Jim Kenney: Don’t let the free SEPTA transit pass program die
Eliminating the initiative would only mean fewer people able to work, more people relying on public assistance — and an even more heavily strained local economy, writes the former mayor.
In 2023, during my administration, the city of Philadelphia partnered with SEPTA to launch a transformative transportation initiative. We appropriated $40 million per year for two years — an $80 million investment — designed to provide free transit passes to 25,000 residents living at or below the poverty line.
This wasn’t about giving people a free ride for the sake of it. It was about helping working families — people who wake up every morning, catch a bus and a subway, and do their best to make ends meet. These people aren’t lounging at home, they’re out there trying to provide for their families. For them, $80 to $100 a month in transit costs can mean the difference between putting food on the table or not.
This program gave them back that money. It gave them a chance to breathe, to feed their kids, and to live with a little less financial stress. And it wasn’t just about the riders — we were also supporting SEPTA itself. While recovering ridership from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, SEPTA has managed through financial stresses while scraping for funds from the state and federal governments. We knew then, and it’s still true today, that Philadelphia can’t function without quality public transportation. Imagine our city without SEPTA. It would be chaos.
Through this investment, we supported working families, their children, and our transit system — all while helping local industries, like hospitality and home health care, that are struggling to find workers.
Eliminating the free transit program now would only mean fewer people able to work, more people relying on public assistance, and an even more strained local economy.
The same logic applies to the free transit benefit for city workers. By the end of my term in 2024, we faced serious recruitment and retention issues — not just for public safety roles, but for white-collar and blue-collar positions across the board.
Offering free transportation was one way to attract and retain talent, especially now that many roles require in-person attendance five days a week. This is a real financial burden, and free transit helps lighten that load.
Let me be clear: We cannot count on the state to rescue us. Philadelphia sends more money to Harrisburg than we’ll ever get back. Governors like Tom Wolf and Josh Shapiro have been very supportive, but they can only do so much. Relying on lawmakers from outside the city — many of whom have no interest in helping us — is a losing battle.
We need to take responsibility for what we can control: educating our children, and ensuring people can get to work. That’s it. That’s at the core of what local government is supposed to do. And yet, we’re now at risk of abandoning a program that meets both goals.
We cannot count on the state to rescue us.
Although we initially funded the program using federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan, those funds have since run out. But, as President Joe Biden famously said: “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”
In our $6.7 billion budget, finding additional resources to support working Philadelphians and SEPTA shouldn’t be a challenge, especially when a blueprint already exists.
SEPTA is struggling. The school district is projected to face a $300 million shortfall within the next year. We can’t afford to shrug our shoulders and wait for someone else to fix this. No one is coming to save us.
We have a responsibility — to our workers, to our families, and most importantly, to our children. Let’s live up to it.
Jim Kenney served as the 99th mayor of Philadelphia from 2016-2024.