This Is How Public Transportation Inequality Affects Big Cities

Leonor Mora, 51, takes two buses to get to her job at a Walmart in Northeast Philadelphia. She works the overnight shift as a stocker, earning $13.25 an hour. Occasionally she leaves her transit pass in a different jacket or bag.

“I’ve missed the bus because I’ve realized ‘Oh my God, I’ve got the wrong coat!’ and have to run back home,” she told me as she waited to change buses at Frankford Transportation Center.

Without her pass she’d end up paying four full fares — costing her $10 a day.

“That’s hard on my pockets. I’m a single parent. I have one in college,” she said.

Transfer fees, a surcharge riders often pay to switch buses or trains to get to their destination, are an unfair burden on poor people, transit equity advocates say.

“They target predominantly low-income communities who are communities who often rely heavily on public transportation,” Philadelphia city councilmember Helen Gym told me earlier this week. “It’s unfair for some of the poorest areas of the city to have to pay additional fees to get into downtown, for example.”

Many cities have come to recognize the unfairness — and inefficiency — of the seemingly innocuous fees, and eliminated them. Transfers with a fare card are free in New York, L.A., Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle, for example. Detroit’s DDOT and SMART buses eliminated transfer fees last year. And Philadelphia may be next.

“In a city like Philadelphia, where we’re the poorest large city in the country, transit equity really defines mobility in our city,” said Gym. “It defines opportunity.”

Leslie Richards, the new general manager of SEPTA, the public transit company for the Philadelphia region, told Plan Philly that equity is a “big priority” for her. It’s one of the reasons she took the job, she said.

Richards has said she will consider eliminating transfer fees.

“The Cost of Commuting for Philadelphians,” a report by Pew Charitable Trusts released in July, compares public transit costs in a handful of big U.S. cities. While the base fare in Philadelphia ($2.50) is comparatively low — (granted, 1 in 4 Philly residents live in poverty) — fares become disproportionately high once transfer fees come into play.

According to the report, Philadelphia’s current fare structure results in:

Relatively cheap fares for those who live in central neighborhoods with good transit service and short commutes — generally wealthier residents.
More expensive rides for those who live in less accessible neighborhoods with more arduous commutes — typically poorer residents.
Highest costs for residents who pay in cash, who may not have the funds on hand to purchase the digital passes that provide discounted rides.

“People who have to pay cash, it’s really hard for them,” said Stephanie Austin, who was also waiting for a bus at the Frankford station. She takes a train and two buses to her job at a mental health facility in Philadelphia four days a week. Austin said she’s grateful she has the means to purchase a weekly pass ($25.50) that makes buying transfer passes unnecessary.

“If I had to come out of my pocket for [those transfers], I’d be really upset,” she said.