COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC UTILITIES - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, April 20, 1999 10:45 a.m. - - - RESOLUTION 990128 - Calling for the Committee on Transportation and public utilities to conduct hearings examining the high cost of purchasing SEPTA tokens for Philadelphia's middle- and high-school students to attend school, and to work with the School District and SEPTA to develop strategies to eliminate or reduce the cost to Philadelphia families. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO, Chair COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN ANGEL ORTIZ - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 I N D E X DOBBINS RANDOLPH SKILLS CENTER Donna Faye, English Teacher. . . . . . . . . . 5 Kenneth Howard, 9th-Grader . . . . . . . . . . 10 6 Youth United For Change Students . . . . . . . 12 William Mackie, Executive Director . . . . . . 24 Students, Citywide Improvement & Planning Agency Denise Goren, Deputy Mayor for Transportation 30 Frances Jones, SEPTA Assistant General Manager 41 Dick Voith, SEPTA Board Member . . . . . . . . 47 Carolyn Hopkins, Edison High School. . . . . . 64 Mirreya Sales, High School Parent Aide . . . . 66 Joanne Rodriguez " " " " . . . . 67 Sue Osthoff, Treasurer, KAVAD. . . . . . . . . 83 SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA Jonathan M. Stein, Esq., Gov't. Relations. . . 83 John Lombardi, Director of Transportation. . . 84 Herb Hazan, Advisor for Attendance Issues. . . 86 Joy Butts, Kensington Welfare Rights Union . . 103 Carolyn Friedman, Executive Director . . . . . 108 White Williams Scholars in Philadelphia Tom Butler, Director, College Access Program 112 Deborah Weiner, Philadelphia Futures . . . . . 115 Shelly Yanoff, Executive Director, PCCY. . . . 121 Lai Har Cheung, Asian Americans United . . . . 126 Rabbi Lina Zerbarini . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Jewish Council Relations Council 3 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 (Index, cont'd.) Raisa Williams, Advisor. . . . . . . . . . . . 130 William Penn High School Patricia McNamara, Executive Director. . . . . 136 Consumers Education and Protective Association Richard Weishaupt, Esquire . . . . . . . . . . 138 Community Legal Services Debra Morrison, Parents Union Employee . . . . 146 Eudora Burton, " " " . . . . . . 148 ATTACHED WRITTEN TESTIMONY ONLY: Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia 4 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 P R O C E E D I N G S
Good morning, everyone. I apologize for the delay in the starting of the hearing. We need four members of City Council who are members of the Transportation Committee to be here to establish a quorum. We are trying to get three other members down here, so I do appreciate your indulgence. I do hope in a few minutes we will have the others so we can get on with the hearings. Again, I apologize for the delay. Thank you. - - -
Good morning. Good morning, everyone. And, again, thank you for your patience. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the Chairperson of the Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities. Council President Anna Verna, who is not a member of the committee is here to help us establish a quorum, and she has appointed Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell to this committee for the purpose of conducting the hearings. To my extreme left is Councilman Ortiz. And we have a 5 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 quorum so we're about to begin. Thank you. Thank you Madam President, for coming. Before we begin the hearing, I just would like everyone to understand that for me, the purpose of this hearing is to discuss issues concerning the cost of tokens for school children in the City of Philadelphia. For me, this is not a finger-pointing exercise. I am not here to criticize or complain to anyone. I just want this to be a more informative hearing, to get to the heart of what the problems are and to see if we can cumulatively cooperatively come together to find some solution -- SEPTA, the City of Philadelphia, the School District, and the State for that matter. And I hope that at the end of these hearings, we will have some basis to make some recommendations to the entities that I just mention, and if there's any other outside entities, to see what we can do about bringing the cost of tokens down for the students of the School District of Philadelphia. So again, I don't want this to become a hostile meeting. There's a price, there's a cost involved, no matter how we decide is the best way 6 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 to reduce those costs to the students, and we need to find out what is the most economical and efficient way to do that. And I hope that these hearings will produce some of the answers to those questions and problems that we have facing us today. The first witness is Denise Goren, Deputy Mayor for Transportation. (Denise Goren comes forward.)
Okay. Deputy Mayor Goren realizes that there are a number of students and teachers here, and we all know how you anxious you are to get back to school, so she will yield to the students and to the teachers. So we'll go in a reverse order, okay? Thank you. (Applause.)
Donna Faye, English teacher at Dobbins Randolph Skills Center. (Ms. Faye comes forward.)
Please state your name for the record and continue with your testimony. Thank you.
