Some SEPTA passengers will see fare hikes soon amid authority’s financial crisis

SEPTA plans to increase fares by eliminating some customer discounts and making other adjustments to raise money as it stares down a $240 million operating deficit and awaits uncertain fiscal help from state government.

The changes are projected to generate new revenue of about $14.4 million annually. If approved by SEPTA’s board, the changes would take effect Dec. 1.

“While we are optimistic about an agreement on funding in Harrisburg, we do feel that we need to act now to ensure that SEPTA is best positioned to continue providing reliable service to the city and region,” Leslie S. Richards, SEPTA’s CEO and general manager, said in an interview Wednesday.

SEPTA says it also has reduced budgeted spending by about $20 million, including a hold on nonessential employee travel and a pause in hiring for some jobs, though it continues to seek to recruit and hire more bus operators.

The agency also restored parking fees at Regional Rail stations and increased daily rates at many of them, after making parking free to riders over the last four years amid the pandemic. Those changes are expected to raise about $4 million a year.

The cash fare for riding SEPTA Metro, bus, subway, and trolleys will stay at $2.50. But people who pay with the Key, credit or debit cards, or payment apps will also pay $2.50, up from $2, losing a discount.

Most single-trip fares on Regional Rail would increase, except in Zone 1, which covers trips to and from city train stations. SEPTA also plans to add three new Regional Rail stations in the city to that zone — Overbrook, Wissahickon, and Tulpehocken stations. The Zone 1 cash fare will drop from $5.25 to $4.

Daily, weekly, and monthly passes will be the same price.

SEPTA’s board of directors has to approve the changes. The board is scheduled to take them up at its November meeting. Two public hearings are scheduled for Oct. 16.

Pennsylvania public transportation authorities got a one-time $80.5 million infusion of state money for operating expenses in July, but consideration of more permanent funding was postponed in the budget deal reached by the legislature — divided on partisan lines — and Gov. Josh Shapiro.

SEPTA received $47 million in state grants from that appropriation, plus $7 million in stepped-up local contributions from Philadelphia and the collar counties to match the state money.

It was far short of the nearly $283 million in assistance Shapiro had proposed, to be funded by increasing the normal allocation for transit from the sales tax. As the largest agency, SEPTA would have received $161 million of the higher amount, but benefits would have been spread across the state.

“We’re trying to piece it together, to get as close to that $240 million gap as much as we can ourselves … while still giving the state an opportunity to fix more completely the gap this fall,” said Erik Johanson, senior director of budgets at SEPTA.

“I want to see it get done,” Shapiro said in August, speaking of a more stable fix for transit systems.

Leaders of both parties in the House, where Democrats currently have a narrow majority, said recently that they want to work something out for transit as have Senate leaders, where Republicans have control.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) has said he wants to use some of a proposed tax on skill games to cover at least part of the transit bill. Skill games are slot-machine look-alikes that are currently untaxed and unregulated because they exist in a legal gray area.

Shapiro has said he doesn’t have a problem with using tax revenue from skill games.

If a deal does not come together, SEPTA officials said they would need to revisit fares by the end of the year and consider deep service cuts.

Overall, the cost of riding transit will rise an average of 7.5%, while Regional Rail tickets will cost 7.6% more, the authority said. Some fares will stay the same while others will be tweaked in a complicated set of calculations.