Dec7 |
 |
SEPTA On Long, Endless Path To Go Sans Tokens
It’s been a week since SEPTA said they were finally beginning to look at new card technology to replace tokens, and yesterday Metro had a nice little wrap-up of a ton of little facts about SEPTA and transit cards in general. In short, it seems like this: By the time SEPTA finally introduces its smart card — which will allow riders to simply zip through the turnstiles — you probably won’t live here anymore. Well, okay, you might still live here, but in Atlanta it took six years and $190 million to fully install the system. Translate that to Eastern Standard Philadelphia/SEPTA time, and you’re looking at smart cards installed in Philadelphia sometime in the neighborhood of 2045. But no matter! Although SEPTA estimates the system would cost somewhere between $130 and $190 million, officials both in the ATL and with PATCO said ridership increases should be able to offset any upgrade costs. Because PATCO is on a new industry standard, SEPTA could just use the same-style card and it could be used on both! If this all sounds convenient and smart, you just figured out why you won’t be seeing smart cards anytime soon. |
|
|
|
Actually this a far more complex issue than it’s made out to be. Even PATCO, an infinitely smaller system had major problems with getting this running. Being an quasi-governmental agency that doesn’t try to comply with the freedom of info acts, they don’t have to specifically devulge all the problems and costs overruns incurred with this. The standard PATCO used for the Smart Cards as SEPTA also mentioned is a proprietary standard which also may create HUGE challenges with integration of other systems. PATCO was a trail-blazer by starting this years ago, but if SEPTA is smart, they certainly won’t follow in lockstep. SEPTA now needs to take the lead.