My name is Donna Faye. I teach English at Dobbins Randolph High School. 7 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 It's a technical school. I had two seniors last year who were in similar situations, both fatherless, essentially motherless because the mothers were on drugs. One, Kareem, was the top electrical student in the building. His mother put him out, and he lived with one friend after another for limited periods of time. He was working but he wasn't earning enough to also allow him to pay $9 week for tokens. He stopped attending school until some of the teachers caught up with him in the hallway, found out what was going on, and I gave him the money out of my pocket to attend school. Marquetta was another senior I had last year, a very difficult child in 10th grade. Her mother put her in with her grandmother, who then put her in a home. By senior year, she had brought up her grades, she graduated 20th in the class, but for about a month, it looked like she wasn't even going to make it to school, wasn't going to graduate. Again, we all paid for her tokens. Rebecca was a 9th-grader last year, coming all the way from Kensington to North 8 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Philadelphia. She's in the health-related technology program, pre-medicine. She became pregnant, started missing school toward the end of her program. Again, she had money problems, and teachers at the school footed her SEPTA bill. The baby is now ten months old, she's a straight-A student, she's still in school, and she asked me to read something for you because she was too shy to come today. "My name is Rebecca Berger. I'm 12 years old. I'm writing because I am very 13 concerned about free tokens. Last year, I started 14 attending this program, and everything started out 15 fine as far as buying tokens until I started 16 having financial problems at my home. My mom had a health problem and she's a single parent. I was too young to get a job so there wasn't any way I could get to school. I made it often because my little sister stayed home from school so I could go, and she gave me her tokens. Then this year, the same thing happened, but it's harder because although I have a job, I don't make very much money and I have to take care of my ten-month-old son, so that's where my check goes." 9 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Renardo was a student in Washington, D.C. Last year, his mother went off welfare. The family, the five children, all moved in with the grandmother in Baltimore. Then this year, at the beginning of the school year, they moved in with the aunt, which didn't work out. The family was separated, the two older sisters went to live with the grandmothers -- one in D.C. one in Baltimore. And Renardo and his three younger brothers and the mother all became homeless. They've been in three different shelters, and Renardo's had a tremendously difficult time scraping the money together to get to school every day to pay for SEPTA. He frequently misses school. This is a child who was in advanced courses in Washington. He was taking foreign languages, advanced math, advanced English, and now he misses so much school that he may not even graduate from 9th grade. We do have a scholarship program. It's called the White Davis Program, but you have to have straight As or Bs to stay on it. There's only 20 kids in our 600 kids who manage to get tokens from the program because we're a trade school, we're not an academic magnet, so most 10 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 students don't have straight As and Bs. I think it's very important for kids to get to school. This is Kenneth Howard, one of our 9th-graders.
My name is Kenneth Howard from Dobbins Randolph, and I'm here because. . . students at high school need --
Kenneth, do me a favor. You have to tilt that microphone down a little bit. You have to speak directly into it. Thank you.
I'm here because students at my school need free tokens. Some of 'em can't make it to school. Um. . . I need a free token because I have a bad problem and I can't afford tokens. Every week, it cost $9. So every day, my principal give me two tokens every day for me to come so I can pass. But I was on my bike for a month and that wasn't helping. So I had to stop, and she started giving me two tokens every week.
Once a day. Okay. There's one more issue, and that is the fact that if you're in a magnet school -- (Applause.)
If you're in a magnet school and you come and you travel long distances -- some of our kids travel for over an hour on SEPTA. We lose many, many students from our magnet program -- we're not an academic program, we're a trade program -- because they can't afford SEPTA, and they can walk to the neighborhood school. So that means that the magnet programs aren't really open to everybody; they're only open to those who have no family problems, have no financial problems, etc. Thank you. (Applause.)
Any questions for these witnesses from members of the committee? (No questions.)
Thank you. I just want to note for the record that Councilwoman Tasco is now present. 12 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Youth United for Change. James Cheely, Antoine Robinson, Rita Frazier, Bryan Gardenas, Eric Braxton. (Applause.)
Eric is with the Philadelphia Student Union. (Above group of students come forward.)
Hi. My name is James Cheely, and I'm a student at Edison High School and the leader of Youth United for Change. Youth United for Change is an organization of high-school students from Kensington, Edison, and Olney actively involved in improving our schools. We represent over 6,000 students. We are here today to support the proposal to provide free transportation for students to go to and get from school and to tell you why this happens. From my own personal experience, there has been days when I come home late from extracurricular activities, such as sports and clubs, and I have to walk home at least two and a half miles alone, in the dark. And there also have been times when I couldn't get to school 13 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 because of bad weather, such as rain or snow. These are just two of the many reasons that I feel free transportation is important. Thank you.
Hello. My name is Antoine Robinson. I'm a student leader at Edison High School for Youth United for Change. I'm here today and also some parents that's here to support us. Education is a right and not a privilege, and getting to and from public schools should not be a privilege either. But for many of us who cannot forward to get there every day, it can become expensive sometimes. We spend up to $9 a week trying to get to and from school, while students in New York and Boston spend nothing. For many of us who do not have jobs and whose parents cannot help us afford to pay for tokens, getting to and from public school can become rather expensive. We believe that free pubic transportation would increase attendance and help support Philadelphia's young people, especially as more and more families are coming off of welfare. My own personal experience is, I live 14 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 about a mile and a half away from school. When it rains and snows, sometimes we have terrible winters, sometimes we have rain storms and all that. I like to dress up nice and I hate getting to school when I got mud stains all over my pants and my sneakers because I had to walk in the rain when there's a bus stop within a couple of from steps from my house. I could catch the bus and get there within ten minutes. Basically, I play in a lot of sports so I stay after school a lot, so that means I have to walk home alone or with James and in the dark, or I have to go my own separate way and that's not good for me when I could just catch the bus at the end of my corner to go get home from school. I cannot afford tokens, you know, 'cause I be low income so I cannot afford tokens every week. In closing, I would like to leave you all with a statement that I used a while back: Why charge urban kids for what suburban kids get for free. Thanks.
