Railroad Forums 

  • SEPTA NPT card will be "SEPTA Key"?

  • Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.
Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.

Moderator: AlexC

 #1574723  by ryan92084
 
Most interesting part of that was this snippet
The authority is also in the process of replacing more than 5,000 Key card readers to prepare for mobile fare payment, officials said, and by late 2021 or early 2022, riders can finally ditch the cards and use their mobile phones to pay for their trips: first through mobile ticketing, where riders pay with a digital ticket, then with open fare payment where riders can use Apple Pay or another form of digital payment through their phone.
Although i highly doubt we'll see the cards actually being ditched.
 #1574734  by PHLSpecial
 
ryan92084 wrote: Although i highly doubt we'll see the cards actually being ditched.
Same here. It's about having multiple options for customers. You could have a case where your phone is on low battery or dead so a key card is need. Out of town visitors or international travelers would benefit from the card as well.

I don't get it. Septa has beancounters sure but why do they continue to limit themselves on how people can pay for a Septa ride? Right now, its only a key card or cash fare. In the future I hope more ticket machines are installed, apple and google pay will come.
 #1574747  by JeffK
 
Head-end View wrote: Mon Jun 28, 2021 7:45 pm Doing it twice vs. Doing it right the first time? That's about par for a government run operation.
Nah, Dilbertian management is equal-opportunity. I spent years in private industry and have friends who do similar work for the gummint. When we talk, the tales of waste and stupidity are identical. The difference is that private-industry incompetence usually doesn’t get a lot of media attention unless it’s monumentally bad.

I’m just old enough to remember the tail end of PTC’s private operations, with things like being proud of skimpy maintenance and bringing in NCL.
 #1574753  by PHLSpecial
 
Reading the Request for Infomation, it seems like Septa is seeking keep school passes, reduced fare passes, third party passes for colleges. Septa is requesting info on fare capping and multi rider capability. Again septa is going to try to integrate with Amtrak, Patco, NJT, and DelDot. Mobile payments is a big focus in the RFI as well.

I hope a lot of Septa's bad fare policies will be removed. Anyone would have a wild guess as too when we could see key 2.0?
 #1575320  by alewifebp
 
NJT has has TVMs at every rail station for years, and has been on the 2nd generation of them for quite some time. They even have TVMs at many outlying park and ride bus stations, and on the light rail. It always amazed me how SEPTA couldn't just do the same thing as countless other agencies.

With the rate at which technology evolves, they will be doing it not only once, twice, but three times.
 #1575329  by R36 Combine Coach
 
alewifebp wrote: Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:30 pm NJT has has TVMs at every rail station for years, and has been on the 2nd generation of them for
quite some time. It always amazed me how SEPTA couldn't just do the same thing as countless
other agencies.
Second generation (touch screen) is 2007-up, replacing the Ascom machines with keypad.

SEPTA never got past the first generation 1985 Ascoms (retired in January 2007).
 #1575348  by PHLSpecial
 
Reading the very first comments on this thread wow, its crazy to see how bad Septa messed up this project.
I really hope they get rid of the current transfer policy and switch to one swipe unlimited transfers for 90 minutes. Maybe we can finally have nfc pay on the iphone 14 lol.
Septa maybe can actually use machines from this current decade for once. Also lets use an actual company that understands how to collect fare payments instead of some printing company...
 #1576517  by nomis
 
SEPTA board approves more spending on Key card
By Darryl C. Murphy July 22, 2021
https://whyy.org/articles/septa-board- ... -key-card/
The SEPTA Key fare payment system has now cost the regional transit agency more than $208 million. On Thursday, SEPTA’S board approved a contract change order of nearly $409,000 from the authority’s capital budget to go toward the fare payment system.

The money is slated to go toward back-end investments such as email communication for customers, enhancing security for validators, and some voice-activated features.

The change marks the twenty-fifth adjustment since the agency first signed a $122.2 million contract with Conduent, Inc, formerly known as Xerox Transport Solutions, Inc., in 2011.
 #1583549  by alewifebp
 
So this is certainly a little bit of beating a dead horse, but I've finally made a trip to SEPTA territory and use Key. It's like they actively want to discourage using the system. Boarded at Jenkintown to buy a card. What a slow process. Then the whole spiel about the $4.95 fee and how to get it reversed. So convoluted and unnecessary.
 #1583573  by rcthompson04
 
alewifebp wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:26 pm So this is certainly a little bit of beating a dead horse, but I've finally made a trip to SEPTA territory and use Key. It's like they actively want to discourage using the system. Boarded at Jenkintown to buy a card. What a slow process. Then the whole spiel about the $4.95 fee and how to get it reversed. So convoluted and unnecessary.
It seems like eons ago, but I have bought two of the cards. One from an agent at Suburban and the other from one of the machines at Suburban. The machine was a far more straightforward experience.
 #1583666  by ryan92084
 
The 4.95 fee makes more sense once you know the card allows you to go into a negative balance by one trip. The charge is to prevent people just tossing their negative balance cards and stiffing SEPTA. Whether that was the best course of action is another discussion.

Barring network issues the process through an agent is about as fast as you can describe what you want+opening an envelope+payment. Anything else is just the agent being "friendly".
 #1583847  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone - 10/31:

I noticed something at Tacony Station this past week: The four Key Card readers (two on each platform)
have been plated over and are out of service. Is this being done at "marginal" stations in Philadelphia?

Is SEPTA taking readers out of service due to vandalism at stations that have low ridership in the City?
Another example is even though the readers look "beaten up" on both Trenton Line platforms at North
Philadelphia all four there are in service...

This makes me wonder if the Key readers on the entire Chestnut Hill West and Cynwyd Lines are active...
And: Stations such as 49th Street, Angora, Allegheny, Wister, Olney, Lawndale, Bridesburg and North Broad St.?

For anyone that thinks that TVMs should be at all stations - it is bad enough that these Key readers are out
of service due to vandalism issues...A TVM would be even more of a target for problems unless they can be
constantly watched in some way, shape or form by SEPTA and/or local authorities...

If anyone notices Key readers out of service and plated over anyplace take note...MACTRAXX
 #1583860  by CNJGeep
 
There are four stations with vandalism issues, all on the Trenton Line. Tacony is one of them, Bridesburg is another. Eddington and Holmesburg are the other two.

North Philly was but has since stabilized.

Sharon Hill also had vandalism issues but after being replaced once there were no further issues.

No issues other than graffiti on the readers at any other stations. There is a roving team that goes out to fix vandalized machines when they get a report of them.
 #1583888  by MACTRAXX
 
CNJ: Thanks for the reply...and the note that the vandalism to Key readers is limited to a few select stations.

SEPTA has bragged at times about the quantity of cameras that they have around the system watching riders...
How about strategically placing hidden cameras at these four stations to try and catch those responsible for
the Key reader (or other) vandalism? This may help make Eddington, Holmesburg Junction, Tacony and
Bridesburg a safer place for the users of the stations if they can be any kind of a deterrent.

Good to know that SEPTA has a team that takes care of the Key readers and makes repairs as needed...
MACTRAXX
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