This promises to be a good week for riders of public transit in our region and throughout the state. It appears that the predictable, dedicated funding that our transit agencies so badly need—and for which we transit advocates have been fighting for years—is to be part of the state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.
If that comes to pass—and if the amount of dedicated funding is sufficient to both keep SEPTA alive and to allow for some modernization and expansion of the system—we will have to thank Governor Rendell and the General Assembly and, in particular, the legislative leaders in this effort, Senator Vincent Fumo and Representative Dwight Evans.
But, for all our happiness, one thing sticks in the craw of advocates for public transit, SEPTA’s short sighted and unfair decision to eliminate transfers. And, when that policy goes into effect on August 1, it should, and I suspect, will cause an enormous outcry
We can understand why SEPTA had to raise fares on July first. In the years since fares on SEPTA had gone up, the other major transit agencies around the country had raised their fares at least once and, in some cases, two or three times. And there is no question that the price the General Assembly demanded for new state support for public transit was that the riders pay more.
But while SEPTA fares on average increased 11% on July 9, fares for those who use transfers will increase 36% on August 1. That is unfair to those riders, who are mostly school children and workers who can’t get where they need to go on one bus or train. And it is counter-productive as well. Talk to transit executive and experts around the country and they will tell you that transit rider-ship goes up when people find the system easy to use. The ideal is for every rider to get to their destination with one trip. If that isn’t possible, then riders should be able to transfer easily and cheaply. When transfers are hard and expensive, then rider-ship is bound to go down.
So eliminating transfers is not going to bring SEPTA all that much more money as some regular riders will find alternatives to public transit. And the occasional rider, who might eventually become a regular rider, will be put off from even trying SEPTA.
SEPTA has argued that eliminating transfers will encourage riders to buy a weekly transpass, which might save them money in the long run. While that is a solution for some riders, it doesn’t help the occasional rider or the rider who takes SEPTA three days a week. And it creates a burden for low-wage workers who can’t easily afford to buy a weekly pass.
SEPTA has also claimed that the transfer system is cumbersome for riders and expensive for SEPTA operate. There is some truth to that claim. But pretty soon the whole issue will go away. SEPTA has committed to finally installing an electronic fare system in the next few years. And now that the new dedicated funding from state should end the practice of using capital funds to pay for operating expenses, we can expect that system to actually go into place. Once the electronic fare system is here—and both transfers and cash payments go the way of the horse-drawn trolley—transfers will be easy for both riders and SEPTA to manage.
This month the SEPTA Board will act to prevent the doomsday budget from going into effect in September. The Pennsylvania Transit Coalition calls on the SEPTA Board to also stop the elimination of transfers on August 1. Instead, SEPTA should make an effort, which we will join, to encourage riders to buy transpasses and to find a way to subsidize those transpasses for school children.
To support our efforts, we are asking member of the public to contact the SEPTA Board and demand that transfers stay in effect. You can contact SEPTA at 215-580-7800 or online at http://www.septa.org/inside/customer_service/cs_survey/service_info.html. And you can sign our on-line petition demanding that transfers continue at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ptc2
Marc Stier is a member of the Steering Committee of the Pennsylvania Transit Coalition. More information about the coalition can be found at http://www.patransit.org