Thank you. (Applause.). 15 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128
Hello. My name is Rita Frazier. I'm an 11thgrader at Kensington High School. I am also a leader in Youth United for Change. On March 22nd, we presented a platform of youth issues to the six mayoral candidates at an Eastern Philadelphia organizing project, Neighborhoods First Convention. One of our issues we presented were free public transportation for all school-aged youth during the weekdays. As young people are entitled to free education, I believe that we are also entitled to free transportation to and from school. I am here today because of that. In my 9th and 10th-grade years, I had to walk almost two miles to school. There are shorter ways to get there where I will be less than a mile, but they're not necessarily safer, and I found that out during the end of my 10th-grade year. I met a friend at a bus stop so that we could walk together because it was the middle of January, and it's dark at 6 o'clock in the morning. Halfway there, we got into some trouble and we were basically being sexually 16 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 harassed. And since that day, my friend got transferred and I have been taking public transportation, which is good for me but not for my mother because my mother also has a younger daughter. And my mother not only is in a business school but holds a job, and we both take the bus, so this is why I think this is very important to me. I'm not asking for -- for somebody to hold my hand and walk me to school; I'm just asking for somebody to get me to school. (Applause.)
It's not -- it's like a mile and a half like if you take short cuts but the short cuts aren't safe so. . .
They're not safe, all right. From your experience, do you know how many students, fellow students, may not be able to 17 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 get to school or don't go to school as a result of not being able to afford tokens?
And I'm not saying using that as an excuse. Legitimate reasons as to distance, inclement weather, and safe streets.
Last year, I had a lot of friends that lived further than I did, and it took them forever to walk to school. And by the beginning of this year, they all got transfers.
Closer to where they live. Okay, thank you. And that because of the token issue, because they were -- their reasons for not going to school was they couldn't afford the tokens so then the School District, or whoever decided to make it, they transferred them to a location closer to where they live?
I'm around the area for 18 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Gratz, Gratz School, but I attend Edison so when I told them -- I went to the counselor and I let them know that I need to catch the bus; see, I can't be walking every morning to school, you know. She told me that I should transfer over to Gratz. But, you know, I'm active in Edison. I mean, I'm in a lot of programs, good grades. So I don't think it was fair for her to tell me I need to transfer to another school, where, you know, people --
But I'm very active in my school, so there's not -- so I fear -- I know a bunch of people that had to face that, you know, especially off the teams, you know, the sports teams. Getting out at night is dangerous, it's dangerous walking home at night when you could 19 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 just catch the bus, you know. So it is important that we come to some kind of agreement about tokens, you know, in public schools.
And I think you testified that you live about a mile and a half from school?
Thank you. The young gentleman to your left, Rita. UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: I don't really have anything to say.
Okay, but you agree with everything that's been said? UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Yeah.
Eric Braxton, is he here? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Eric is not here. We have some students from Gratz. (Gratz students come forward.) 20 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128
Good morning. Pull the microphone close to you and speak directly into and state your name for the record.
My name is Kwan Blanche (ph.), and I'm a student at Simon Gratz High School. I am here to speak on behalf of Eric Braxton.
My name is Calvin Penderton. I'm at Simon Gratz High School.
You have to speak a little bit louder and closer to the mike.
Oh, my name is Calvin and Penderton and I go to Simon Gratz High School, I'm on the board at the Philadelphia Student Union.
Okay. I just wanted to talk a little bit about what the Student Union is. The Student Union a student-run student-founded organization that works towards students' rights and giving students a say in what goes on inside of their schools. Now, Calvin is going to speak a little 21 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 bit about the token issue.
Just pull the mike closer. If we can get you tokens, we're going to try to see if we can get some money for a better sound system in here.
