Here Is The Post Where You Can Complain About The SEPTA Fare Hike.
Next year, tokens will go from $1.45 to $1.60, and a weekly TransPass from $20.75 to about $22.75. At this point, this injury has been insulted so much that we can’t even feel it anymore. Whatever.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
All I can say is that’s friggin’ terrible timing! I would have announced it either before or during the strike for the simple fact that now people will blame the unions for it, despite the fact it has been in the works for years.
That aside, this is bull! It’s already an arm to get around here, its getting to be an arm AND a leg! I take the train daily to work, so right now, a car is finally starting to look affordable with the way this is going…
November 10th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
@Larry the thousands of dollars I have spent in parking violations alone is not worth having a car in Philadelphia.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Waaaa! $1.60 to get from one end of the city to the other is a deal. Try taking a cab that far amd let me know how much it costs.
Other major cities are up to $3 a ride now. I’ll gladly pay the $1.60.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
http://trimet.org/fares/fareless.htm
swoon!
November 10th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Can anyone explain why you’d have to take at least 15 rides a week to make the TransPass worth the price? It only works out if you have to take two modes of transit per commute.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
@philthydan: yes, Septa is a decent price when you’re going across the whole city. But for someone going a stop or 2 on the subway, or a mile or so on the bus (as many people do) it blows.
Better transit systems take into account how far you are going – just another massive failure on the part of Septa.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
The minimum fare on the DC Metro at peak hours is $1.65.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
@Larry, you work? You also realize that timing the announcement so public opinion will put the blame on the TWU could well be what SEPTA’s management wanted to happen. I mean, you’re aware there’s a TWU representing SEPTA workers, then there’s a SEPTA management structure which determines things like fares and schedules, right?
@arcticsplash, passes, not just with SEPTA but most transit systems I can think of, assume you use the system a lot more than a one mode 5 round trips a week. I grab a monthly transpass and usually I’m $10-$12 ahead by month’s end. Of course, since I bought a pass on the 31st, I’m getting hosed this month, maybe I’ll do a SEPTA pub crawl to force my money’s worth out of it and boost the local bars who lost business on account of the strike.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
get me a fare card system, or at least token machines at every subway stop
The rate itself is not too bad at the discount. SEPTA needs to move beyond its arbitrary and punitive transfer charge: you can go 12.5 miles on one fare on the 23, yet get charged to transfer multiple routes travelling much shorter distances.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
@arcticsplasher: generally speaking a TransPass is designed for those using two (or more) modes of transit per commute.
If someone just travels on one bus twice a day (back/forth), they should get a 10-pack of tokens, save $5.50 off base fare and call it a day.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
@Black(jack)Taco: hang onto your November TransPass – it’w worth $20 towards a future monthly TransPass purchase (as long as you didn’t use it on the Regional Rails during the strike)…
November 10th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
@friendlynerd, can you show me a pro-rated fare system that is actually cheaper than SEPTAs? Nate pointed out the DC Metro and the only other transit system with a far system like that I’m familiar with is San Francisco’s BART, and it ain’t cheaper than the Metro IIRC. Are you talking about Chicago? I would like to know what better transit systems you’re talking about with these discounts for the people who can’t make the equivalent from Walnut to City Hall on foot.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
@DJDrake, awesome, did not know that. Thanks.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
@Black(jack)Taco, et al: here’s the skinny on getting your non-punched TransPass refunds
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20091110_Two_breaks_for_commuters.html
November 10th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
@friendlynerd
I am from chicago and they definitely do not have a pro-rated fare system by distance traveled. The only places I have been where I have seen this are on the patco, the septa regional rail and the san francisco bart.
Septa does offer tansfers for I think 65 cents if you are using more than one mode of transport to get to your destination.
“Better transit systems take into account how far you are going – just another massive failure on the part of Septa.”
This is a bold comment. can you back it up?
November 10th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
@philthydan: transfers are 75 cents – and you can also re-transfer for an additional 75 cents – basically travel three modes of transportation one way for just $3.50 (or less, if you use a token for base fare)
November 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
SEPTA budgeted for a 9.5% increase in REVENUE not fares. So any fare hike could be less or more than what you are stating.
$1.45 is really a good deal; a 10% hike is not unreasonable. As for a zone based system, it has trade-offs. I personally favor the simplicity of a flat fare over any minor savings to the rider. Anyway to deal with zones we would need complicated new ticket machines everywhere, or with a new card based system, need to swipe out when exiting. Not worth it, there is a reason it is a flat fare in NYC too.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
@philthydan: Sure. Take a trip to Washington DC and ride the Metro system sometime. You get a card from a machine – of which every station has at least one – that you pre-load with however much money you want to. Swipe it when you get on. Swipe it when you get off. The distance you go reflects how much you pay.
