SEPTA planning 15-cent fare boost, appealing court rule
SEPTA announced plans to raise the price of tokens and transfers by 15 cents on Oct. 1 to offset the $1.2 million it expects to lose monthly because a judge ruled that it could not eliminate 60-cent paper transfers.
SEPTA announced plans to raise the price of tokens and transfers by 15 cents on Oct. 1 to offset the $1.2 million it expects to lose monthly because a judge ruled that it could not eliminate 60-cent paper transfers.
SEPTA General Manager Faye Moore said yesterday that she was "personally offended" when the city "played the race card" in court last month by arguing that the transit agency unfairly burdened low-income and minority riders by terminating transfers, forcing them to pay two full fares.
Abolishing transfers, the city alleged, turned SEPTA's 11 percent fare boost into a 37-to-87 percent increase for those riders.
After Common Pleas Judge Gary DiVito ordered SEPTA to keep issuing transfers, Moore said she immediately told SEPTA's attorneys, "You will appeal that decision because it mischaracterized and put a shadow on our board of directors. You cannot leave that shadow hanging over their heads."
"As a minority person," Moore said yesterday, "I was personally offended because making this a black versus white issue is the most disgusting thing you can do."
She gave the Daily News three sheets of SEPTA statistics - on file with the federal government and with appeals court - showing that minority and non-minority routes are equally impacted by eliminating transfers.
Moore said federal regulations do not require SEPTA to consider riders' income levels when making fare decisions, and that economic impact is measured for predominantly minority versus non-minority routes - not for the number of riders who use them.
"Isn't that laughable?" said City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. last night. "We based our court case on the impact of eliminating transfers on real people, real riders, not on some concept of routes.
"We demonstrated to the court's satisfaction that the impact of eliminating transfers is disproportionate for low-income and minority riders. And it was up to the SEPTA board to fix that."
Diaz said the city supported SEPTA's plan to raise the price of $1.30 tokens and 60-cent transfers by 15 cents to spread its 11 percent fare increase among all riders.
"But SEPTA is saying, 'We're going day to day to see if any court makes a decision in our favor. If a court allows us to eliminate transfers, then we'll eliminate the increase in the price of tokens.' "
Instead, Diaz said, SEPTA should make the token and transfer price increases permanent and keep paper transfers until it has a cashless fare modernization program that relies on swiping an ATM-style smart card. SEPTA argues that as long as transfers are around and a cheaper deal, riders will choose them over weekly passes. The SEPTA board will consider the proposed 15-cent token and transfer hikes next Thursday.
SEPTA's appeal of the Common Pleas Court order to keep using paper transfers will be heard on Oct. 29. *