Hello, City Council. My name is Calvin Penderton. I live in the Germantown area of Philadelphia. I'm a student at Simon Gratz High School. The distance from my school is about like two miles. I used to live in the area of Simon Gratz High School, but because of certain situations, I had to move farther from the school. So I don't really have a lot of money to get tokens because of certain situations. Me and my parents, we don't really be together like that so it's kind of hard for me to get money to go to school. But because I used to live in the area, I had a strong reputation with Simon Gratz. I'm on the tennis team, the debate team, the art club, 22 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 I'm in a lot of extracurricular activities and stuff like that. So I keep -- when I moved from the area from where I used to live at 'cause I used to live directly right up the street from the school, around like two blocks. When I moved, I had to -- it was kind of hard 'cause I needed tokens to get to school every day, and I missed a lot of days from school when I didn't have tokens. And it was kind of bad 'cause we was having the SAT-9 tests and stuff like that. So it's kind of hard for me to get to school so I wish I could find a way possible whereas I could get to school. I want to transfer but it's kind of hard for me to transfer because I've been in the school so long and I have a strong reputation in the school and a lot of people care about me in the school. So it's kind of hard for me to transfer. And I have a lot of things going on in that school, so I can't -- and plus my mom, she doesn't really have the money like that to go all the way up to Gratz and stuff like that from where we're living at to get me transferred to Germantown. So it's kind of hard, and I wish I 23 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 could find some way possible to supply people in the Philadelphia that's in a similar situation I'm in with tokens so they could get to school.
Any questions from the committee from these witnesses? No? (No questions.)
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being here today.
A month, I estimate it's around -- she gives me like two tokens every day so I figure about --
My mom. She gives me two tokens every day to go to school and come 24 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 back. So that would be like 2 tokens times 7, so that would be about like 14 tokens per week.
Are there any other students who wish to testify? Are there any other students who wish to testify? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes.
My name is William Mackie. I'm the Executive Director of the Citywide Improvement and Planning Agency. And these four young people will be testifying on our behalf. Thank you.
Uh, no. 25 (Laughter.) TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128
Thank you. Okay, who's going to be the first to testify? State your name for the record and speak directly into the microphone.
Hello. My name is Wayne Moette (ph.). I attend Benjamin Franklin High School. I am currently a participant of Citywide Improvement Agency.
Excuse me, excuse me, sir. Tilt that microphone down a little bit and pull it very close, very close to you.
I am currently a participant of the Citywide Improvement and Planning Agency. During my five years of attending this program, I have made five presentations before City Council. I am now here to inform you on how convenient the transfers are that Citywide provides. Not only are they useful for getting to school but to work and other important places as well. We aren't just given these transpasses; we earn them. And these transpasses are also convenient for the summertime when we don't have TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 school to get to work and other places as well. Thank you.
LaShonda Day, and I live in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, and I attend William Penn High School, and I'm here to speak on behalf of the tokens. Before I was -- before I came into this program, Citywide, I was getting tokens every week. And I don't feel as though they need to -- in order to get tokens, you need a I.D. and you need, you know, some identification 'cause they only give tokens -- SEPTA stations only give tokens to certain schools. And in order for you to get tokens, you need your I.D. And I was one of the people who usually didn't remember to bring her I.D. to get tokens, and I usually missed school because I didn't have any tokens. This was before I was in this program. But now that I'm in this program, they give us transportation to and from school to get to school. So I think I still be having that problem with SEPTA, forgetting my I.D. and not getting tokens if I wasn't in this program. 27 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Thank you.
My name is Monique Jones. I attend William Penn High School. And before I entered the Citywide Program, it was hard for me to get back and forth to school because, like they said, it costs like weekly, it's a whole lot of money for a transpass and stuff. And when I got in Citywide, they provided transpasses for school and back and forth to work and Freedom Theater. And it's much easier now that I don't have to buy tokens and everything. Thank you.
I'm sorry. I missed that last part. You said it's easier because you --
It's easier that I don't have to buy tokens because it's like I was spending too much on tokens. And now it's much easier.
And now because of 28 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 the program, you don't spend anything?
We had to -- Citywide, they like -- they like -- yeah, we do community service on Saturdays. We do four hours of work training on the weeks at Freedom Theater, we go to Freedom Theater. They provide us transportation for Freedom Theater and everything. And I work at the Empowerment Zone.
Good morning. My name is Sharlitta (ph.) Hardy, and I'm the Special Events Coordinator of Citywide Improvement and Planning Agency. And I guess I am speaking on behalf of the youth of Citywide -- well, youth all over. I used to be a health intern in the program. And what the program basically does is, it teaches youth, it empowers youth. And we received monthly transpasses and tokens. And for me, that was important also as well as receiving the training and the community service because of 29 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 the fact that tokens and transportation is costly. And being involved in a program and after-school activities, the program provided transpasses and things of that nature, and that helped our family out as far as budgetary means because a lot of families today don't really have the money consistently to provide tokens and things of that nature for their children -- especially if they're active in the after-school programs with the extracurricular activities and the job training and things of that nature. So I think that it is very important for students to have free transportation to and from school and especially with our school-based program because those students are from the ages of 8 through 13, and a lot of their parents and, you know, their parental guidance, they don't have the money for tokens and things of that nature. So we provide that for them, and it's more convenient for them to get -- it helps them out to travel to and from school also.
Thank you. Any questions for these witnesses by members of the committee? 30 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 (No questions.)
Frances Jones from SEPTA, I think you're next, and Denise Goren. Do you want to come up together? Or whoever else is with you, Frances and Denise, can also come up. (Denise Goren and Frances Jones come forward.)
You can work it out amongst yourselves who wants to start off, okay?
