Good afternoon. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes. My name is Autumn Fingerhood. Good afternoon, members of City Council, Councilmember Landau. I love you. My name is Autumn Fingerhood. I've lived in Fox Chase in Northeast Philadelphia for more than 5 years. I'm a stadium worker and a 6 proud member of UNITE HERE Local 7 274. 8 But most importantly, I 9 am a mother, a mother of a 10 Philadelphia public school student. 11 My daughter Liv is a junior at Arts 12 Academy at Rush. She has been 13 riding SEPTA since 6th grade. 14 She's a vocal major. She plays 15 field hockey and she works a part- 16 time job after school and on 17 weekends. Because I work evenings 18 and weekends and because I am a 19 single parent and have been since 20 she was 4 years old. I can't always drive her where she needs to go. We depend on SEPTA to get her to school, home, from practice games and to and from work. 90 a ride, multiple trips and connections add up quickly. What might seem like a small expense can become $15 a week, $60 a month or hundreds of dollars over the course of a year. In a household, balancing food, utilities and rising costs, that is real money. Sometimes it's money simply that I don't have, that parents don't have. But what hurts the most as a mother is seeing my daughter hesitate to even ask me for bus fare. She sees how hard I work. She knows what our family is trying to manage. And knowing how hard she works, balancing school, her activities and her job, it breaks my heart that she sometimes feels like she has to use her own earnings just to get where she needs to go. Universal student fares are about so much more than saving money. They are about dignity, they're about access and they're about opportunity. When students can get around Philadelphia without having to worry about whether they or their parents can afford another fare, they have more freedom to participate in their communities, volunteer work, take care of siblings, pursue their interests and simply be young people. And for families like mine, a pass that works on weekends and throughout the summer would make an enormous difference. When transportation costs are covered, that money doesn't just disappear from our budget. It stays with our family. Maybe instead of worrying about another SEPTA fare, Liv and I can go to dinner, get sushi, go to our favorite dessert spot, see a horror movie or spend an afternoon at a museum. I'd like to share a story of how not having a Student Fare card impacted us over the summer. Liv and I had a beautiful random Wednesday outing over the summer. We live really close to the Fox Chase Regional Rail. I had off this day and wanted to spend the day with her. We walked to the Regional and I got off at Jefferson Station and we walked over to Chinatown. We had sushi and went to our favorite dessert spot, A La Mousse. We walked around the city and I taught her how to use the Regional Rail. I told her about all the stops and connections. When we traveled home on the train, she asked me how much it was. $24 roundtrip for both of us. She said that was a little pricey. But I told her it was actually less than driving there and paying for parking and gas. She loves the Regional Rail. But because of the cost of it, she isn't able to afford it. Universal student fares would help so many kids to travel out of the neighborhood and experience more culture. Chinatown and the Fashion District, also known as The Gallery to us old heads, are two of her favorite places. Those are small things, but they're the moments I get to have with my daughter. And I just wanted to add, there are a lot of students, children in our city that will never get to have small moments like that because of where they live. There are children that will never be able to leave their neighborhoods. Me and my daughter, we have that privilege, but there's plenty of students that do not have that privilege because of money. And our students should never have to suffer in our city because they can't afford transportation.
That is not okay. So I don't think the question should be whether Philadelphia students deserve universal student fares. I think the question is, why wouldn't we do everything we can to invest in our children. Our students are working hard, they're going to school, going to practice, working jobs, caring for their families and preparing for their futures. They deserve a city that invests in them every single day. As a mother, I will continue to show up for my daughter and for the students of Philadelphia. I hope City Council will show up for them too. Please fund universal student fares 365 days a year. Thank you.
Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Will Tung. I'm a volunteer with 5th Square Advocacy. I'm a Southwest Philly resident and proud husband and parent to an 8th grader who goes to school here in Center City. Her school gave her the Student Fare card during school days. It's worth its weight in gold to our family. It provides my daughter with freedom and empowerment, allowing her to hang out after school with her friends and choose when to come home. But you know the story of Cinderella. The carriage is just magnificent. But when the clock strikes midnight, it turns into a pumpkin. So every night, every weekend, every summer, the clock strikes, in this case 8:00 p.m., for my child and the card turns into a pumpkin. It becomes not worth the plastic it's made of. Last summer we considered summer camps for my daughter. She wanted to go to Towey all the way in South Kensington. That's where all her friends are. It would have meant a long ride on the El from our house in Southwest Philly. With me or my wife taking her to make sure she got there safely, the camp would have cost us $325 for the six weeks and the SEPTA fare would have cost us $348. It would have been $23 more than the cost of the camp. We wound up opting out of this camp up in Kensington. But I just want to drive home that developing a habit of using transit as a youth translates into adults who become transit riders for life. And the cards are already in our kids backpacks. You know, on the weekends, at nights, in the summers, let's turn them on 24/7, 365. I also want to point out that we're not like -- many, many other cities have turned on the Student Fare cards 24/7, 365. I have friends who live in New York. They have Student Fare cards that work year-round and on nights and weekends too. Cities like Baltimore, Houston, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Denver, the entire state of Connecticut, Sacramento, Los Angeles County. It goes on and on. Cities that are richer than Philly and cities that are poorer than Philly have all had these Student Fare cards turned on. Also, 2.90 a ride here in Philadelphia, that's among the most expensive in the country. And last time I checked, Philadelphians are not among the richest people in the country. So let's think about equity here. And also, from this hearing I was surprised to learn that SEPTA Key Advantage cards cost basically the same, like we're paying the same $88.60 as most employers. And the City of Philadelphia is paying for SEPTA Key Advantage cards. But SEPTA Key Advantage cards work 24/7, 365. Like, why are we paying more for an inferior product. So thank you. Yeah, that's all I have. Thank you so much.
Good afternoon, Chair Driscoll and Vice- Chair Young. I'm Jon Geeting. I'm an Executive Committee member with Transit Forward Philly. You've heard a lot already about why this change would matter for students and their families. I was going to present some independent estimates of the costs, but it's a little awkward because we heard some other numbers today that were much higher than what we had prepared. But I can share a little about what we have. And yeah, really more of kind of the open questions we have that I think, you know, City Councilmembers and staff could help us answer to get a better understanding of what resources are actually needed to make this happen. So thanks to some numbers that the Transit coalition received from a Council office here, the School District already contracts with SEPTA for a student pass. 5 from school. And at the time, the estimates we got they said it cost about $29 million a year paid with state education transportation dollars. 52,563 of the students had been assigned a card in 2024. That's about 77% of who is eligible. And then of those, only 32,067 were actually using one, which is about 47% of everybody eligible. So when I heard the District, you know, Superintendent Watlington and Erik Johanson talking about some of the estimates for these, I'd love it if you all could ask for them to provide the detailed assumptions behind some of that, because San Francisco I think just expanded their Muni pass to students for like $3 million to $6 million extra a year. We just heard this would cost $64 million. I think there's some skepticism about the numbers warranted here and seeing exactly how they each arrived at their assumptions about this would be really helpful because I think we've been operating under the idea that this was a lot more affordable than we just heard it was here today. 5 from school. We think that they probably ride a little bit less, but then, you know, there's a few different -- so there's a few different parts to this, right. Evenings and weekends, we've heard some disputed numbers on that. 6% discount for the restricted pass. And if you got rid of the evening and weekend restrictions, their discount would go away. I've also heard from SEPTA that because evenings and weekend service is so undersubscribed, there's not as many riders as like at rush hour, that it might cost SEPTA nothing to add them. So on the one hand, nothing. On the other hand, $6 million. That seems like something we should try to figure out completely. And then covering the additional 31,600 students who live within the mile-and-a-half line, you know, today the program spends about 64% of its theoretical maximum if every eligible student all got the cards and they all rode every day, the state would be forced to spend, you know, more on that, but we're not approaching that even. And they're charging $88 a pass even if the student rides once. So we got to get this sorted out. I feel like trips that are being covered by that $88 that are not being served, SEPTA is getting paid for right now and how much money is left to actually cover the population. I think we can get at this. So the Transit Coalition had a few asks that we wanted to see if you would all consider modeling. One is making the student pass work just like the senior pass does. They're not built by trips. The way they bill 17 is, you know, SEPTA gets a flat amount of money from the state to cover seniors paid for by the lottery. And seniors still tap, but they're not billed based on taps. So part of our suggestion is one way to get around the tapping and billing discrepancy is to just make taps not really matter for the billing and just cover everybody with a flat rate. Another part of this is that the per-student rate was set about years ago. And if we were 7 to add 31,600 additional students 8 to the mix, that seems like a good 9 case for a volume discount that 10 could be negotiated as part of 11 that.
