Third quarter report shows crime on SEPTA continues to drop

The new report shows that crime has dropped in seven of the eight serious crime categories.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) transit police have reported a 10% drop in serious crime on the system in the third quarter of the year compared to the same timeframe as last year. This comes after SEPTA experienced the largest one-year drop in serious crime in its 43-year history.

The new quarterly data report shows reductions in seven of the eight serious crime categories, including thefts and aggravated assaults.

“We are hearing directly from our riders that they feel safer at our stations and on board our vehicles,” said SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer. “Our Customer Satisfaction Survey scores for safety and security have increased to their highest levels since 2023.”

Transit police have focused their attention on fare evasion, issuing more than 6,300 citations in 2025 so far—a 47% jump from last year. This increased effort has helped transit police find other illegal activity, working out to over 700 arrests of wanted individuals.

“We are working to change the culture around paying a fare,” said SEPTA Transit Police Chief Charles Lawson. “It is a challenge faced by transit systems across the country, and SEPTA is no exception, but we are taking real steps to address it.”

Transit police have focused their fare evasion enforcement to known hot spots. Officers carried out a four-week enforcement blitz at the Huntingdon Station, nearly eliminating fare evasion at the site while officers were present.

To complement the enforcement, SEPTA has begun implementing new, full-height fare gates that it recently piloted at 69th Street Transit Center across nine additional stations.

Beyond its Metro system, SEPTA has launched a surface transportation unit to carry out fare enforcement on its buses and trolleys, transit modes that are not controlled via fare gate.

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