Septa Closes Ride-Septa-For-Free Loophole

Back in June, in anticipation of the Septa fare hike that occurred on July 1st, I told you about a loophole that allowed pretty much anyone to ride Septa for free via the 33rd Street Portal in University City.

In short, riders of the Route 10 shuttle bus (and other West Philadelphia shuttles that are running due to construction) were being dumped off at 33rd Street to transfer over to the trolleys there, but no transfer slip was actually required to board the trolley. This meant that you could just walk onto the trolley at 33rd Street, and everyone would assume you came from the shuttle.

From 33rd Street, you could take advantage of the always-free free interchanges to the Broad Street Line and Market Frankford El, meaning you could get really, really far in the City of Philadelphia without paying a dime, let alone $2.25 (the new fare). Of course, as Septa was quick to point out to me after I published that story, this practice is also known as “fare evasion”, and is prosecutable under the law.

Well, it took them nearly a month, but Septa has closed the ride-Septa-for-free loophole by issuing transfers slips to all shuttle bus riders as they disembark the shuttle at 33rd Street. I guess you’ll have to find another way to cheat the system.