SEPTA may have struggled throughout the past year, considering mandatory inspections of its Silverliner IV trains — which led to significant delays — ongoing budget issues and other concerns, but officials said Thursday, serious crimes across the system were at its lowest level in at least 10 years.
In a report released Thursday, officials said, overall, in 2025, SEPTA’s transit police reported a six-percent reduction in serious crimes compared to the year prior — including a 33% reduction in shootings.
Among other decreases over the past year, in 2025, SEPTA saw 50% fewer homicides — two throughout 2025 compared to four in 2024 — as well as 50% fewer rapes, 57% fewer burglaries and 1% fewer aggravated assaults.
However, the report does show that, in 2025, SEPTA saw an over 27% increase in reported robberies over 2024.
Overall, SEPTA officials touted the yearly figures, saying 2025 accounted for the mass transit provider’s lowest violent crime level since 2015 — noting serious crime rates dropped across SEPTA’s four largest modes of transit, including the Market-Frankford Line, the Broad Street Line, as well as throughout its bus and Regional Rail services.
“While 2025 was one of the most challenging years in SEPTA’s history, we stayed focused on delivering improvements to the system, especially when it comes to safety,” said SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer in a statement on the release of the report. “Since its peak during the pandemic, crime has continued to decline year after year, thanks to the expansion of the Transit Police force, technology and infrastructure improvements, and other safety and security initiatives.”
As Sauer noted, SEPTA said it stepped up enforcement of fare evasion by 48% last year, over 2024, as well as pushing up enforcement of quality of live crimes by about 12%.
SEPTA also installed over 200 full-height fare gates at 14 stations to help curb fare evasion, officials said.
And, officials noted, SEPTA has created a special surface transportation unit for its police force to enforce fare compliance on buses and trolleys that aren’t controlled by fare gates.
In fact, officials said, SEPTA’s police force, in 2025, saw its highest staffing level in, at least, ten years, as well.
“With 250 uniformed officers, our Transit Police staffing is at its highest level in over a decade, and another 17 cadets started police academy earlier this month,” said SEPTA Transit Police Chief Charles Lawson in a statement. “Our customers see officers as soon as they enter the system, and that increased police presence helps deter people from committing crimes.”
For more details, SEPTA’s full report on 2025 is available here.
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