(The following story by Eileen Stilwell appeared on the Cherry Hill Courier-Post website on August 1.)
CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Today SEPTA will no longer offer cut-rate transfer fares to riders in need of a transit connection to reach their destinations.
The good news for South Jersey residents using the PATCO Hi-Speedline, however, is transfers to SEPTA subway lines and many bus routes will still be available at the same $2.10 round-trip price on the Jersey side of the Delaware.
Riders must buy the transfer at a PATCO station in New Jersey before embarking on their trip. Otherwise, they will have to pay the full cash fare of $2 per single ride to SEPTA.
PATCO riders buy about 11,500 transfers per month, said Cheryl Spicer, PATCO’s assistant general manager.
“The real price would be $2.60 for a round-trip transfer, but SEPTA subsidizes 25 cents and so does PATCO to encourage people to use public transit,” said Spicer.
For the uninitiated, transfers are timed. The transfer for the first leg of the trip expires two hours after purchase and the second expires in 24 hours.
Boosting revenues to meet SEPTA’s relentless budget crisis by eliminating the 60-cent transfers was strongly opposed by the Delaware Valley Rail Passenger Association, a membership advocacy group that monitors mass transit in South Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania.
“City residents would bear an unfair burden from the fare restructuring,” particularly those with no alternative means of transportation, said DVARP President Tony DeSantis.
PATCO riders will continue to buy transfers from small red machines near the turnstiles until the line’s new fare collection system is installed, perhaps, by the end of the year. Then the combined ticket will be purchased in the same transaction.