Good morning. Good morning. I am Denise Goren, Deputy Mayor for Transportation. And I would like to thank you for the opportunity to present testimony on behalf of the Administration about the funding of SEPTA transportation for our school students of the School District of Philadelphia. For many years prior to 1984, the SEPTA school fare was less than half the adult fair. The net cost of selling school tokens at a 31 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 discount was buried in SEPTA's operating budget. Then the cost allocation formula was changed to reduce the cost to SEPTA to zero. In fact, the total cost of paying for transporting students is now shouldered by the students, the School District, and the State and City through subsidies. SEPTA now charges $1.15 per token for student transportation, 40 cents for a transfer. And of this amount, the student pays out of pocket 90 cents, and the School District is responsible for the additional cents as well as the cost of 14 transfers. 15 According to the School District, 16 10,620 students out of all of the students using 17 public transportation ride free of charge, in 18 which case, the School District pays the full 19 fare. The total approximate cost for providing 20 student transportation is $14.5 million a year. 21 Of this amount, 9 million is paid by the School 22 District from its $1.3 billion budget, with 23 $5.5 million paid by the students directly. 24 The City plays a key role in supporting 25 our schools and our transit system. As you know, 32 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 each year, for the past four years, the City has provided the School District $15 million of supplementary funds to help address the budgetary difficulties facing the School District. Additionally, the City gives SEPTA $55 million a year annually in operating subsidy. In conclusion, I think it's important to scrutinize the cost of SEPTA tokens for student transportation. And to that extent, this hearing today is an important facet of that examination. Given the amount of funding already being provided, however, to support the School District and fiscal pressures on the City from other quarters, such as welfare reform, shifting the cost of school fare discounts to the City's operating budget would not be a prudent solution. Nonetheless, this hearing should be congratulated in terms of its fact-finding mission and the opportunity to hear from all of the voices you'll here today. Thank you.
At one point, the City did contribute to the public school transportation, did it not?
At one point, there was a one-time contribution, and that occurred in coincidence with a fare increase. As you're aware, SEPTA has not raised its fares in five years. But, in fact, five years ago, when it occurred, it did create a question as to how the discount could be funded and the differential could be matched during that interim year where the fares were increased and how to soften the impact on the students. So that was the one instance.
We never had a role in supplying a subsidy to students in terms of tokens for SEPTA during the '80s?
Not to my recollection, and my recollection is pretty long at this point.
What would be the cost if the City decided to provide some assistance to the students? What would be the costs and the burden that we would have to assume 34 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 in terms of the operating budget?
Councilman, that's a difficult question to address. The best facts that I can give you is what I set out in my testimony -- what the current overall cost is to the School District now, what the kids pay, putting those numbers together. So mathematically speaking, the annual cost for providing student transportation is $14.5 million, and I would defer to the School District transportation people to tell you exactly how that's broken out. It's fairly complicated because it has to do with distance and the age the kids are and what grade and school they're in and where they are and where they're going to.
How many students are we talking about that now have to pay fares to SEPTA?
It's rather a very small percentage of the majority of our student population. It's important to note that most kids walk. So approximately, I believe, 25,000 students a year, about 25,000 students a year rely on SEPTA. 35 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128
Philadelphia Children and Youth says that approximately 30,000 students are absent every day. Now, we cannot ascertain if all of them are absent because of transportation difficulties, but let's say that a good amount of those are absent because of the transportation difficulties. Don't you think it's prudent for the City and the school system to be able to get together and identify and look at how transportation impacts on the absentee ratio and what economic impact that absentee ratio has on the overall cost to the City and to the school system?
Right. You raise important issues. One of the best ways to look at the interrelationship between absenteeism and the transportation issue is to look at what happened during the (unintelligible) of the recent SEPTA strike. In fact, kids found their way to school. It's hard to figure out what the relationship is, but I do agree that this an issue overall that everyone should discuss. In terms of drawing conclusions, I'm not in a position to do that.
Why is it that our 36 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 costs are three times higher than Boston? Obviously, SEPTA is a very expensive system. But in other cities, public policy has dictated that assisting and attending school is a top priority. And in New York and San Francisco and even Erie and Pittsburgh, students don't carry the burden of paying for transportation. Could you explain to us the public policy dynamics. And how do we see this in terms of us as a city?
Okay. At a prior hearing, at the subsidy hearing, I know SEPTA did do some research that looked at some of the differences among various jurisdictions where children use public transit to attend school. I think it's important to note that each of them have very, very different fact patterns in terms of the overall cost of that transit, the number of kids being served. And the mechanism of how that subsidy is funded is very, very different -- just as the mechanism of how mass transit is funded generally is very, very different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The situation differs with each 37 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 locale. The cost, of course, differs as well. The issues in New York or Boston or Chicago or even Pittsburgh are different in terms of the cost of what the students pay -- whether it's a half fare or a special fare, there is always a subsidy.
Actually, to ride the bus in New York, the students pay 75 cents. And it's based on distance as to whether or not they're entitled to a metro card or not. So again, it's a proportion of the students who have free fares. Some pay 75 cents for the bus, others pay not at all and they use a metro card.