You know, it's been a while 12 since the rate got renegotiated and 13 maybe it's time to do that if we're 14 thinking about this. 15 And then I think we 16 realized that the ask involves, you 17 know, potentially asking the City 18 and Council to make a fund guess 19 about where is this going to end 20 up. You know, I don't know how common this is, but one suggestion was could there be like a true-up clause where Council funds a reasonable estimate of what this might cost and then the parties settle up at the year's end against the actual uptake and we kind of limit the city's exposure for funding this experiment because, you know, we can go all day with the data teams, but we ultimately don't know how much people are going to end up using this. And it's a bit of a guess. So whatever we can kind of creatively figure out here to limit the city's exposure while still trying to be brave and take the step would be a helpful thing to think about. So thank you for your time and thanks to everybody who testified today. Really excited to hear about this. My daughter just started 6th grade in public school. And I think one of the really special things about raising kids in the city as opposed to the suburbs, you know, some people do is I didn't get my license until I was 17. And I couldn't really lead an independent life until I was 17. But my daughter is going to at 5 be able to go out and do a lot more 6 independently than I could. And I 7 think that's really special. Heard 8 a lot about that from parents and 9 students here today. And yeah, 10 hope we'll keep looking into this. 11 Thank you.
Well, thank you for advocating for your own children and for all the children. So thank you for both those advocacies. Vice-Chair Young.
I just want to make a comment for the record. It was mentioned what some other cities were mentioned on what their policies are and not. I always look at what Baltimore does compared to Philadelphia because that's a relatively poor city, although we have a little more population than they do. But income-wise, socioeconomic-wise, we're very similar. So Baltimore, any student and under rides for free. In 8 Baltimore, the public school 9 students have access for free pass 10 24/7 and then private and parochial 11 schools pay a discounted rate, like 12 a $1.50 rate. So I mean, I think if Baltimore can do something like that, that almost every student gets a ride for free, I think we should be able to look at how we can mimic that a little bit more being a larger city than Baltimore. I mean, again, every public school student in Baltimore has the ability this year to ride 24/7 for free. And so, I think that we should be able to at least explore that idea. And again, young people under the age of ride for free, no distance required, right. It's just straight 24/7. We should remove some of these barriers to access for some of our kids. Thank you.
We 8 would now like to transition to our 9 public comment session on 10 Resolution 260441. 11 Ms. McDonald, will you 12 please call the first person making public comment we have to testify this afternoon on the resolution 15 before this committee today.
