Program providing free SEPTA rides for Philadelphia employees to continue
A program offering free SEPTA rides for city workers in Philadelphia will continue, and another providing free rides for lower-income residents will likely keep going as well, Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration said Wednesday, after she faced backlash over her proposed 2026 budget cutting funding for the programs.
Zero Fare, a two-year pilot program that provides free SEPTA rides to people who live near the poverty line, appeared to be on the chopping block based on Parker's proposed $6.7 billion budget. The program benefits 25,000 low-income residents in Philadelphia.
Parker also initially proposed cutting funding for another program, SEPTA Key Advantage, serving 15,000 city employees. The mayor says now that the program will continue through the next fiscal year.
"As I have said, the SEPTA Key Advantage Program is an important benefit which enables many city employees to stretch their paychecks," Parker said in an emailed statement. "I am pleased to announce that the SEPTA Key Advantage program will continue in its present form in fiscal year 2026, which starts July 1."
Parker's administration said the mayor and SEPTA are discussing extending the Zero Fare program through 2026.
According to the administration, the city has provided SEPTA $15 million above its match requirement in its fiscal year 2025 and will continue to do so in 2026. The administration said it is negotiating with SEPTA to use that money to extend the Zero Fare program.
"This extension would allow the city and SEPTA to review and implement findings from the William Penn Foundation-funded program evaluation expected in spring 2026," the Parker administration wrote in a press release.
The reversal comes after the Parker administration faced criticism from city councilmembers and the community.
In late March, Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke said the program was "being zeroed out this year."
Nearly 700 people signed a petition urging the mayor and city council to save the program. Two SEPTA riders told CBS News Philadelphia that the decision was "really disastrous" and "doing people of low-income housing injustice."
Zero Fare participants recorded more than 6.6 million trips from its beginning through mid-March 2025 with an average of 100,000 per week, SEPTA said.