Meanwhile, the ride is on a clean car, arriving at a clean station that’s clearly marked and understandable for anyone.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
@black: It’s been a few years since I rode another city’s transit system. I just looked at the one I’m most familiar with, and no – it’s not cheaper than Septa. Didn’t realize that. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, however judgy as it came off. For the record I love walking – but there are times, especially when cold/raining that I’d like to take the BSL one stop and I’m quite sure I’m not the only one.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@friendlynerd:
Yes, but I live in DC at the moment, and I pay 2.80 each way on my commute everyday. And this is nowhere near a maximum-distance commute, which can be up around 4.00 each way.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
@Nate: hm, point taken. As I said, it’s been a few years. But clearly the high-quality experience has stayed with me.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
poulation of washinton dc: 591,833
population of philadelphia: 1,447,395
Can you imagine the clusterfuck with three times the number of riders on the train system daily? And the fair increases that would go along with implementing such a drastic change?
I would gladly pay $1.45 to ride 6 blocks in the cold rain and snow.
The metro is widely known to be one of the cleanest and most efficient publitc transit systems in the country, I can’t argue that. But philadelphia has one of the largest, and oldest transit systems in the country.
There is plenty to bitch about with septa, no doubt. But fare prices are not one of them, in my opinion.
November 10th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
@Nate – the DC Metro is carpeted and air conditioned. The escalators work. Graffiti non-existant.
November 10th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
The DC Metro is also constantly millions of dollars in the hole and is way more expensive. And if you think escalators work, you’ve clearly never lived here. Anyway, you don’t get something for nothing, was my point.
November 10th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
The DC Metro is from a smaller city and carries more daily passengers. From wiki:
Metro is the second-busiest rapid transit system in the United States in number of passenger trips, after the New York City Subway.[4] There were 215.3 million trips, or 727,684 trips per weekday, on Metrorail in fiscal year 2008.[5] In June 2008, Metro set a new monthly ridership record with 19,729,641 trips, or 798,456 per weekday.[5]
November 10th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I did live there, took the Metro roundtrip from Foggy Bottom to L’Enfant Plaza every day for three years. I also took Amtrak back to Philly on the weekends. You instantly knews you weren’t in Kansas anymore when you got on El at 30th St. In winter, the Walnut-Locust subway station looks like the set of the Thriller video, only more rats and a greater threat of random violence.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
@Timo,
The media was throwing around the number of somewhere near 950,000 daily trips on SEPTA, so someone is wrong here.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
@barryg:
Those numbers (for both cities) only count the subway/heavy rail system, I think.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
@Nate, gotcha, the SEPTA number is bus, trolley and subway; the DC is just the Metro.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
i didnt read any of the comments, but they better install some sort of metrocard system to coincide with this hike
November 11th, 2009 at 3:39 am
SEPTA is being controlled by our new government and they are really looking at the big picture money is the root to most evil in this world, we all need a change but when is it going to happen.
First 100 days in office and President Barack Obama is really getting hammered with so much information. Who knows what is going to happen next but we need our troops to come home and look at the economic situation America is in SEPTA is a small piece to the puzzle so just relax and join them what can we do as people okay I have an idea lets start at the end of DEC no use SEPTA and see if they change there rates.
HAHA
November 11th, 2009 at 11:50 am
A fare price should reflect the quality of the transit system. The DC subway system, unlike Philly’s, is extensive (you are never more than a few blocks from a subway stop), runs on time, and runs frequently. I’d have no problem at all with an even higher fare price if our public transit system was able to rival that of DC’s.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Stacker, there are these things called buses. You’re never more than a couple of blocks from them. They feed into the subway and trolley system.
Now those buses need a better design that discourages the creation of choke point crowds in the first third of the bus, maybe by losing the back riser, but that’s a problem with the equipment, not your inaccurate problem with the system’s coverage.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Taco, I’m well aware but I was specifically referring to the subway system in my post. Buses are all well and good but they’re seldom on time and take a good deal of time to get from one place to another once you’re actually on board. Throw in a transfer or two and you’ve got a pretty long trip when compared to a straight shot or one transfer subway trip. And by the way, D.C. has just as extensive a bus system as Philly too; oh yeah and it’s cleaner and cheaper.