Ryan De Roche, Janice Tosto, Alyse Leonard, Jerrett Johnson. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Thank you. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
My name is Alyse. I'm a community member and the group sales and events coordinator at the Please Touch Museum. Thank you for taking the time to listen to mine and my neighbors' testimonies. My museum welcomes thousands of families throughout the region every day. As an institution where 30% of our families receive a 90-plus percent discount to admission as Access Card or Snap EBT recipients, our visitors are weighed down by rising costs. Many families cannot afford the tank of gas to get to us or even to own a car and rely on SEPTA to arrive at the museum. Even with our discount, these families are still having to question whether they can afford a lunch at our cafe or cutting their visit short to eat at home. Then the parents have the added cost of covering fare for the older sibling of their 5-year-old on top of themselves fare. That, mind you, costs more than their admission ticket, assuming that they receive the Access Card or SNAP EBT discount. I've been told by families how it creates an obstacle to making it to the museum. And if they do make it, they get to play together on a pretend SEPTA bus just like they got to us on. But in their play worlds, they don't have to stress over the balance on their Key card. We teach kids to appreciate public transit and then don't give them the means to use it. So I ask City Council to support the expansion of Student Fare card access, not just to keep kids in clubs and off the streets, not just to break the barriers between low-income families and educational opportunities, but also to stop the hypocrisy of encouraging kids to chase their dreams and then throwing hurdles on their path to them. Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Janice Tosto and I'm a volunteer with Transit Forward Philadelphia. I've had the privilege of supervising Philadelphia high school students, serving as interns, volunteers, and summer employment workers. They've brought enthusiasm, curiosity, creativity, and aspirations for eventual professional success beyond high school or college. I've always supported the students in pursuing personal development activities for those precious growth experiences that we all need, be they financial, physical, social, spiritual, mental and emotional. We know that good skills and knowledge can be obtained through activities outside the classroom. I support the implementation of universal student fares so that students can access SEPTA on their schedule. Students shouldn't have to forgo opportunities to participate in a job or volunteer activities or cultural activities or sports, because fares to and from these activities are a barrier. In a public comment I gave last week on the Transit Access Fund, I stated that every Philadelphian deserves access to our public transportation system. Please support universal student fares to give our students greater access to activities offering potential growth opportunities. Thank you.
Jerrett Johnson. I am a part of a coalition to train the Port of Philadelphia and a lead training organizer for 5th Square. I'm here in support of the universal student fare, and I would like to thank City Council for bringing this issue to the table. I am one of the individuals that last year discussed about making universal student fares come to fruition. As I was talking to Stephen Bronskill, who's a Coalition Manager of Transit for Philadelphia, when I myself was in high school, I never had something like this occur or even thought about. And I have a good heart for kids. So all these kids that were speaking today reminds me of me, a hard worker that went to school. For anyone who was opposed for the student fare funds, here's what student fare funds means: It means open access to jobs, going to Phillies games, career opportunities, internships, summer internships and extracurricular activities and many more. For Genevieve, it means going to her friend's house without restrictions. For Jordan, it means going to the movie theaters and seeing the next Avengers movies without restrictions. For Sierra, it means being independent and not depend on others or paying $30 and up for an Uber or Lyft. It means the freedom to venture outside of Philadelphia. It means for Liv, who is Autumn's daughter, she can hang out with friends and use her earnings to go get some outfits at the mall or even go out to eat with her mom and attend the latest Selena Gomez concert, and so much more. Without restrictions, curfews would still be imposed, but I'm going to leave that up to her instead of SEPTA. I don't have any kids, but I do have two nieces that are under the age of 5 and I want more doors of opportunity open for them when they become teenagers, when they go to high school. And junior high students like Genevieve, students like RJ, students like Sierra, students like Liv, all these kids deserve a future. Not every student is causing mischief, getting into fights or jumping turnstiles at every step of station. For their sake, I urge you to get this across the finish line and help support the Universal Student Fare Fund. It'll open lots of opportunities and lots of doors for these students and other students in the future. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Ms. McDonald, will you please call the next person making public comment.
