SEPTA Faces Class-Action Lawsuit over Price Hike

Philadelphia Transit Unions Go On Strike — Source: William Thomas Cain / Getty

SEPTA is facing a class-action lawsuit from a prominent Philadelphia attorney due to their price increases.

SEPTA announced drastic cutbacks to services throughout the region earlier this year but was later forced by a Philly judge to reverse course. SEPTA complied to the court order, but not without raising fares dramatically over the course of reinstallation. For bus and subway, riders are paying $2.90 for a one-way trip, up 40 cents prior to September 2025. Regional Rail fares increased by $1-$2 per trip, with specific Zone 1 fares increasing from $4 to $5, and some routes seeing larger increases.

These fare increases has prompted George Bochetto to sue SEPTA, filing a class-action lawsuit on Wednesday, naming as specific plaintiff Lance Haver, a frequent rider of the 2, 27, 32, and 45 bus routes as well as the Broad Street Line and Market-Frankford Line, as well as, in class-action lingo, “all others similarly situated.”

Bochetto argues that the fare hike amounts to “an arbitrary and capricious action taken without any concern for its riders or mission and because SEPTA failed to conduct statutorily required public hearings in accordance with its enabling legislation.”

“For many — particularly those in the low-income brackets and minorities — imposing daunting fare increases is the functional equivalent of rolling back services: it does no good to have a service one cannot afford to pay for,” Bochetto continues. “These Fare Increases are just as illegal as the service cuts, and this suit seeks justice for SEPTA’s riders in the form of a refund of the increased fares.”

The suit seeks unspecified compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs. SEPTA has yet to comment on this latest lawsuit.

Bochetto previously sued SEPTA over the schedule changes, and the judge sided with him. Can he do it again?

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