But there is a problem. And, in fact, we have such a problem of absenteeism and truancy in the City that through hearings that we had here, we finally had to establish truancy courts that go to Kensington and so on. And truancy and the overall aspect of it carries an economic cost. Truancy has been -- 38 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 and given the testimony that we've heard from family court judges and so on, truancy has been attributed in many instances to the lack of children having the fare to go to school. That then translates into an economic cost for the City and an economic loss for the school system. And I think that instead of looking at the way that tokens would be an expenditure, why don't we look at it in a way that it would be a saving in terms of the cost that it would accrue to us because truancy would be less, we may have to do other things that -- we may have to eliminate other things that we now do because we need to take care of these kids, 30,000 kids that are absent daily. And has the City ever looked at this? I mean, we have a very deep problem in terms of our educational system and our kids being able to attain the educational level that they need. Isn't it prudent for us to see that a small contribution from the City might, in the long run, be a very positive and cost-saving method, that we might end up gaining some money?
I appreciate your 39 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 sentiment. I think what would be most prudent at this time is for us to hear from the mechanism of everyone as to the responsibilities for the overall impacts of the issue of the cost of transportation and how that fits in with all of the costs of education that are reimbursed from the State in terms of its providing services for our children -- transportation being a part of that educational service. Whether or not it's prudent for the City at this time, I believe that a lot more facts need to be put fort and a lot more discussion needs to occur.
I mean, I know that by legislation, we're providing free transportation to kids who attend private schools while poor kids and kids who live in poverty and cannot afford it are denied free transportation so that they can attend public school. And that to me is a contradiction, and I don't see why if we pay for private-school kids whose parents obviously probably can afford to pay for their tokens, we have such a huge number of kids whose families cannot afford it and they cannot get free 40 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 transportation.
I think you raise an important public policy question for the reason we do that in terms of the legislative mandates that the School District faces. That too should be discussed in this context.
The State contribution, the subsidies that the State puts in, is there any difference between what the value of the State contribution to the Philadelphia School District is as opposed to Merion or any of the other counties that you know of? Is it equal across the board, or does --
-- more appropriate with them, but thank you. 41 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Miss Jones.
Good morning, Councilman DiCicco and members of the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee. I am Frances Jones, Assistant General Manager at SEPTA. ) from our Strategic Planning and Operations Department. I think I have that right, Ken? Thank you for the opportunity this morning to address SEPTA's role in providing transportation for Philadelphia school children. We are strongly committed to improving the economic and social well-being of the region. Education is one of the vital building blocks necessary to ensure the continued vitality and viability of our region, and we are proud of the service that we provide to school children from neighborhoods across the City as they travel to and from school. On a daily basis, the City's children take 100,000 trips to centers of learning, using SEPTA's regular bus, light rail, and subway 42 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 elevated route service. In addition, the Authority operates bus service with morning and afternoon route scheduling and service compatible with the School District's hours of operation for schools along these routes for which we receive no 7 special subsidy. This service encompasses approximately 56 routes and carries in excess of 25,000 children. Working in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, SEPTA established a program for sale and distribution of tokens. These specially designated school tokens are intended for use by students traveling to and from school, doing hours prescribed by the School District. 15 per token and 40 cents for transfers. 60. In turn, the School District sells the tokens to the students for 90 cents per token. Transfers are free. As determined by the School District, one-third of their students are eligible 43 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 for and receive free tokens through their distribution and sales program. 3 million trips SEPTA provides to school children on an annual basis. As an instrumentality of the State, the Authority's rates and regulations governing fares and fare instruments are established by tariff, issued and amended by the Authority. The tariffs are published by the general manager after public hearings and describe the allowable fares for passenger transport on SEPTA in Philadelphia and our other four counties. SEPTA's pricing of school tokens is governed by Tariff No. 1, Supplement No. 29 effective January 22, 1995. This tariff was adopted by SEPTA's board of director on January 13th of the same year after a series of public hearings in each of the five counties that constitute SEPTA's operating region. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reimburses school districts for transportation costs for both public and non-public school students. As determined by the State, however, 44 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 only public transportation fares qualify as 100 percent allowable expenses. The School District of Philadelphia's overall reimbursement rate of 65 percent, or $38 million, is based on a formula derived from allowable expenses and District needs ratio based on family income. However, the State does not impose a funding cap for reimbursement of transportation costs. As I am certain most of you are aware. Based on our operating budget testimony, we are in the midst of a fare policy study. This analysis is designed to evaluate our different pricing strategies with the objective to increase ridership and revenue. Concurrently, we have undertaken a study of our fare collection processes also. This includes our various types of fares, such as tokens and passes, as well as applications of new technology, such as a smart card. For those you who are not familiar, a smart card is a stored value card which offers greater flexibility than our existing tokens and passes. The results of both studies should 45 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res.