Stephen Bronskill, Sally Hecht, Monica Stemmermann and Julio Rodriguez. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Thank you. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Thank you, Chair Driscoll. My name is Stephen Bronskill. I really want to thank Councilmember Landau for your leadership on this hearing. Councilmember Young and Driscoll, thank you for your thoughtful questions today. I'm floored by the amazing young people we heard from today. They're incredible. They deserve the world and access to this, the families, the community members who are here. This dates me but I have a confession to make. I took a school bus, excuse me, a public bus to go see an Obama rally when I was in high school. And at that event, I was inspired to join in a miracle --
Yeah. I bet you did. I was inspired to join an AmeriCorps program where I became a teacher for six years. I met students who were way smarter than I will ever be, right, and who had unlimited potential. Lots of big dreams, but often had way too many barriers holding them back. One of them is transportation. There's certainly lots of other things, but truly getting to school, getting to an opportunity should not be high on the list of the things holding you back from your potential. I later joined the BBC program, was a cycling coach, had the privilege of coaching some of the people who spoke today who are so much better at riding a bike than me. They smoke me every time and I can't wait to see what they do next. I really appreciate Councilmember Young bringing up Baltimore. I think that's such a good example. Look, New York City gives 24/7 access and four taps a day. That may not be the model for Philly. D.C. gives all young people ages 5 to 21 universal access to their transportation and friends. Even Pittsburgh does this, is getting a plan. And we can't let Pittsburgh beat us in anything. So I just wanted to share my appreciation for everybody. And just to put this in context, as someone who is working on the statewide campaign for transit funding alongside all of you, I feel like this campaign really fits together. This time last year we saw SEPTA flex two years of capital dollars. We saw this campaign kind of go on hold, right. We can't keep trading away our future to keep our transit safe and in service. We saw in the most recent federal government continuing resolution $0 for public transit anywhere in the United States. I'm hoping that changes. We saw in the recent Harrisburg budget $0 additional dollars for SEPTA. And so the question is what do we do, right. How do we lead by example, right. We have these extraordinary young people. How do we find a way to make progress on this important issue. I think that's how we can lead for young people. It's how we can lead for Zero Fare recipients, for workers and small businesses trying to get access to work for tenants, for students. This is the progress we can make this year so that Harrisburg can step up next year, so that hopefully our federal government will step up in the future. And I truly appreciate this committee for considering this, and I look forward to working with you moving forward. Thank you.
Hi. My name is Sally Hecht. I work for the Clean Air Council as a Sustainable Transportation Project Coordinator. I've spent the last year and a half working this job. I've been to Harrisburg many times, so I completely understand when we talk about the fight for funding and making things seem both helpful for our citizens as well as a little bit more palatable to Harrisburg. Clean Air Council is a nonprofit health organization. We advocate for policy and infrastructure that improve air quality and public health. I specifically do this with sustainable transportation. Thank you for hearing us all today. The city has made it possible for thousands of students to get to and from school with the Student Fare Pass program. They make it possible for families to worry less about getting their kids to school daily. Covering students for the school day is crucial, but the program needs to be evaluated and expanded for youth to reap the full benefits that come from freedom of movement around the city. Expanding student SEPTA access allows youth to take advantage of programs and experiences that create engaged residents of communities. Clean Air Council is dedicated to promoting sustainable transportation across Philadelphia. When young people use public transportation, they become confident riders, building healthy habits early. This leads to more competent riders who support and advocate for transit equity. This is something that I advocate for in my job. We're an environmental health org. We're focusing on improving air quality by reducing single-occupancy vehicles. But there's so much more at stake here. Expanding the program to all students and including weekends remove so many barriers to internships and jobs. It expands the area of access to fresh groceries and it allows students to ease the financial burden of transportation for their families. Youth programs typically run on a very tight budget, including weekends and summers, not only provides financial relief to these families, but also frees up funds for career readiness programs and internships that would otherwise be spent on transportation stipends. Students are not just students. They are people. They are citizens of Philadelphia and they deserve more and freedom of movement. Adding users always to public transportation systems is beneficial. Increased ridership signals a stronger need for state funding. As we've heard, there's been very little and lack of state funding, something I'm keenly aware of. However, increasing ridership is a well-known avenue for increasing advocacy for those funds and a larger push to permanently fund public transit in PA. This messaging is crucial. Expanding student fare access is a vital action to ensure affordable and efficient public transit for all, something that is a public good and a right for everyone in that public.
Good afternoon. My name is Monica Stemmermann and I'm a Youth Cycling Program Coordinator with the Bicycle Coalition.
I'm sorry. Can you get a little closer to the microphone?
