Here's where SEPTA's getting that number:

>Nearly 2,800 fare evasion cases were reported on SEPTA last year — an increase of more than 800 from 2021. Busch said the new gates would more accurately track the number of fare evaders on the system.

>“Right now, we have the numbers to go on from police in terms of how many citations they’re issuing. We know that doesn’t fully capture the picture with fare evasion,” Busch added.

The reason it's low is because they have almost zero transit police on the system at any given time. So with that handful of transit cops they caught 2,800, which means you can easily multiply that number by 3 to get close to the real number of fair evasions.