SEPTA Launches 'Student Fare Compliance Initiative’

SEPTA Launches Student Fare Crackdown as Lost Revenue Mounts

SEPTA is moving to tighten enforcement against student fare evasion, launching a pilot program this week that officials say is aimed at restoring compliance — and millions in lost reimbursement dollars — without immediately criminalizing students.

The transit agency’s new Student Fare Compliance Initiative, developed with the School District of Philadelphia, begins as a pilot on May 22 and is expected to expand citywide in the fall. Under the plan, students who fail to swipe their school-issued fare cards will receive formal warnings, with repeat violations eventually carrying the possibility of citations and court referrals.

SEPTA says the problem has become financially serious. Chief Financial Officer Erik Johanson told The Philadelphia Inquirer the agency is losing an estimated $11 million a year because many students are riding without tapping their free student fare cards, which are required for SEPTA to receive state reimbursement.

“Many, many, many students are not swiping cards,” Johanson said. “Simultaneously, we do have a broader fare evasion problem on our system … but we believe we’ve observed this phenomenon where it has become almost cool to not swipe.”

The issue has grown since SEPTA shifted in 2021 from weekly student passes to fare cards issued once per school year. According to the reporting, SEPTA’s revenue from student swipes has fallen from $36.4 million in fiscal 2022 to a projected $23 million this year.

Officials say the decline does not appear to match actual student ridership, suggesting the losses are tied less to attendance and more to noncompliance, lost cards, and weak program administration. Some students, Johanson said, may not even realize they are violating the rules.

“We’re hearing that some kids don’t even realize that they need a card,” he said. “Some of them may not even realize that they’re fare-evading.”

During the pilot phase, no formal citations will be issued, according to Glenside Local’s summary of district guidance. But once the broader diversion program rolls out in the fall, a student’s third warning could lead to a citation and court referral. Students who cannot show valid school identification may face a theft-of-service citation immediately.

SEPTA and district officials insist the goal is intervention, not punishment. Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said the initiative is meant to encourage students to use transit “safely and responsibly,” while improving attendance. Deputy Transit Police Chief James Zuggi said SEPTA moved away from simply denying students rides because that approach risked keeping children from school.

“The aim,” Zuggi said, “is not to criminalize students.” But, he added, “we have to develop ways to make sure that we’re recouping that money.”

The coming months will test whether SEPTA can strike that balance: protecting access for student riders while enforcing a rule officials say has been ignored for too long.