Okay. I just was saying my name is Monica Stemmermann and I am a Youth Cycling Program Coordinator with the Bicycle Coalition. As you have heard through our students' testimonies today, our youth programming clearly extends beyond just cycling and we do really innovative, impactful work. So I joined the Bicycle Coalition in late August, so I'm pretty new to the team. However, just in my first two months at this organization I can already see the shortcomings and impacts of our current student fare policies in Philadelphia. We've hosted two big events already and they were on Saturday mornings. However, for many students in our program, simply arriving at our youth cycling headquarters in Lemon Hill and being able to return home safely was an obstacle because of having to pay for SEPTA. We want all of our students to be able to participate in our free programming, especially our races and events that make our cycling season special and keeps the kids returning every year. This fall we're also facing unique challenges at Kensington High School. Due to the school's asbestos problem, we can't hold practices onsite at school and students from Kensington have to practice on Saturdays. This means we now have to secure bus passes for students every week to make sure they can participate in our programming. But this isn't a sustainable solution. It also impacts our ability to deliver high-quality, free programming for our students. Investing in universal student fare opened so many possibilities for young people in this city. It means they can live full, complex lives, access opportunities and be nurtured by all the city has to offer anytime, anywhere. I urge City Council to support a universal student fare. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Julio Rodriguez and I'm the Policy Director with Transit Forward Philly and Bicycle Coalition. Thank you so much for giving us this hearing, for hearing us out. I unequivocally am asking you to support this from a statutory standpoint, the only requirement that SEPTA and the School District have to abide by is requiring that students live 1.5 miles or more. That is, per the PA House Transportation Committee. The good news is that all laws can be changed. And so, I think this is an opportunity for City Council to work with Harrisburg, especially next year, because next year whether folks want it or not, transportation funding is going to be on the table. And this is an opportunity for us to address that big picture. This is so crucial because often times we hear about people being killed in traffic violence. And the reality is that this is one way that we can help students be safer so they don't have to walk 30 minutes each way getting to and from their house. Annually, 100 people die in traffic violence here in Philadelphia. That is something that we can actually avoid. Other cities have shown us how what they've done to get us towards zero traffic deaths. So I want to implore you to take that into consideration. Because as someone who often takes the bus, the train, the trolley and bikes, it makes a big difference when you have a reliable system when students can know for a fact that they can get home and don't have to wonder how they're going to make it to their next practice. So in closing, I just want to say that this is actually a big way that we can attract more people to Philadelphia. When people are deciding where should I move to? I actually want to move somewhere where there's free transit for my kids so that I know that they can get home, don't have to worry about daycare students that couldn't make it today. They said that over the summer their parents spent significant money on Uber, on gas. Unfortunately, I don't see gas prices going down anytime soon. So I think this is a way that the city can respond and lower prices for everyone. Thank you. MR. De ROCHE: Hello. My name is Ryan De Roche. I'm a coach and a parent of an athlete as well as a student here in Philadelphia. I appreciate the Council for taking the time and having this meeting, and I want to acknowledge all the amazing youth that were here as well who gave their testimony. I think it's always inspiring, and it inspires me to show up and be a participant in what's happening here. And they opened my eyes as well to what they're experiencing as an adult. I have a very different experience. And so, experiencing it through their eyes and enabling and having all the hoops that they have to go through has really been an eye-opening experience for me. And the revelatory thing that I understand is the people who have sat behind this table today are really amazing people. Once you get to know them, they're fantastic people and they are trying their best, and it's just an amazing opportunity to give them the chance to shine as best as they can. So all of the amazing testimony that you've heard here and all the reasons why there have been amazing kids who have sat here, who are the reason why, and I think it's fantastic to do it. There's so many good reasons to do it. My daughter also is a high school student, also attends CCP. Bus and subway is how they get around the city, how they utilize it. We are worried about things like curfew. This is an excellent opportunity to get them home on time where they need to go. And when you get them young as well, they become participants later in life. So when we make them transit users younger, they'll continue to use it later and it'll continue to flourish. We want to be the world- class city. This is a great opportunity to put another notch in that belt towards that future, that we want for our children, that we all want to see this city better. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Ms. McDonald, please call the next person for public comment.
