Some Wawa, Penn Medicine, and Drexel University employees will soon be eligible for free “Anywhere” SEPTA monthly passes in an effort to boost ridership, writes Thomas Fitzgerald for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The passes are part of a SEPTA Key Advantage pilot program.

Wawa, Penn Medicine, and Drexel have agreed to pay $140 each for six months’ worth of passes, beginning May 1, for about 15,600 eligible workers.

The hope is that employees will keep using public transit after the program ends.

 “We believe that this product is going to allow us to grow transit usage as a habit again,” Erik Johanson, director of operating budgets for SEPTA, said. “We’re putting passes in the hands of people who now have a financial incentive to use it,” when weighed against fuel and parking costs.

There are some signs more people may be using SEPTA because of the high price of gas, but SEPTA’s ridership is still far below what it was before the pandemic started in March 2020.

As of Feb. 28, SEPTA was carrying 507,000 passengers in a normal weekday, about 51% of the riders that were on SEPTA in 2019.

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about free SEPTA passes for workers at Wawa, Penn Medicine, and Drexel University.