Title
Thanking SEPTA for expanding its high fare gate pilot program to combat fare evasion by installing 100 full length fare gates at nine SEPTA stations across the City of Philadelphia.
Body
WHEREAS, According to data from SEPTA, the estimated fare evasion rate is 18 percent, with 111,230 passengers per day out of nearly 34 million passengers annually not paying for their ride, roughly the equivalent of the seating capacity of Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park combined; and
WHEREAS, SEPTA loses $181,248 per day, for over $55 million annually from fare evasion; and
WHEREAS, Fare evasion is highest on SEPTA's heavy rail systems, with the Market-Frankford Line and Broad Street Subway experiencing over 40,000 daily fare evasions for over 12 million trips per year, costing SEPTA more than $2 million annually in lost revenue; and
WHEREAS, Some fare evasions are captured on camera and reviewed during video audits, but cameras are not available over every single fare gate in the system, limiting their effectiveness at capturing the full picture of systemwide fare evasion; and
WHEREAS, At 86 percent, North Philadelphia Station has the highest fare evasion rate across the system according to turnstile data counts. Somerset Station in Kensington is a distant second at 68 percent, with 8th-Market, Allegheny, and Walnut-Locust Stations featuring among the higher offenders for fare evasion; and
WHEREAS, 15th St./City Hall Station contains the highest number of observed evasions, with over 4,000 captured by SEPTA's 2023 fare evasion study; and
WHEREAS, While bypassing the ADA accessibility gate becomes an inordinately common cause of fare evasion in the mid-afternoon, hopping or sliding between the turnstile is consistently the most common means by which fares are evaded on SEPTA transit; and
WHEREAS, Evasion rates are at their highest after 6:00pm, however, total evasions are highest during the 3:00pm hour; and
WHEREAS, SEPTA sought to mitigate fare ev...
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