PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — New data from SEPTA is showing a downward trend in serious crime on the transit system.
In the first three months of 2026, serious crimes on SEPTA were down 30% over the first quarter last year, the lowest levels in more than a decade. Robberies were down from 55 to 47 and aggravated assaults dropped from 23 to 11.
Serious crime on the Market-Frankford Line saw a 42% drop during that time. SEPTA Transit Police Chief Chuck Lawson said the drop in crime after pandemic spikes is ongoing.
“In the last three running years, you go to the first quarter of 2023 to today, crime on the system is down 54%,” he said.
Lawson credited a bottom-up approach, with a nearly full complement of transit police targeting quality of life crimes. “They’re issuing tickets for smoking. They’re trying to coordinate getting homelessness out of the system,” he said.
“Smoking complaints [are] going down, less homeless on the system, less fare evasion.”
Lawson said the 10% drop in fare evasion isn’t just because of increased enforcement. “Behind the scenes we have our engineering folks working on turnstiles that won’t pull back, right?” he said. “We see fare evasion by pulling back the turnstile. So we are trying to reach this from, really, a holistic standpoint.”
Ten stations have nearly full-length fare gates, and Lawson said 13 more stations are in line to get them this year.
