ryan92084 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 04, 2021 4:58 am
You are not required to scan with the conductor, it is more of a courtesy thing while people are getting used to the system. You are welcome to decline and so far i haven't had any conductor push back from it.
There aren't plans to expand the key machines to more outlying stations and afaik there never was. Paying the conductor (cash or card now) is the intended only way to handle one off trips originating from outlying stations until they update the system to take nfc payments and who knows when that will be. They were doing the exit fare thing for a bit but i think they gave up on that real quick.
They really shouldn't have ditched the paper independence passes as they were great for people just visiting for the day and now they are stuck buying a piece of plastic they'll never use again.
You are absolutely required to present a fare to the conductor when requested. That has not changed from paper pass days. On the conductor's end, they are required to scan all key cards, even if they witnessed the passenger tapping in. If you haven't gotten any "pushback" yet, that's great, but you're rolling the dice. Refusing to present your fare could result in removal from the train. The authority will back that crew member up 100%, because you are required to present your fare whenever it is requested.
I recommend taking this up with septa, who backtracked mightily from their "Only spot checks" once the system was activated.
As for the exit fare, conductors were being instructed to direct passengers to the exit fare machines if
A) They only had a card
B) They were buying a one way fare and the conductor could not get to them in time.
They take cards now so A is moot. Reason B is still very much in play and will be the only method of exit once the turnstiles are armed and the contractors removed from the fare lines.