The Benefits of Free Transit for College Students

Malcolm Burnley writes an op-ed calling for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to provide free (or nearly free) transit to college students in the area—following similar models in Rhode Island and Pittsburgh.

"Beyond the improved town-and-gown connectivity, both cities and universities benefit from these programs in myriad ways. They increase sustainability goals, help retain graduates and reduce brain drain, and even curb gentrification (more on this later)," according to Burnley.

The idea to bring SEPTA to college students isn't Burnley's alone, a change.org petition is circulating, already gathering 1,080 signatures at the time of the article. According to Burnley, the petition is "calling for SEPTA to sell semester- or year-long passes to universities and colleges at a steeply discounted rate of 50 to 75 percent. In turn, the universities would charge students a nominal fee in their tuition payment—or potentially, nothing at all."

As for the earlier reference about the potential of such a program to curb gentrification, Burnl;ey shares the argument in favor of the program presented by Michael Noda of Sic Transit Philly in a post from earlier this year. Here's Noda's writing on the subject:

"Free transit for students and faculty would radically change the incentives for housing and land use in West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, where the first few blocks beyond the campuses are increasingly an academic monoculture, rendering them unaffordable even as entire neighborhoods suffer through disinvestment and neglect a mere half-mile away. While not many students or faculty are specifically looking to move to Kingsessing or Carroll Park, a handful willing to try could do wonders for the stability of those neighborhoods, encouraging investment and slowing the displacement that is actually occurring in our city, which is driven much more by blight than by gentrification."