SEPTA Fare Hikes

Waiting for SEPTA

On March 15th, SEPTA announced broad-based fare hikes and a timetable for using smart card technology. This will be the first fare increase in 3 years.
As the Philadelphia Inquirer reports the increases and changes will start this coming July.

SEPTA announced Thursday that as of July 1, cash fares will increase to $2.25 from the current $2 on buses, subways and trolleys. Cash fares will see a further increase to $2.50 when the long-awaited, smart-card, New Payment Technology (NPT) arrives in 2014.

Tokens, now $1.55, will rise to $1.80, which will remain the price for discounted single-trip fares on NPT cards purchased from kiosks and on smart phones. Transfers will remain a dollar. Weekly TransPasses will cost $24.50, up from $22; monthly TransPasses will cost $92, up $9.

There will be four Regional Rail zones instead of the current five, and advance-purchase, one-way fares will increase to $4.75 from the current $4 in Zone 1, and cost 25 cents for each additional zone travelled.

Officials estimated $25 million in new revenue.

Now these increases will not be a huge burden but the devil is in the details. When the smart cards are implemented in 2014, riders such as myself will have to pay for EACH RIDE. You might ask, "What do mean by for EACH RIDE?" Here is what I mean. I will use my riding habits to illustrate this "hidden" cost. I take the 21 to a meeting each morning, I use my monthly Transpass once. Then I take the El back to work and use the SAME Transpass I already paid for, no extra money out of my pocket. After work, I take the EL downtown using the SAME Transpass and when I go back to West Philly, I again use the SAME Transpass. You see, I have not paid more then the monthly fare which is currently $83.

The current transpass system rewards frequent users of SEPTA.
NOW under the proposed "smart card" system, I would be CHARGED FOR EACH RIDE!!
So EACH of my 4 trips EACH day would be deducted from my "smart card". This system will penalize folks like me who depend on SEPTA to get around. This is a backdoor fare increase for most riders of SEPTA. This issue needs to be addressed at the public hearings. SEPTA is holding a public meeting at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. in Philadelphia (SEPTA headquarters, 1234 Market St., April 17),
I plan to be there and you should go as well.

NOTE ! 8:13 am March 19.
I may be mistaken!
I was told that each ride on smart card w not be charged if on the same day!
I will check!'
SEE YOU APRIL 17th!