SEPTA Key fails again for some riders, for the fourth time in recent weeks

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Some SEPTA riders are enjoying a free ride on the system on Wednesday because they cannot buy a new SEPTA Key fare card or add money to existing cards.

The agency’s Andrew Busch said the system has failed “at least four” times in the past three weeks, and there is a pattern to those glitches.

“Approximately 7:30 in the morning, sales go down,” he said. “People who need to purchase a ticket or load up their card at a kiosk or online aren’t able to do so. It’s been getting resolved in about one to two hours.”

SEPTA is waiving fares for people with empty Key cards or those who cannot purchase a fare card. People with cash, a credit card or other payment methods are unaffected.

Busch said the recurring incidents are causing confusion. “It creates inconvenience for our customers and it’s a problem that’s been recurring way too much.”

The transit agency is working on finding a solution with Conduit, the vendor that supplies the system.

Busch said they haven’t been able to calculate how much money SEPTA is losing because of the issue, but it could be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We’re not hearing any complaints from customers that they were unable to board a vehicle. So people are able to get where they’re going. But you know, you’re at the station, you’re trying to just do what you would do every day, purchase a ticket or load up your card, and you can’t do it. That’s going to create confusion that’s going to create some inconvenience,” Busch added.

The issue does not impact the majority of riders.

“It’s only a small percentage of people who have to load or purchase a new card in the morning. A lot of people are going on passes, or they have some money loaded up. We have more people using the contactless methods, such as a credit card or your Apple wallet, but no doubt we’re losing some revenue,” Busch said.

There is no timetable for a permanent fix.