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Someone’s Gotta Pay For Those SmartCards: SEPTA Fares To Go Up This Summer, Make You Carry Change

septa logoYou know, if you want nice things, someone’s gotta pay for them. So it only makes sense that SEPTA would hike their fares up a little bit as they get ready to (finally) unveil the new SmartCard system later this year, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.

According to the Inquirer, SEPTA fares will go up only July 1st for the first time since 2010, and the $2 fare for bus/broad street/trolley/el travel will go up for the first time since 2000. There’s a whole chart over at that Inquirer link, but it basically works like this:

>>> The current, nice, round, even, $2 fare that gets you travel in the city will be raised to $2.25 in July, and then raised again to $2.50 when the SmartCard system kicks in
>>> Tokens, which are currently $1.55 and would be eliminated under the SmartCard system, will hop up to $1.80 this summer
>>> Inner city weekly and monthly transpasses jump from $22 to $24.50 and $83 to $92, respectively
>>> And Regional Rail monthly pass costs jump across the board, along with a plan to cut the seven zones down to six and shift about 40 of the 150 rail stations into new zones

And what’s the result? “SEPTA expects the fare hikes will generate about $25 million in new revenue, but that would still leave a $38 million hole in its $1.4 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.” Award winning.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 14th, 2013 at 12:30 pm.

  • friendlynerd

    Wow, if they kill zone 1 like they’re talking that’s an extra $36 per month for someone commuting from East Falls, which is serious bullshit considering how close it is. And that’s at current rates for zone 2, which no doubt will rise on top of it.

  • friendlynerd

    Scratch that, an extra $44 with the new rates. You know, a tiny 48% hike. NBD.

  • mindy early

    If you look at the link to the Inquirer article, they specify which zone is being cut – it’s Zone 5. From the article: “On July 1, under the current plan, Regional Rail fare zones will change, with the current seven reduced to six. Zone 5, which includes distant suburban stations such as Yardley, Doylestown, Malvern, and Downingtown, would be eliminated.”

  • friendlynerd

    I misunderstood the article at first – thinking “center city” zone and zone 1 were the same thing, and they’re not. It appears my freakout was misguided.

  • barrygster

    Actually the additional fare revenue goes into the operating budget, not the capital budget. It’s paying for annual raises, healthcare and pensions for SEPTA TWU workers, not the fare system.