SEPTA increased fares across metro and regional rails lines in September, affecting thousands of people in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
Fares across all services increased by an average of 21.5%, according to SEPTA’s website, while regional rail trips in particular have seen increases ranging from $1 to $2 per trip.

This fare increase followed months of back-and-forth between the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia governments, and SEPTA services.
After SEPTA planned to implement numerous drastic changes and cuts to railway programs, local leaders, such as Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and House Majority leader Matt Bradford pushed back, forcing the agency to scale back its proposed cuts. But these compromises still left students and commuters facing steeper fares and fewer options for affordable travel.

According to SEPTA rider Emerson Pelzer ‘27, who takes SEPTA regional rail from Philadelphia to Baldwin, these increases could be a major problem for those who are not eligible for student passes.

“Regular tickets can already be a big expense for some people,” said Pelzer. “[Public transportation] is supposed to be accessible for everybody.”
Carolina Cuevas ‘28, another student who takes SEPTA regional rail from Malvern to Bryn Mawr, shared that she has noticed the new prices, especially since she doesn’t have a student pass.

“It’s disappointing that this will disproportionately affect people who already struggle to afford public transportation,” Cuevas said.

SEPTA does offer free and discounted student passes to students who reside 1.5 miles or more away from their school. This provides an effective and cost efficient way for students to have access to public transportation, but students need to have a pass in their possession in order to receive the benefit.

SEPTA service fare changes were also coupled with more inconveniences, such as passengers being incorrectly charged $2.90 instead of $2.50 for bus fares. SEPTA took accountability for the issue and has vowed to refund customers who have been affected.

Students have continued to express discontent with the inconsistency of SEPTA’s actions, such as Dani Loveman ‘27, who takes regional rail to Baldwin from Philadelphia.

“There’s been so much back and forth with these cancellations,” Loveman said. “It’s super hard to follow and makes travelling really unreliable for so many people who need their commutes to be consistent.”

Others are similarly troubled by the disruption to their regular routines. Clara Gutstadt ‘26 regularly commutes to school from Philadelphia with SEPTA’s student pass, so the price increase wasn’t a problem for her. However, she noticed that rail lines have become much less consistent.

“A lot of the time, they’ll cancel my train and I won’t have another way to get to school,” Gutstadt said.