990128 allow us the opportunity to offer creative and innovative solutions for the challenges faced by our daily riders -- and to a large degree, of course, our Philadelphia school children. We would be more than one happy to share the results of both studies upon completion. Today, my testimony and my presence underscores our commitment to work with the School District, the City of Philadelphia, and all other entities to pursue additional funding sources to underwrite the token program. Again, thanks, Councilman DiCicco for your indulgence. And at this point, I will try to answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you, Miss Jones. Your statement about the Authority circulating the school tokens to the School District at a discounted rate. Could you walk me through that process. How do you circulate them? I mean, does the School District put an order in for X-amount of tokens? What happens at that point? Who administers the tokens going to the District? 46 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128
The tokens are bought in bulk from the School District. We deliver them to the School District, and then they are responsible for the sale and descriptions.
I believe -- was there a time when SEPTA sold the tokens to the students if I'm not mistaken directly? Or students could purchase the tokens at --
Prior to 1984, I believe there was some mechanism to do that in terms of the half-priced tokens.
Yeah, but since 1995, that's been a mechanism that's been implemented for the sale and distribution of tokens.
All right, I guess I'll save some of my questions for the School District. 47 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Councilwoman Tasco.
Is there any possibility that you could provide this transportation free? What does it cost if you provide this transportation for free?
Right now, I don't have an exact number of what it would cost, but I will defer to Dick Voith, our board member.
I am -- thank you for the opportunity to be here and to talk with Council. There are two issues here -- three issues, I guess, is more appropriate. First, I think that we at SEPTA are very sensitive to the issue of student fares, and I think that we stand at this position sort of ready to try to see whether there are more innovative ways to address the issue. The second point is that, I guess, from 48 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 the numbers that I know, and I'm not sure if they're actually right, we're talking about $15 million that we spend on transportation for students, which is a large chunk of money in anyone's budget. If we did not recoup that sum of money, then we'd have to make it up somewhere else. We have not had a change in our operating budget in three years -- the same level every year for the past three years. So if there's reduced revenue, then, you know, the only things you do are change service or become more efficient, which we're trying to do; or you increase fares, which we don't plan to do. The third thing from my point of view that I find continually frustrating and have to keep in mind is that I am a City representative on the board, and I am very sensitive to these issues, but I am 2 of 15 members of the SEPTA Board. Any fare changes, and especially something of the magnitude of sort of free tokens would imply for students, would have to go through the entire board, and I think that that would be a very difficult prospect, to say the least. 49 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Having said that, I think that we as an authority, we stand -- you know, we must be ready to try to figure out better ways to deal with the issue that we're facing now.
Could someone -- you add more buses, provide more service when school is in session between September and June. Do you cut the service in the summer?
Okay. I think those are the only two questions I have. Thank you.
Again, going back to public policy, it is in our city's interest to be able to make sure that as many of our kids attend school and graduate as possible. And I'm interested in how SEPTA has one of the highest -- even with the subsidy, even with the subsidy, it still has one of the highest fares in the country. We have an interest in the school system, okay, and SEPTA, and we subsidize SEPTA and the public school system and the City come 50 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 together in which we can set a rate that is lower than what it is right now because of the interest that we have as a city as an economic development tool as a city that wants to the next level to make sure that all of our kids can attend school. And I would be interested in seeing how we can facilitate a process in which the City, SEPTA, and the school system can get together and come together. And really, I think, the Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth's recommendations are the things that we should be aiming for. And I would like to see us get to the point of each child that needs a token should be able to get a token -- and especially in our city where the levels of poverty are so high. (Applause.)
I mean, 30,000 kids being absent every day is unacceptable, and I think behooves us to be able to come to a system in which public transportation -- as one of the students said, public transportation to school is a right and not a privilege. And I think they should be afforded that, and I think we have to 51 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 come to that conclusion. We cannot afford to do anything less. You know, everything else is (Spanish phrase). You know what I'm saying? It's just smoke going up in the air and disappearing. We have to get to the reality that we need to get our kids to school. We have the public education system come before us, the board, the superintendent, and one of the key issues is attendance. And I think we have to be able -- it's a fixable thing, it's a fixable thing because all it needs is a little bit of money. This is not about systems or books or teaching ability or something else; this is a fixable thing. (Applause.)
I'm looking at the report given to us by the Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth. And they outline the 52 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 cities and Philadelphia where transportation is provided for free, or they provide yellow-bus services. And then in all the other cities like Detroit and New York and St. Louis and Milwaukee, San Francisco, Boston, the cost is so much lower than Philadelphia; and in some instances, it's free. Has there been any effort to review how these cities are able to provide the service at a low cost that's provided and/or for free?
As Miss Goren stated, it was a part of her testimony, it varies from authority or property to property, depending upon what that local government has set up as a formula. For us, it's always an issue -- or in those instances, some of them have a subsidy, some of those authorities or properties receive a direct subsidy which enables them to have a fare at a cost -- a youth fare that is across-the-board for youth at a lower cost. For us as well it is a matter of a direct subsidy, which we don't receive. So the cost of the standard discounted 53 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 fare, which is $1.15, that we charge the School District.
