Philadelphia Council Holds Hearing on Youth Safety on SEPTA at 10 a.m. Today

Philadelphia City Council will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. today in Room 400 at City Hall on youth safety on and around SEPTA. The hearing is a joint session of the Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities and the Committee on Public Safety and is open to the public.

The hearing stems from Resolution 260652. A resolution is not a bill but a formal Council document authorizing a hearing. Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. of the 5th District introduced it, and Council adopted it on June 11. Fifteen of the 17 members signed on as co-sponsors. The hearing comes 155 days after adoption.

The resolution calls for examining youth safety on and around SEPTA and finding coordinated strategies to prevent violence, support young people and protect all riders.

Two shootings involving teenagers took place the weekend before the hearing. Just before 7 p.m. on Halloween night, Oct. 31, a 15-year-old boy was shot in the back at a gas station in Port Richmond and died at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. A suspect was arrested nearby and a gun was recovered. Police have not released the boy’s name or a motive.

At 6:44 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, a 14-year-old boy and two men, ages 25 and 26, were shot near the 56th Street station on the Market-Frankford Line in West Philadelphia. The boy and the 25-year-old were in stable condition, and the 26-year-old was in critical condition. No one was arrested. SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said the shooting did not take place inside the station.

About 50,000 Philadelphia students rely on SEPTA to get to school. Youth safety is therefore tied directly to the daily lives of many families.

SEPTA said in its quarterly report on Nov. 5 that serious crime fell 10 percent. Aggravated assaults fell 35 percent from a year earlier. An aggravated assault is an assault involving a weapon or serious injury. But the decline has narrowed each quarter this year, from 30 percent to 21 percent to 10 percent.

SEPTA said it has increased police deployment during school travel hours, overlapped work shifts and run virtual patrols using its camera network. Students can report problems through the SEPTA Transit Watch app or by texting 215-234-1911. SEPTA launched its Reach outreach program for vulnerable people on Nov. 10, and a new field support team in purple vests began working at stations on Nov. 11.

Expanding student passes is also tied to the hearing. Current student passes go only to students in grades 7 through 12 who live at least 1.5 miles from school. They work only on weekdays during the school year, from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and not on weekends, holidays or school breaks. Expanding them to year-round unlimited use would cost about $64 million a year, Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony Watlington estimated. Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. said he wants a way to suspend or revoke passes for misbehavior. Councilmember Jim Harrity introduced a bill on Oct. 29 to tax robot deliveries and driverless vehicles to fund free transit passes.

The witness list has not been made public. SEPTA and School District officials are expected to face questions about existing measures. A hearing resolution alone creates no program. Changes such as stronger patrols or expanded passes need separate legislation or budget action.

Some outside calendars listed the hearing as Nov. 11, but the Council’s official schedule says Nov. 13.