SEPTA tells riders to hold off on buying weekly and monthly passes after judge blocks fare hike
A Philly judge ordered SEPTA to halt planned fare increases and service cuts, saying, "everything must stop.”
SEPTA is telling riders to hold off on purchasing monthly and weekly passes for September while the agency works to accommodate a court order that blocked its planned fare increases.
“We still have work to do to get the increases reversed,” transit agency spokesperson Andrew Busch said Saturday, “so if they buy today, it will be at the higher rate. We will have everything reversed in time for Monday.”
Monthly and weekly passes go on sale before the first of each month, and some people had already bought them at the higher rate.
SEPTA is working on a plan to provide refunds, though it was not immediately clear when those might be offered.
The agency’s priority, Busch said, is to make sure that computer and payment systems, which had been programmed to update to the newer rates, are reverted to administer the previous fees as of Monday.
“We don’t want anybody to get stuck paying a higher rate,” Busch said, adding that SEPTA will continue to share and post news about the situation.
State lawmakers’ ongoing battle over SEPTA funding has forced the agency to enact major service cuts, with more possible.
An average 21.5% fare increase was to take effect Monday, but some monthly pass customers noticed the higher price earlier ― a quirk of SEPTA’s implementation of its doomsday budget, which includes the fare increase and service cuts.
On Friday, Common Pleas Court Judge Sierra Thomas-Street ordered SEPTA to halt the scheduled fare increases and service cuts to Regional Rail, telling the transit agency attorney that “everything must stop.”
“Status quo must be maintained,” Thomas-Street said.
The parties are scheduled to meet in court on Thursday, when Thomas-Street will consider whether to make the order permanent and expand it to include reversing cuts already in place.
Monthly passes traditionally go on sale on the 20th of each month, and most people like to have them in hand before the beginning of the next month.
Midday service was to have been trimmed starting Tuesday on all Regional Rail lines.
SEPTA had warned of possible overcrowding on buses, leading to more bypassed stops. Reduced subway and trolley runs could bring crush-level crowds, while buses, subways, and trolleys would come less frequently during off-peak times.
SEPTA has a $213 million operating deficit for the 2026 fiscal year, which began July 1.