In New York, for instance, do you know where the subsidy comes from? Is it from the state or is it from the city?
It varies. So you're saying that in each of these cities, there is a subsidy so that they're allowed to provide this service?
Not in each one. As I said, it varies from property to property. We did an analysis and looked at some of the larger cities. In Pittsburgh, which is here in Pennsylvania, the process that they have in place is the same as it is here in Philadelphia. They don't receive a direct subsidy and they charge -- they do charge a reduced fare, but they don't receive a subsidy. Other places, like I think it is Washington, D.C., gets a subsidy, the authority gets a direct subsidy, so they are able to reduce the fare.
Miss Jones, the smart card, do we anticipate any savings as a result -- if that was implemented to the District? Would SEPTA have a savings and would that savings be able to be transferred over to the District? And does anyone have an answer for that yet?
That's -- we'll know that as -- that's part of what we expect to glean from the study that's in place now.
I guess my other question -- I know I have to hold some of them off till the School District people come here, but in someone's testimony, administrative costs of selling tokens to the District is about $1.5 million a year. I guess so the question would be both to the School District and to SEPTA. Is there any way that you think that we can reduce that cost? Has anyone looked into reducing that cost? And would it be more cost- effective if SEPTA were selling the tokens directly to the students as opposed to sending them over to the School District and letting them 55 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 administer?
It would probably be more costly to SEPTA. I can't speak on behalf of the School District, but I would assume that they have a mechanism in place where there's a central location and then they distribute through their mechanism within the school. If we did the sale and distribution, we would have to put people in place to do that, to take care of that sale and distribution, so that means that SEPTA forces would have to do it and would have to put together a structure, a program, and implement it. So I think that it would cost additionally to SEPTA.
Kim Heimley, Office of Business Development. One of the thing that our studies are looking at are --
-- the costs inherent with the different types of fare instruments. Tokens, their distribution and administration, are 56 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 fairly expensive when compared to some technologies that may be available. For example, smart card, that has a stored value in it, only has to be distributed possibly once a week or once a month and may be much cheaper to administer. There could conceivably be control issues about how the District would then make sure it was only used to go to and from school. But the costs of tokens per se is something that we're looking at. It's an old technology, it's been around for a long, long time, and we're trying to figure out whether there's other alternatives that would help mitigate not only the expenses for this program but throughout SEPTA.
I would say that New York is moving to a smart card-type technology right now with its metro card. And what they're doing right now, which is basically a stored-value card on it, is that even for the kids, if the kids aren't paying anything or paying something, they still slide their card through. That way the charging that this is a kid and the coding of it 57 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 through the machines and equipment goes back to the schools so they know what the trip is. So that the intelligence on the card really helps you collect a lot of the data that now we all do by basically hand.
I just have a concern when I hear $1.5 million for administrative costs. Do you want to respond to that? You were about to respond or no?
If you don't want to respond, that's fine. I was just --
No, I was just curious where that came from. Was that from SEPTA?
No, that's from Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth. And I see Miss Yanoff ready to jump up.
So, again, some of these questions will go to the School District and I'm just curious about it. And when you speak about how SEPTA would have to absorb the cost of distribution if 58 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 they took the responsibility for administering it, is that because you would -- I assume you're saying there would be designated areas and you would have to hire personnel? Or could not the tokens be sold the same way others tokens are sold at the subway stations or wherever people purchase tokens in general?
I have a little problem with that one, but we'll talk about that.
No, to sell the tokens. You have a place where tokens are sold. Down here on the concourse is an example; people are there selling tokens on daily basis.
The school token is distinct and different from regular tokens. And I mean, if you had them sold, there would be no way you could distinguish a sale of a regular token from a school token if it were in a machine. If you're talking about selling tokens 59 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 like at our regular outlets, that absolutely would -- we would incur additional costs because we would have to have people sell the tokens to the school children and be able to handle that volume of sale.
Okay. Somebody's paying. I mean, obviously, if it's not SEPTA, it's the School District. And I mean, we're just trying to see if we can cut some of the costs. I don't know how much we can do that, how much costs we could save, but I have to assume there's a better way -- a less expensive way, I should say, all right?
A less expensive way. And maybe through these hearings, we could come up with some solution. I mean, you go down into the concourse and you purchase a five-pack of tokens or a ten-pack of tokens. I mean, you distinguish it because one package says "five" and the other says "ten." 60 TRANSPORTATION COMM. - Res. 990128 Now, it may not be as simple as that to say, Well, these are student tokens. There may be a system that you have to have to have in place to identify the person purchasing the tokens as the student.
But I don't think it should be all that difficult, and I think that we may come up with a significant savings. And if can, that savings hopefully can be passed on to help reduce the cost of tokens.
We used to have a machine that says "student tokens"; and the other one, "regular tokens."
Well, Councilwoman Tasco said that maybe you could have it in one machine. But the cost of the machine and maintaining it, obviously, there's always a cost. I just don't know what -- if there would be a savings and how much that would be.