SEPTA is committed to providing safe service and a clean travel environment for customers and employees. One of the ways to accomplish this is by streamlining the enforcement process for quality-of-life and quality-of-ride violations that occur on the system as specified under state statute or city code.
The program went into effect in January 2019.
SEPTA Transit Police officers may serve a single Administrative Enforcement Notice, which carries a $25 fine for each offense. This is intended to underscore SEPTA’s goal to discourage disruptive behavior on the system while:
- Easing the financial burden of paying when a fine is issued
- Removing the stigma associated with summary violations
- Reducing the Philadelphia Municipal Court system caseload
- Focusing Transit Police resources on system patrol rather than administrative tasks associated with processing multiple types of violations
Transit Police officers will continue to follow the procedure of temporarily detaining an individual found to be in violation of a quality-of-life issue. The $25 fine will only be assessed for the specific violation in question, and will not reflect any prior contacts with Transit Police for other violations.
There are two options to respond to the Administrative Enforcement Notice:
Pay the $25 Fine
An envelope is attached to the Administrative Enforcement Notice so the fine can be mailed to SEPTA, or it can be remitted to a designated SEPTA Sales location.
Attend a Hearing
- Every Administrative Enforcement Notice issued includes a hearing date, time, and location to appear and present a statement challenging the facts related to the issuance of the notice and fine.
- The hearing officer will have the authority to uphold or nullify the notice.
- Failure to appear for the hearing will be considered as a waiver of the offender’s desire to appeal the Notice and payment of the fine will be expected.
A person who receives four violations and does not pay the fines will be considered a chronic offender. With the issuance of the fourth Administrative Enforcement Notice, the Transit Officer will advise the individual that they are now banned from entering SEPTA property or using SEPTA services.
This ban can be appealed by requesting and appearing at a scheduled hearing. If the offender is found to be violating the stay away order they will be arrested for a misdemeanor defiant trespass.
The ban will be in effect for one year from the point of notification. For chronic offenders who may be struggling with poverty, homelessness, addiction, or mental health issues, the remedy issued will focus on the delivery of social service assistance.