SEPTA creates difficulties for some commuters

By Jen McShane
Collegian Staff
February 7, 2007

La Salle, being in Philadelphia, allows students an easy way to commute: SEPTA. We have almost all used SEPTA in one way or another. Whether it’s taking the subway to South Street or grabbing a bus to the nearest Wal-Mart, SEPTA proves to be the best way for La Salle students to travel around and enjoy the city.

However, there are students at La Salle who travel via SEPTA every day. These are the commuters, and while SEPTA proves very useful to the commuter’s journey to the city, it is debatable if SEPTA is the best and cheapest way for commuters to travel back and forth to school.

SEPTA offers discounts to some colleges through a University Pass Program. However, at the current time, the only schools on that list are Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania. One would think that with La Salle being so close to the Olney Transportation Center it should be on that list as well.

If traveling by subway, buses or trolleys, the one-way fare is $2. For an entire week going back and forth, the expense would be $20. That adds up to $80 a month, no small fare for the average college student. Throw in the addition of zone fares at $.50 or transfers at $.60 per trip, and the bill for the week can reach $25 and above.

SEPTA does offer monthly passes for any transportation at $70 a month. These passes come with restrictions as to how far one can travel, what types of transportation can be utilized and what times of the day the pass can be used. Monthly passes would minimally help to save about $10 a month. Many people who travel daily on SEPTA use these monthly passes. However, there may be an even cheaper way to go.

For subway and buses, SEPTA offers tokens that cost $1.30 and can be used in place of passes and money. So instead of paying $20 a week in fares, the tokens would add up to $13 a week, a savings of $7. Over a month, this conserves $28, proving that tokens are cheaper than even monthly passes.

I hope this helps any commuters who find their bank accounts slowly depleting due to traveling costs or any other La Salle student who finds the lure of the city costing too much.

mcshanej2@lasalle.edu