SEPTA meets with stakeholders about new electronic fare system

After selecting a company to provide electronic farecards, SEPTA is meeting today with stakeholders who want to shape the new payment system.  

The electronic fare collection system is supposed to make things easier for SEPTA riders, but Matthew Mitchell of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers says any big changes won’t be good on the regional rail lines.

“SEPTA’s proposal is to put turnstiles in the Center City stations, force everybody to swipe their card there and then when they get to their outlying station in the city and suburbs they would be required to tag their card on a reader,” said Mitchell.

Andrew Busch of the transit agency says by the time the new system is installed for regional rail, most people will already have the smart debit or credit cards that would work with the system.

“We feel it’s going to be a system that is going to allow them to move as freely as they do now,” said Busch.

Busch says SEPTA is considering giving conductors hand held devices to help with the process.

Riders who now pay cash would have to buy refillable cards from SEPTA that work with the new system.