(The following story by Paul Nussbaum appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspaper on November 29.)
SEPTA yesterday took its first tentative step out of the era of tokens and paper tickets, announcing its plan to award a contract for a “smart card” by the end of next year.
But it is likely to be three years or longer and to cost at least $100 million – based on other cities’ experiences – before SEPTA riders can wave a card at a turnstile and be on their way.
SEPTA officials said yesterday they would issue requests for smart-card proposals early next year. They want financial institutions and other smart-card makers to offer fare-collection systems that can work on subways, buses, trolleys, regional rail trains and para-transit.
Other transit agencies have been moving toward “contactless” fare systems for years, and SEPTA passengers – and city and state politicians – have grown increasingly impatient with SEPTA’s relative lack of progress.
PATCO, the 14-mile rail line between Center City and South Jersey, introduced its new smart card this month and expects all its stations to be fully converted to use the card by the end of February.
Washington, Boston, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Seattle and Houston are among the regions moving to transit smart cards, with plans to eventually enable the cards to pay for parking, coffee, newspapers and other sundries of the commuting life.
Rather than developing a smart card that is good only for its vehicles, SEPTA may go directly to a new-generation Visa or MasterCard, officials said yesterday. That would make a bus or train ride just another retail transaction, deducted automatically from a customer’s card account.
For occasional riders or customers without credit cards, SEPTA would also offer its own card that could be “reloaded” with cash at vending machines.
SEPTA officials are watching with interest New York’s experience on its Lexington Avenue subway line, where Citibank and MasterCard paid to put in smart-card readers for their bank cards and key fobs.
Although SEPTA officials previously said they hoped to have a new smart-card system in place by 2010, general manager Faye Moore said yesterday the date would depend on the proposals that card-makers offer.
“Our time line is very aggressive, but unfortunately, the industry might slow it down,” Moore said at a news conference.
Moore declined to speculate how much the new system might cost, but SEPTA officials noted that Chicago spent $120 million, Atlanta $129 million and Boston $190 million.
Also unknown is any impact on SEPTA’s workforce. With an automated fare system, would some SEPTA toll-takers, cashiers or money-counters be laid off? Moore said it was unclear how jobs might change. She noted that New York converted some of its cashiers to customer-service representatives with the advent of MTA’s MetroCard and the abolition of tokens in 2003.
A forthcoming SEPTA smart-card system might not be compatible with PATCO’s new system, even though the agencies share concourses in Center City. SEPTA is hoping to adopt an “open” collection system that accepts a regular credit card, while PATCO’s is a “closed” system, with its own unique card.
But Jerry Kane, SEPTA’s project manager for the fare collection study, said specifications might be developed that would permit riders of PATCO and SEPTA to use a single card.
Matt Mitchell, of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, said SEPTA should be able to develop a smart-card system more quickly than other agencies.
“A lot of the challenges have already been figured out . . . we’re among the last of the major systems” to shift to smart cards, Mitchell said. He praised SEPTA’s decision to focus on “contactless” computer-chip technology, rather than less-advanced, magnetic-strip cards in use in some systems.
In New Jersey, NJ Transit is developing a pilot program for two bus routes in Jersey City to make fare collection compatible with the SmartLink card now available on PATH trains to New York. Systemwide development of smart-card technology will depend on whether NJ Transit decides to go with an “open” bank-card system or a “closed” system unique to the agency.