Chantelle Bateman and Maddock Thomas. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Yes. Good morning. My name is Chantelle Bateman and I represent the members of the Philadelphia Student Union. Good morning or afternoon to everyone in Council. Thank you, especially Councilmember Rue, for your support on this issue. I really appreciate all the folks who came out to help brighten the future for every Philadelphian. So again, my name is Chantelle Bateman. I represent the members of the Philadelphia Student Union. We are a 30-year-old organization led by high school students across the district, who are using their creative power to fight for the education every Philadelphia deserves. Our members spend a lot of time talking and dreaming about what we call the horizon, and the horizon is the time space in the future where all of our people are thriving in that future. Young people wake up excited to explore, to learn, to grow, and every adult wakes up feeling excited to help the youth of the city see themselves, be themselves and become themselves. The entire city is a classroom where we are all learners and educators. No one is restricted by time, money or how far they live from the lesson of the day. There is no fear of youth takeovers or unfair expectation that youth must be more productive or less rambunctious, if you will, than the adults of this city. Roaming, playing, exploring and dreaming is every Philadelphian's birthright. Youth presence across the city is a source of pride and joy. As young people move through the city, they are greeted, supported, welcomed and loved on by adults who are committed to fostering mutual trust and mutual respect. Adults and youth are working together to co-create opportunity and access to the community that nourishes us all. In this more beautiful future, everyone knows and lives by the motto you need to see the city and the city needs to see you. Liberating transportation access for every young person in this city is a leap toward that more beautiful future. And I'm excited to be here with the neighbors who are working to make that happen. The members of the Philadelphia Student Union look forward to being able to see the city and for the city to see them. Thank you.
My name is Maddock Thomas. I am a Policy Analyst on the SEPTA Youth Advisory Council and recently moved to Philadelphia from Rhode Island, where I participated in similar work to secure funding for our transit system. Relevant to that fact, I attended college in Rhode Island. And as a consequence of my enrollment, I received a free transit pass for that state system. I have also worked both in New York City transit and the commuter rail in Boston. And as a benefit of that employment, had free access to public transit and our own systems. I can tell you, as someone who has lived in places where I did not have that privilege and also experienced the ability to travel with full mobility, access to the city without the concern of having to pay a fare for a young person, particularly on a low income or who's trying to save for college, it makes an enormous difference. And I think that that has been attested to by other folks here who have that experience as students. I also want to speak to the question of funding and sort of how this measure is structured. I think this has been brought up by a few of the members, and it's an important question. There have been measures in the past, certainly in Rhode Island, related to both senior and youth fares where a flat rate is paid for unlimited fares for a particular group of people. I would certainly -- and I can see this from SEPTA's perspective. I would caution the Council to think carefully about how that is structured, especially in the case that a flat rate is agreed to for an indefinite period of time, with no sort of cost escalation or inflation adjustment. It can become a real burden on the transit system to have to provide that service. And obviously, the members are familiar that SEPTA is not in the most favorable financial situation. I also wanted to speak to one of the issues that was raised quite a few times, the question of tapping and whether or not students are actually doing so. So while I was working at the MTA -- clearly not their testimony, I'm here on behalf of the Advisory Council, but while I was working at the MTA, they instituted their new program for student fares, expanding it to four times a day, expanding it 24/7, so it's not just during school days. And one of our goals there was to try and make sure that students are used to actually tapping their OMNY card to get them habituated to paying for transit. And so, that builds a lifelong habit. I think that's an important thing to pay attention to, because having that full access to the city, getting used to tapping and finding ownership over the fact that you are helping to fund the system can be really impactful. I'll just end by saying there's been some allusion to the question of whether it's more effective to be punitive and actually fine students $300 if they don't tap their fare card or if there's some way to positively incentivize it. I would suggest the members and perhaps SEPTA to look at the fact that, say, in D.C. or unofficially through some community members in Seattle, there have been programs to basically provide a transit-wrapped fare. At the end of the year, you can see what you rode, what ranking you were for, how many rides you took in a given ride on a given route, potentially a way to motivate students. You could even for a relatively cheap cost to the city provide some sort of incentives or prizes to the top riders, the top tappers within the School District to provide an incentive for people to participate a little bit beyond their own mobility and their own knowledge that they're funding the system, but also something that gives them a little bit of competition or excitement with their peers. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. If you want to have further conversations, I'm certainly reachable through the Youth Advisory Council. Thank you.
Thank you. And I'd like to thank all the witnesses for joining us today. And thank Councilmember Landau for encouraging us to have this committee hearing. This concludes the business before the Committee today on Transportation and Public Utilities. Thank you all very much for your attendance. - - - (Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities concluded at 4:05 p.m.) - - - C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL