The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will implement additional initiatives and a series of corrective action plans (CAPs) in response to a recent Safety Management Inspection (SMI) conducted by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The CAPs will help the authority further the series of proactive efforts initiated late last summer aimed at enhancing safety and security, increasing staffing and training and shoring up operational practices and procedures.
The FTA maintains federal oversight over SEPTA’s operations and recently conducted an inspection of the authority’s safety protocols, practices and processes. FTA representatives were on site at SEPTA locations for inspections and employee interviews between September 2023 and January 2024.
FTA’s SMI report outlines findings and directives SEPTA will be implementing, primarily as it relates to reducing crime, increasing staffing and training and strengthening operational practices and policies. The FTA also assessed the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), which has primary oversight responsibility for transit rail operations in Pennsylvania.
“The safety and security of customers and employees is the top priority for the SEPTA Board and the entire authority,” said SEPTA Board Chair Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. “How we staff our operations, train our employees and ensure the most effective policies are in place and followed all contribute to a safer SEPTA system. The FTA and PennDOT continue to have our full cooperation moving forward.”
“We embrace the opportunity to work with the FTA and PennDOT to make SEPTA better and we take their feedback seriously,” said SEPTA CEO and General Manager Leslie S. Richards. “As an organization, we have already initiated actions to address these areas of concern and we are committed to making further improvements across the board.”
SEPTA launched several initiatives prior to recent FTA engagement aimed at ensuring safety and security of the system, including:
- Significant investments to attract and retain SEPTA Transit Police officers to address concerns over crime and quality-of-life offenses. SEPTA had a 37 percent decrease in serious crimes on the system during the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The most violent crimes, including aggravated assaults and robberies, decreased by 47 percent. SEPTA Police are also actively partnering with Philadelphia Police and other law enforcement to increase the overall presence of uniformed police officers on the system. In addition, SEPTA Police have fully launched a Virtual Patrol Unit to monitor live security camera feeds and dispatch officers to incidents more quickly.
- Audio connected to surveillance cameras at the front of buses has been activated to record evidence of threats against bus operators to aid efforts to enhance security for SEPTA’s frontline workforce.
- Testing is underway for bulletproof shields for operators.
- On-board fare collection policy has been updated to mitigate interactions that put operators in confrontational situations.
- Increasing staffing for frontline positions, as well as critical support roles. SEPTA is aggressively recruiting to fill vacancies and additional personnel have been added in the System Safety Division. SEPTA is also evaluating staffing in other key areas, such as the Control Center.
- Closely examining practices and policies, including last summer's mandated full-day safety training for all 9,000 employees and utilizing feedback from the sessions to strengthen workplace practices. In addition, the authority is evaluating policies governing hours of service, conducting a full review of its Standard Operating Procedures and establishing an Accident Reduction Coordination Team.
