SEPTA NPT card will be "SEPTA Key"?

https://billypenn.com/2022/06/29/septa- ... ladelphia/

Many SEPTA Regional Rail users have been getting charged double for trips into Center City.


After Billy Penn reached out to SEPTA, the transit authority acknowledged the problem and blamed a software bug.


About 1,600 customers were affected, according to spokesperson John Golden.


“The issue of duplicate fare charges on SEPTA customer Key cards was triggered by a bug in the software, causing some fare validators to go off-line. The result was that some accounts incurred a negative card balance,” Golden said.

SEPTA has put a software fix in place and so far issued refunds for about half of the affected customers, he said.

seems like SEPTA didn't care about refunding until Billy Penn news agency intervened.
SEPTA always has been scummy

ryan92084 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 01, 2022 9:27 am Unannounced? discounts for

• 3 pack independence pass $35 ($1 savings)

• Convenience pass $6 ($3 savings)

• 3 day convenience pass $15 ($3 savings)

Not sure if it is just for the holiday weekend or what

This discount continues. In addition I've heard (but can not verify) that the tunnel/via fare for the travel wallet has been reduced to $6.50 while previously it was the same as the on board rate of $9.25. Still no official announcement afaik.

Key card parking still isn't up and running so free parking is extended again until August 31st.

Yes that is true, they have lowered the price to ride through the tunnel.
Shame that Septa could not lowered the price of the independence pass to a lower price.
I'm not sure if zone 1 is now $3.75, again think lowering the price of zone 1 to $3 would be good for the paying customers.

One Day Independence $11
Three Day Independence $30

Has anyone heard anything about Key 2.0?
Things like getting rid of the debit card feature, Apple and Google pay, tap pay with credit cards?
Hopefully Septa will make more fare policy updates like having unlimited transfers in a 90 minute window and fare capping.
Maybe even new fare gates soon.

Ah found the changes. It was giving me the old tariffs still when i checked last time. Here are the highlights

• This tariff reflects July 2017 pricing and includes the cost saving initiatives that were approved for
  implementation in July 2020 and July 2022.
• Renamed “Disabled” where applicable to Reduced Fare.
• Lowered the price of the One Day Convenience Pass from $9.00 to $6.00.
• Lowered the price of the Three Day Convenience Pass from $18.00 to $15.00.
• The One Day Independence Pass renamed to Anywhere FleX Pass. The one-day pass is valid for
  travel on Transit and up to and including Zone 4 on Regional Rail.
• The Anywhere FleX Pass will retain all the features and benefits of the former One Day
  Independence Pass.
• Lowered the price of the former One Day Independence Pass or newly named Anywhere FleX Pass
  quantity purchase of 3 from $36.00 to $35.00.
• Introduction of the Neighborhood FleX Pass valid for one-day travel on Transit and up to and
  including Zone 2 on Regional Rail. The Neighborhood FleX Pass is priced at $10.00 or can be
  purchased in a quantity of 3 for value pricing at $27.00. New product availability may be delayed
  beyond July 1, 2022, to allow for software development.
• Lowered the Travel Wallet One Way Via Fare for travel within Pennsylvania from $9.25 to $6.50.
• Lowered the Travel Wallet One Way Fare for travel at all times from/to Zone 1 and CCP from $4.00
  to $3.75.
• Discontinued state issued driver/non-driver identification cards with magnetic stripe will no longer
  be accepted as valid media for senior fare payment.
• Introduction of the Universal Travel Program. The Universal Travel Program will offer
  transportation as a member benefit to qualifying employers or other qualifying entities. See
  Section (L) for details.

Interesting that the via change doesn't apply to NJ travel so still no key discount there. Onboard is still cheaper to buy NJ via than NJ one way
The parking tariff gives some insight on how that system will work when implemented http://www.septa.org/fares/pdf/Tariff-1 ... Y-2023.pdf in particular overnight/long term parking and "Unregistered" credit/debit cards costing double+.

Wider testing of mobile payments for non-Regional Rail uses to start in September:

https://www.inquirer.com/transportation ... 20818.html

Sounds like Regional Rail is probably next spring.

We just got back from a trip that included public transit use in both Miami and New York City.

Public transit in both places allowed us to simply tap our phones and pay with Apple Pay—no surcharge, no fare card, nothing. Tap and go, as if we were locals.

It really highlighted how SEPTA is about 10 years behind on payments. They really need to allow contactless payments for all transit modes, and kindly skip the BS surcharges.

Does anyone else remember SEPTA management crowing about going "from worst to first" with SEPTA Key?

Haven't seen anything about surcharges we are just waiting for the hardware updates to finish rolling out then onto testing.

dcipjr wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 9:00 am We just got back from a trip that included public transit use in both Miami and New York City.

Public transit in both places allowed us to simply tap our phones and pay with Apple Pay—no surcharge, no fare card, nothing. Tap and go, as if we were locals.

It really highlighted how SEPTA is about 10 years behind on payments. They really need to allow contactless payments for all transit modes, and kindly skip the BS surcharges.

Does anyone else remember SEPTA management crowing about going "from worst to first" with SEPTA Key?

Lived in Philadelphia and the Philadelphia area for almost two decades, it has always felt a decade or two behind other large American cities, esp. SEPTA. SEPTA was still using tokens a half decade ago.

Don't knock tokens. They were a simple, effective, tried and true technology.

History is full of simple, effective, tried-and-true technology that nobody wants to bother with anymore.

Most people these days have their phones with them at all times, and want to be able to simply tap that phone against a reader and go, without any additional software, hardware, cards, or coins.

That is what will serve the needs of most of the riding public, and that's what SEPTA should be aiming for. Full stop.

And that is one of the intended goals afaik. They are working on two mobile payment updates last I heard. One is getting a standard single trip mobile fare rolling which would be the same as the cash/on board rate and the other is setting up a mobile key account to use your phone in lieu of a card. Septa would prefer to hold funds like many other companies (paypal, ezpass, dunkin, etc) to cut down on their processing fees etc and, for the time being at least, plans to continue offer incentives to do so.

Head-end View wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 9:07 pm Don't knock tokens. They were a simple, effective, tried and true technology.

dcipjr wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:56 am History is full of simple, effective, tried-and-true technology that nobody wants to bother with anymore.

Most people these days have their phones with them at all times, and want to be able to simply tap that phone against a reader and go, without any additional software, hardware, cards, or coins.

To me as a guy who had a lot of experience with usability designs, the issue isn't tokens per se but the functionality they offered. Even with SEPTA's eventual mobile upgrades, some of that functionality is gone.

* Tokens were small-d democratic. They were the same price for everyone whether you were a commuter, occasional rider, or a visitor.
* They came with automatic transfer privileges. Yeah $1 but again, it was available to everyone, not just card-holders.
* They were fungible for groups. Five people, one 10-pack, and everyone rides. SEPTA still hasn't clarified how and when groups will be able to pay using a single account.

Every place I worked, we made sure that upgrades or replacement systems didn't kill basic functionality that users depended on. The new version didn't have to replicate the specific methods of the prior version, but at a minimum it had to offer the same options and ease of use.

The " One Day Neighborhood FleX Pass" and the 3 bundle are in the system now and with this the independence pass is renamed "One Day Anywhere FleX Pass".

It's good that they have branding to them. Though I got to say the one day pass needs to be increased to 12 rides. 8 rides is simply to low to have enough value