SEPTA ends free parking on weekends and holidays
An additional 35 SEPTA parking lots will also start charging customers on Monday.
SEPTA will charge customers to park in its lots and garages on weekends and holidays starting Monday.
The transportation authority has offered free parking for years but started phasing in payments again last year as SEPTA faces a multimillion-dollar annual deficit and has made plans to cut costs and services.
“Collecting parking fees 24 / 7 is another example of how we are doing everything we can to generate revenue during this funding crisis,” Scott A. Sauer, SEPTA’s general manager, said in a statement Wednesday. “We are committed to finding innovative ways to make this organization more efficient without compromising safety or reliability for our customers.”
SEPTA started offering free parking in 2020 in an effort to attract customers back to the transportation system as the pandemic disrupted ridership. In September 2024 SEPTA began charging customers again for weekday parking and increased prices from pre-pandemic levels. The cost of daily parking in a lot went up from $1 to $2, and in garages the price went from $2 to $4.
SEPTA has been charging weekday parking at 96 lots and three garages, SEPTA spokesperson Kelly Greene confirmed Thursday via email, and an additional 35 lots will start charging for parking on Monday. That means all of SEPTA’s 134 parking locations will be charging for parking on weekdays, weekends, and holidays as of next week.
Drivers can pay for parking on the SEPTA Park app, at kiosks, or by texting the station’s ID to 727563. Customers who have the Flowbird parking app can use their Flowbird credentials to log into the SEPTA Park app.
Customers who do not pay the fee can receive a $10 parking ticket, though Greene said that warnings would be issued at the 35 new locations.
The change comes as SEPTA faces an annual budget deficit of $213 million and plans to start cutting service in August and increase fares in September.
The agency estimated last year that it could bring in roughly $6 million in parking fees annually. That money would be put toward maintaining lots and paying for upgrades. Anything left over could eventually be added to the agency’s operating budget.