Can SEPTA Key unlock a better tomorrow or will it lock in bitter disappointment?

WHAT’S ON TAP FOR WHERE TO TAP

For most of SEPTA’s modes, SEPTA Key won’t significantly change how passengers actually board and alight. On buses, riders will tap SEPTA Key where they used to drop a token or swipe a pass. Buses will still take cash and still won’t make change.

On the subway lines, users will tap to get through a turnstile and – unlike the contactless fare systems in DC and London – will not need to tap to exit. 

And the trolley system will be like it is today: sometimes more like a bus, other times more like a subway.

Only regional rail passengers will really have a change. PlanPhilly has covered this controversy before, so I’ll be brief here. Like a thorough assassin, regional rail will use a double-tap, meaning passengers will need to tap their fare device once as they get on the train and once as they get off. If a user fails to tap at either end, they will be charged the maximum fee.

At the five Center City stations, the regional rail platforms will be behind SEPTA Key turnstyles, forcing the 97 percent of riders who either get arrive or depart from them to tap at least once. At all the other stations, there will be handful of validators for riders to use.

On the trains, the conductors will have handheld validators for passengers, which will allow late-running customers to jump on a train without stopping to validate at the station first. They will also patrol for potential free riders and continue their customer assistance and safety job functions.

DATA IS TOO IMPORTANT TO PLANPHILLY FOR A BAD SUB-HEADLINE JOKE

According to Kevin O’Brien, SEPTA Key Program Manager, SEPTA Key users will be able to look up their individual trip histories, which will be mildly interesting for many riders. 

More importantly, a high tech system like this will yield lots of great data for regional planners. By tracking aggregate transactions – SEPTA says it won’t look at individual trip data except pursuant to a subpoena or law enforcement request – planners will be able to get a better sense of how people use SEPTA, which should eventually lead to more efficient service. For example, it will be clearer how many riders transfer from bus line X to bus line Y, or go from a subway line to a trolley, creating a more complete picture of the entire trip passengers make.

The improved information gathering, “won’t just help with [planning],” said Dennis Hiller, Chief Officer of Revenue, Advertising and Sales at SEPTA. “It’ll help with fare analysis, too.” 

For subway, regional rail and some trolley lines, SEPTA Key will be able track where exactly a passenger gets on. For regional rail, it will also track where riders disembark.

When asked if the system will be able to say where along a bus route passengers got on, integration officer Hickman said, “In the future, we’d hope that it’d be able to give us at least close to that.” 

Such pinpoint information would be particularly useful for determining how best to consolidate bus stops – e.g., if the data show that dozens get on at 21st Street, and only one at 20th Street, it becomes obvious which one to remove –  which can make the entire system more efficient.

IT’S THE SMALL THINGS THAT MATTER

There is also a smattering of small improvements that will show up across SEPTA as Key rolls out.

Park-and-ride commuters on the regional rail will be able to use their SEPTA Key account to pay for parking.

For riders who use their own credit or debit cards as their primary SEPTA Key farecards, SEPTA will eat the transaction fees. To be clear, that’s only on SEPTA travel transactions. SEPTA also plans on accepting all major credit cards, including American Express and Discover.

Many senior citizens won’t need to worry about new fare cards, NFC-enabled smartphones or contactless credit cards. SEPTA’s keeping a magnetic strip readers that will remain on all validators for the use of Quick Trip tickets, or one-way trip cards that will replace using 9 quarters to get on the subway for those who refuse to use SEPTA Key. Those same magnetic strip readers will read Pennsylvania drivers licenses, and if you’re over 65, you’ll be able to swipe your ID and ride the bus, trolley and subway for free. Regional rail riding seniors will still need to pay a $1, though.   

THE KEY GOING FORWARD: UX

SEPTA Key is little more than a user experience capital improvement project. Unlike most things railroads and bus lines spend their money on, it won’t make the trains run faster or engines last longer. It’ll simply make the system more pleasant to use. Good user experience, or UX in the argot, is what makes products easy and intuitive to use. Great UX is what makes Apple products so easy toddlers can use them. That in turn makes Apple a ton of money.

We’ve come to expect great UX from tech companies like Apple and horrible UX from public agencies like SEPTA. After all, Apple is trying to enslave us all with their terribly addictive devices maximize shareholder wealth, whereas SEPTA doesn’t really get anything for increasing its market share by improving its services (besides industry trade group awards). Many of SEPTA’s customers are a captive market – they really don’t have any other choice but to use SEPTA because driving is too expensive and walking or biking is too far.

Yet, despite all that, a change may be afoot. Real time updates for next arriving trains and buses are on the way. Long decrepit stations are being renovated. And tokens are being regulated to the scrap heap of history.

But a final word of caution: all of the above is what SEPTA says it will do. Prototypes, tests, hopes and promises are all well and good. But until the SEPTA Key launches and lives up to the hype so thoroughly raised herein, riders will rightfully withhold judgment. 

*Correction 2/26/14 12:04 P.M.: This sentence originally said all regional rail stations are planned to have kiosks. That was inaccurate. Some of the smaller regional rail stations outside of Center City are expected to have validators only, and no kiosks.