Authorizing Council's Committees on Transportation and Public Utilities and Public Safety to hold joint hearings regarding ongoing issues of public safety at SEPTA facilities and aboard SEPTA vehicles.

WHEREAS, Public safety issues - compounded by the pandemic - have persisted at SEPTA stations and routes across the City; and

WHEREAS, On Wednesday, October 13, a woman was raped aboard the Market-Frankford line in route westbound toward the 69th Street Transportation Center; and

WHERAS, Authorities say the attack occurred for over 8 minutes and no one on the train intervened; and

WHEREAS, Earlier this year, a man was shot inside the 15th street Market-Frankford line station, just days after a SEPTA employee was brutally assaulted at the same location; and

WHEREAS, A mass shooting occurred outside the Olney Transportation Center in February that wounded at least 8 individuals, one of 19 shootings that have occurred in close proximity to the center since 2015; and

WHEREAS, These shocking acts are just a few recent examples of the heightened violence and crime that is plaguing the public transportation system; and

WHEREAS, Residents rely on SEPTA to get to work or go to school, but many are opting to find alternative modes of transportation amidst the rise in crime; and

WHEREAS, Maria Robinson, a 45 year old resident in North Philadelphia, told the

Inquirer

she no longer takes the subway to her medical appointments due to safety concerns: “I’d rather take a taxi and pay whatever I got to pay. I used to take this a lot,” she said. “But it’s scary. It’s really scary.”; and

WHEREAS, A safe and functioning public transportation system is vital for our working class residents, vital for attracting tourists and stimulating our economy, and vital for the thousands of transportation employees that work on the frontlines; and

WHEREAS, SEPTA must take immediate action and explore new policies and procedures to protect riders and employees; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, that it herby authorizes Council’s Committees on Transportation and Public Utilities and Public Safety to hold joint hearings regarding ongoing issues of public safety at SEPTA facilities and aboard SEPTA vehicles.

End