Politics & Government

SEPTA Reports Ridership At 22-Year High

CFO Richard Burnfield gave a rundown of the numbers at SEPTA's recent board meeting.

SEPTA announced at last week's board meeting that, at the end of its fiscal year, ridership over the last 12 months had reached a 22-year high.

A financial report showed that ridership was up 4 percent with a total of 335 million trips by riders. That amounts to 13 million trips more than the previous fiscal year.

One difference the report unveiled is that, since a fare increase in July 2010, payments in cash have risen, while paying with tokens or prepaid tickets has declined. The report determines the difference is caused by partially closing the gap between prepaid and cash prices.

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The increased ridership, and the 20 percent increase in cash fares, helped SEPTA finish the fiscal year $22 million over budget and an 11 percent increase in passenger revenue over the last fiscal year.

“This is the 12th consecutive year we have a balanced budget,” said Chief Financial Officer Richard Burnfield at the board meeting.

Find out what's happening in Hatboro-Horshamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The breakdown of ridership increases was listed as follows:

  • City ridership up 4 percent
  • Suburban ridership up 5 percent
  • Regional Rail ridership up 1 percent


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