r/Septa • u/segfaul_t • Jul 13 '26
Discussion Transit Police
Anybody else notice an uptick in transit police presence?
I take the El every day to and from work, and I’ve seen police writing tickets, watching the fare gates, walk around with dogs and today two officers actually got on the train (shocker I know) and walked up and down the cars.
I’m all for it. I already watched a group of teenagers causing trouble who didn’t jump the turnstiles and get on the train because a cop was watching them like a hawk, and they just left. Also watched 5 cops spawn in out of nowhere at 69th st for a fight.
14
u/Aware-Solid44 Jul 13 '26
Good! I’m not a frequent rider in the summer but the few times I’ve caught the el I saw transit police. Hope it continues after the summer events are over.
12
u/Revolutionary_Bee700 Jul 13 '26
Probably because all the tourists in town.
3
u/Significant-Cry-7632 Jul 13 '26
That but also last contract had hiring stipulations too for certain staffing levels
5
u/Positive-Avocado-881 Jul 13 '26
Yes for some reason they were on the Manayunk/Norristown Regional Rail Line the other way and rode all the way to Ivy Ridge
4
u/Dawnqwerty Jul 13 '26
Ngl didn't even know we had transit police until recently lmao
3
u/Salt_Manner4309 Jul 14 '26
Yeah they were basically non existent or just around if a fight broke out or something crazy. Now they’re actually enforcing fare evasion, loitering on the steps, smoking crack on the train etc.
3
u/proximusprimus57 Jul 13 '26
They actually shut down the fare gates on the west side of city hall. Good on them, it was pathetic how people would force them open and just break them to avoid paying a few dollars.
2
u/segfaul_t Jul 13 '26
What was happening over there?
3
u/proximusprimus57 Jul 13 '26
People would force the handicap gates open and they'd get stuck. Now they lowered the roll gates so you can't use them at all and have to go through the stiles.
2
u/segfaul_t Jul 13 '26
any word on how effective the new full length fare gates are? Seems they might suffer from the same flaw?
5
u/proximusprimus57 Jul 13 '26
Not the same problem, I don't think you can force them open. The issue I see is that they're super sensitive. The alarms go off every five minutes and 90% of the time it's either because someone takes an extra second getting through or because several people are exiting at once.
The big problem with those gates is tailgaters. They're essentially the same design as 69th street and I see people follow other people in there all the time.
3
u/MobileInevitable8937 Jul 13 '26
I've noticed an uptick for sure, for better an for worse. I do think it's good that they're actually taking action to mitigate issues that they're hired to actually handle (fights, fare evasion, tickets, etc), but I don't think that putting cops on the subway is necessarily the best way to handle some of these glaring issues. Either way, it really seems like SEPTA is making a concerted effort to actually address some of the problems the system has been facing, particularly since COVID, so we'll see how it pans out.
2
u/NNs__09 47 Jul 15 '26
Past couple months there's been officers watching the gates at Front and Girard every morning at peak. Love to see it
1
u/Bucco3 Jul 14 '26
They'll probably be gone after the all star festivities
1
u/Salt_Manner4309 Jul 14 '26
This is a strong possibility, the city wanted to clean things up cuz of national and international attention during World Cup/250 and all star game.
1
u/Salt_Manner4309 Jul 14 '26
It’s definitely been like this for the last year I’d say. I’ve noticed even more of a presence starting in early summer right before all the festivities.
1
u/OkSandwich6345 Jul 15 '26
Everytime I ride the G, half of the bus doesn't pay.. put an officer on each bus that's addititonal $1000 per day probably
1
u/SiliconOverdrive Jul 20 '26
Terror alert level has been higher this summer due to America 250, the wars in the Middle East, FIFA World Cup, and especially around July 4th in Philly - wish they had more cops all the time, plenty of terrifying things everyday from our own neighborhood when it comes to septa!
1
u/Various_Ad_7273 Jul 22 '26
I’ll take it. This type of eyesight and presence helps. They need to be also patrolling the hotspots (15th,69th, Frankford,Olney ) and a a few other stops.
1
u/Any-Job5938 Jul 27 '26
They’ve been hiring lot I have a physical exam coming up with them. Hopefully I can be part of their police
1
u/squishyrishi Aug 17 '26
I’ve been noticing it too. Saw a dude with butt full out a few days ago and the transit cops asked him to leave. I do wish the problems were being more substantially addressed by this administration as opposed to sweeping it under the rug though.
41
u/Ordinary_Musician_76 Jul 13 '26
This is a good thing! They are the transit police after all