders have said they wanted to tie an increase in transit funding to income from regulating skill games in Pennsylvania.
“I’m willing to marry those two things together if it’s important to the Republicans to get it through the state Senate,” Shapiro told KYW Newsradio on Tuesday. “What I’m unwilling to do is have nothing happen.”
“We’re optimistic about an agreement on funding in Harrisburg,” Richards said. “We know that we need to act now, so that is why we are announcing this fare policy.”
The new fares would generate an additional $14 million each year, Richards said. SEPTA fares were last increased in 2017.
"From the conversations that we've had both with the governor and legislative leaders, we're hopeful that something will get done in September for a permanent solution — not the one-time," said SEPTA board chair Ken Lawrence.
"Quite frankly, we're agnostic as to how that happens. We need the money."
Indeed, even if funding comes through from the state, the discounts are not coming back, said Richards.
"Even if we receive the full amount that the governor has proposed, there is still a gap in our operating budget."
Notice of public hearing for SEPTA fare changes by Kristina Koppeser on Scribd
SEPTA has scheduled public hearings on the fare changes for Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The SEPTA Board is scheduled to vote on the proposed fare schedule on Nov. 21.
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