PATCO set to test joint fare card

Scrolling facebook and happen to see a article with information about PATCO testing a fare card that can be used on both PATCO/SEPTA. Testing plans to start June 25 and last for two weeks.

PATCO will begin testing integrated SEPTA fare card next month
051117_Mondon_Headshot.jpgBY MARIELLE MONDON
PhillyVoice Staff
TRANSIT Patco
Stock_Carroll - Riding a PATCO train over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge THOM CARROLL/PHILLYVOICE Riding the PATCO train from New Jersey to Philadelphia.
Next month the Delaware River Port Authority will begin testing a new fare card that will enable joint use on SEPTA and PATCO.

The updated PATCO FREEDOM Fare card be tested with 50 riders who frequent SEPTA and PATCO regularly during a pilot program kicking off June 25. The new fare card will be tested for at least two weeks before the goal of overall implementation by August, according to the Courier-Post.

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Enabling PATCO riders to use the FREEDOM card on SEPTA will help eliminate the need for a paper transfer ticket, which SEPTA is phasing out for the overall system this summer. Starting at the 8th & Market station, PATCO riders can transfer to the Market-Frankford or Broad Street lines, as well as buses, using only the FREEDOM card at the ticket gate.

Does this sound like a big benefit for your daily commute? Then you may get a chance to be one of the first to try it out. PATCO is currently offering the test cards for the first 50 passengers who sign up online, though spaces are filling fast.

In preparation of the new fare system, PATCO has been updating its ticketing kiosks throughout its New Jersey and Center City stations, doing a bulk of work on the upgrades this Memorial Day weekend. As such, holiday travelers can’t put money on their fare cards using debit or credit this weekend and have to have cash on hand instead. This will continue through Tuesday, May 29.

Though a long holiday weekend may seem like a terrible time to do this, the weekend actually has “historically low ridership,” according to PATCO.

“Technology is constantly changing and that includes the software and applications which run our fare collection system,” said PATCO General Manager John D. Rink in a press release.

“Moving to the next level of fare collection software will allow us to perform much of the ‘housekeeping’ work we need to complete, such as replacing hardware and upgrading the operating systems on our servers. Upgrading to the next level of software also allows us to move forward with planned projects, including our SEPTA integration.”

It's been reported on the radio that SEPTA has taken this opportunity to eliminate the discount that was provided with the paper transfers, raising the cost of a round-trip transfer from $3.50 to $4.00. Someone enlighten me: does this change amount to a fare increase covered by tariff provisions, and thus requiring compliance with legally mandated public notice and comment? And has there been any?

When PATCO/DRPA announced FREEDOM in November 2007, future integration with SEPTA had always been planned.

Plans are one thing, but tariffs have to have an effective date; I'm just wondering whether they dotted the i's and crossed the t's. I've run into instances before where operating or engineering people took certain actions without realizing that there are some things you can't do without jumping through the regulatory hoops.