FREE TRANSIT

Philly Gives City Workers Free Transit. Can Other Cities Follow?

It's sure to be a boon for SEPTA, the environment, and city employees’ quality of life, but can it be a model for other cities?

12:00 AM EDT on September 7, 2023

The City of Philadelphia will spend $18 million over the next two years to give more than 22,000 public employees “all access” transit passes on SEPTA. It’s sure to be a boon for SEPTA ridership, the environment, and city employees’ quality of life, but can it last?

And can — and should — other cities follow suit?

The pandemic decimated transit ridership in most parts of the world, leaving cash-strapped transit agencies struggling with a worst case scenario: Low ridership means loss of farebox revenue, which can lead to service cuts, begetting even lower ridership, leading to more service cuts. And so on … until the so-called “transit death spiral” gets to the very bottom.

Philadelphia’s commitment to SEPTA won’t solve the $1.6-billion agency’s deeper fiscal problems, but Philadelphia’s Mayor Jim Kenney had other things on his mind — including filling more than 5,700 vacancies in the city government.

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