SEPTA makes changes to policies

By Lauren McGlone
Collegian Editor
August 29, 2007

Serving five counties, SEPTA has made changes in rider policies, some causing controversy in the city of Philadelphia.

In an Aug. 14 announcement, Philadelphia middle and high school students will no longer have to pay their way to and from school. All students in grades seven through 12 who live more than 1.5 miles away from their public, private, parochial or charter schools will be offered free transit passes for the upcoming school year. This will cost the state $17 million each year with SEPTA paying three million dollars annually to the school district. Over 32,000 SEPTA riders each day consist of Philadelphia students.

In a July 30 announcement, SEPTA stated that all persons 65 years old and older will be offered free travel services on buses, trolleys, and subway lines 24-hours-a-day.

Along with this change, effective Aug. 1, SEPTA declared that 60-cent transfers would no longer be available, due to lowered rates of paper transfer use. SEPTA encouraged those who regularly use the transfers to take advantage of the weekly or monthly passes.

Without transfers, patrons would be required to pay $2 each time using a SEPTA bus, trolley or subway, or use a new token each ride.

Sophomore communication major Stephanie Huhn commutes to La Salle University from Northeast Philadelphia via SEPTA.

“Getting rid of the transfers means that I will have to buy a transpass, preferably monthly because I use SEPTA to go to work and school all year round,” Huhn said. “So $80 a month that I put toward buying a transpass equals $960 [a year].”

The City of Philadelphia challenged this particular policy change, declaring the end of transfers “unfair to those who can least afford it,” according to abc.com.

Due to the lawsuit by the city, Judge Gary DeVito of the Common Pleas Court ordered SEPTA to reinstate the paper transfers August 17, claiming the policy did not take into account the effect on low-income communities.

According to its website, a SEPTA statement asserted that recent policy changes regarding transfers have been fair and that the ruling would be immediately appealed.

Aside from the complaints regarding the abolishment of transfers, some Philadelphia commuters are dissatisfied with SEPTA as a whole.

“In my opinion,” said La Salle student Paula DeAnnis, “SEPTA has been getting progressively greedy with its fare hikes, reduced trains, buses and the service is not the greatest. Their printed schedule is often not adhered to. The customer service component is virtually nonexistent…Several of the buses rattle, screech and smoke as if they have mechanical problems that need to be addressed. I do not have very many positive things to say about our public transportation here in Philadelphia.”

DeAnnis, an Organizational Dynamics major, offers suggestions for SEPTA to improve service to Philadelphia commuters.

“In order for SEPTA to improve, it needs to seriously rethink the elimination of transfers.  The impact on the city’s residents would be irreparable,” DeAnnis said.

“Also, immediate action needs to be taken regarding the maintenance and repair of the vehicles on the city’s routes.  Safety issues arise when buses are kept dirty and in poor repair.  Lastly, some, not all, of the SEPTA operators would benefit from participating in customer service training in order to better handle the multitude of challenges that present themselves when working with the public.”

mcglonel1@lasalle.edu