Regional Rail riders can also expect to pay more.
Although SEPTA is asking for more at the fare box for the first time since a 10-cent city transit increase in 1995 (and its accompanying rail fare rises), riders lost no time in expressing their displeasure to the SEPTA board.
"Fare increases drive away business," Sheryl Weiner, 46, of Northampton Township, who takes the R3 Regional Rail train from Bucks County to Center City, told the board Thursday. "That is why I stopped taking the train in 1981, and I did not return until 1994."
In recent years, riders have been flocking to SEPTA, packing Regional Rail cars and using bus routes established to reach suburban jobs from the city. Wary of jeopardizing a 3 percent ridership gain since rebounding from the 40-day strike in 1998, SEPTA largely agreed Tuesday to demands from Transport Workers Union Local 234 in a three-year contract.
As a result, senior city transit workers who drive, clean and maintain buses, subways and trolleys still will have top-shelf managed care without paying any monthly premiums or annual deductibles that SEPTA sought to help it cope with staggering health-care costs. Employees in their first or second year of work pay some of the premiums.
The terms that were agreed upon Tuesday will also apply to suburban members of the union, whose contracts expire next month.
Mayor Street acted as mediator between SEPTA and its 4,700-member City Transit Division - especially during a standoff Monday and early Tuesday. Workers got their desired 4 percent annual raises, but only in the third year of the contract. In the first and second years, there will be 3 percent raises.
SEPTA won slightly increased co-payments for prescription drugs and imposed higher costs on union members seeking out-of-network health care.
