Many of the 31 robberies committed since January fit a pattern, Ramsey said - a group of teenagers target one person, often another teen, "literally attacking an individual." They take anything from a cell phone to a bag of french fries.

Yesterday, high school students told Council members about times when they had to fight their way home against bands of menacing youths.

"It's a game," said James Jordan, SEPTA's assistant general manager for safety and security. "This kind of behavior is very difficult to police."

The city is on pace to exceed the 78 robberies last year, which was the highest number since 1999.

Serious crime on SEPTA property went up 81 percent between 2004 and 2007, most involving teenagers on the system after school. Most incidents reported by far are thefts or robberies.

The death of Sean P. Conroy on March 26 in an attack at SEPTA's 13th Street station on the Market-Frankford Line was only the third homicide in the public transportation system since 1996. But that and other recent incidents prompted SEPTA last week to increase its police presence by 50 percent between 2 and 5 p.m.

Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., who called yesterday's hearing, asked for an independent security audit of SEPTA to determine which stations are most vulnerable.

Students from the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School at 447 N. Broad St. showed up at the hearing to tell their war stories.

Darnell Carvalho, 19, said he was taking the Market-Frankford Line to West Philadelphia in November. As usual, he said, SEPTA police were off the train by 34th Street. A group of teenagers surrounded him, and he couldn't get off right away because the 46th Street station was closed. He fought them off until his stop, at 52d Street, and escaped.

Fellow student Roy Barksdale was not so lucky. He spent a week in the hospital with a concussion in February 2007 after he was jumped by a group of teenagers who punched and kicked him, videotaping the attack and posting it on YouTube.

"The subway lines in Philadelphia are in no way safe," testified Veronica Joyner, the school's founder and chief administrative officer, who has been tracking attacks on her students on the subway since 2003.

SEPTA's Smart Stations project, which includes closed-circuit cameras, is about one-third complete, according to Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and utilities.

The presence of cameras will help discourage random crimes, Jordan said.

Greg Patton, family support coordinator for the Philadelphia School District, said that a tough truancy law and a daytime curfew would also help.

Jones asked for better coordination between the school district and SEPTA.

"The solutions are out there in bits and pieces, but they're not coordinated. As we start to get smart stations, that's great, but we have to get smart as a government," Jones said.

"It is important that our young people be able to go to and from school in a safe manner," he continued. "They have a lot to deal with in this world, and the last thing they need to be worried about is, 'How do I survive the SEPTA ride?' "