SEPTA says gender stickers will end with new electronic fare system



SEPTA officials say when they upgrade to a high-tech fare collection system, they will stop requiring gender stickers for Transpasses. SEPTA thinks getting rid of the stickers now would cost four to five million dollars a year in lost fares.

Transgendered people don’t like the M and F stickers on Transpasses. They may be technically one gender, but look like another, and the stickers don’t fit their situation.  SEPTA general manager Joe Casey said the gender stickers are designed to reduce the sharing of the passes.

“We have certain passes that we know are shared, when you get passes that are used 150 to 180 times on a weekly basis you know they are being shared,” Casey said.

Casey explained the passes can be shared because their current fare collection system is antiquated.

“We don’t know who’s holding the pass they are just being used, it’s an obsolete system it’s just being used. We suspect it’s a lot of the delivery people in Philadelphia,” he said.

Casey said the gender stickers will be removed once SEPTA installs its new fare collection system, but that could take years.