holidays, or summer
Philadelphia gives students a transit pass that stops working at 8:00 PM, all weekend, and all summer. 31,600 students can’t get one at all.
A restructured deal between SEPTA and the School District can close a growing billing gap and give students a transit pass that works for their whole lives — not just their commute. It's a rare case where fixing an institutional problem and expanding a public benefit are the same thing.
K–12 · School days only · 1.5+ miles from school — the terms printed on the card today.
In students' words
“Because I only live 1.4 miles from school, I can't use the card and I have to pay for SEPTA. I usually ride my bike to school, but in the winter it's too cold.”RJBoys' Latin Charter
“I have required volunteer hours for my high school to graduate, and I am only available on weekends to do them, so to complete them I am paying for SEPTA.”YaniaWalter B. Saul High School
“I believe that expanding the outreach for student fares would encourage students to participate in more community-based services over the summer.”AyumiPrep Charter
From the campaign
Students making the case
Transit Forward Philadelphia and 5th Square, with the students this is about.
The Problem
The program today
The School District of Philadelphia contracts with SEPTA to provide Student Fare Cards to eligible students in grades 7–12 who live 1.5 miles or more from their school. Children under 12 already ride SEPTA free when accompanied by an adult, so the program targets secondary students.
The cards allow up to eight taps per school day between 5:30 AM and 8:00 PM. They do not work on weekends, holidays, or during the summer.
- 68,110 students are eligible under current rules
- ~31,600 additional secondary students are excluded solely because they live within 1.5 miles
- The annual cost is $29.1 million (FY25), funded through state education transportation dollars
A billing structure that isn't working
SEPTA bills SDP based on student tap data — the number of times students actually use their cards. But a significant number of students ride without tapping: they board through rear doors on buses, pass through open fare gates, or simply don't tap consistently.
SEPTA estimates it should be receiving approximately $35 million per year for student transportation. It currently bills approximately $24 million. That gap — about $11 million a year — is money SEPTA is effectively absorbing for service it's already providing.
Scroll the diagram sideways to read it.
This is not a question of fault.
Students are teenagers; consistent tap behavior is hard to enforce, especially on buses. Missed taps are a practical reality of running the transit system. But the financial consequences are real, and SEPTA has signaled the current arrangement can't continue.
The Solution
We propose restructuring the relationship between SEPTA and the School District around three changes:
Change 01
Replace tap-based billing with a flat annual payment.
SDP would pay SEPTA a negotiated flat fee, replacing a system where billing depends on students tapping their cards. This gives SEPTA revenue certainty and eliminates the gap caused by untapped rides.
Change 02
Expand pass hours to evenings and weekends.
Evening and weekend transit service runs well below capacity — the buses and trains are already running. Adding student riders off-peak has near-zero marginal cost for SEPTA. What that is worth in the contract is unsettled: SEPTA puts it at nothing, the School District at 20.6% — a range of $0 to about $6M.
Change 03
Expand eligibility to all grades 7–12 students.
Removing the 1.5-mile distance threshold would add approximately 31,600 students to the eligible pool. This is the piece that requires City Council action.
What Philadelphia spends on student transportation
The School District moves students by several modes, and their costs differ by more than an order of magnitude. Bars are drawn to the same scale.
| Transportation mode | Annual cost per student | vs. fare card |
|---|---|---|
| SEPTA Student Fare Card Restricted or unrestricted hours — the same price either way | 1.0x | |
| Flat Rate Stipend $150 / month | 2.3x | |
| Flat Rate Stipend $300 / month | 4.5x | |
| SDP Yellow School Bus | 6.5x | |
| SDP Contracted Cab Service | 31.9x |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
A student on a SEPTA fare card costs the district $662 per year; a student in a contracted cab costs $21,109 — nearly 32 times as much.
National Momentum
New York City: from the same problem to 24/7 access
Until this school year, NYC's 1.1 million public school students used Student MetroCards with the same restrictions Philadelphia has today — school-day hours only, no weekends, no summer. In 2024, the city and the MTA replaced those cards with Student OMNY cards valid 24/7/365. In 2020, New York also eliminated its distance-based eligibility rule.
Washington State: free transit for all youth
In 2022, Washington's Move Ahead Washington package allowed regional transit agencies to provide free transit to all riders 18 and younger. In the Seattle region, youth ride free with no time restrictions, no distance thresholds, and no school-day limitations.
Pennsylvania's own model: Senior Fare
SEPTA's Senior Fare program provides free rides to anyone 65 and older, funded by the Pennsylvania Lottery through a formula tied to overall ridership — not per-trip billing. We're proposing to make student fares work the way senior fares already do.
The coalition
Supported by 25 organizations
Schools, youth programs, neighborhood groups, and transit advocates across the region are asking SEPTA and the School District to fix student fares together.
All supporting organizations
- 5th Square Advocacy
- Acts of Faith – Care Management
- Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
- Bicycle Coalition Youth Council
- Clean Air Council
- Delaware County Community College
- Education Plus Health
- Family Association
- Fanny Jackson Coppin
- Friends of H.A. Brown Elementary School
- GAMP
- Hunting Park CRC
- Hunting Park United Association
- Independence Charter School PTA
- McCall School Advisory Council
- Minds Matter
- New Options More Opportunities
- Norris Square Neighborhood Project
- Northern Children's Services
- Open Door Abuse Awareness & Prevention
- Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative
- SEPTA Citizen Advisory Committee
- SEPTA Youth Advisory Council
- SquashSmarts
- Transit Forward Philadelphia
The SEPTA Youth Advisory Council and SEPTA Citizen Advisory Committee, both SEPTA-affiliated bodies, have endorsed this proposal. The ask is for SEPTA and the School District to renegotiate together.