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Old 08-10-2017, 03:58 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7,736 posts, read 5,513,631 times
Reputation: 5978

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Saw someone posted this else where today and figured I would share here:


The new screen will show you how to get a Quick Trip from the start screen along with instructing you to tap the card against the reader to reload.

It looks to be finally very easy to use. So many people would get confused about how to buy a single ride because the Quick Trip Option was like a hidden secondary menu. Since the Key's are free, I think the best thing to do is get one and just load $20 on to it if you are just going to be riding around for a day or two. I don't think I will ever buy another token again.

How have other people's experiences been with it?
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Old 08-11-2017, 06:38 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
288 posts, read 244,788 times
Reputation: 285
My wife and I got our Septa Key months ago and the kiosk menu to obtain it was confusing even for me, as an engineer who works on instruments and UI. So I had to think about it for a moment to figure out what it was trying to make me do. Ever since, using the Key has been fine for us. I reload my card online, which is still clunky and un-intuitive.

Can you add funds to the Key card/travel wallet AT a kiosk? You can add funds to a Metrocard from the first screen at an MTA kisok but I don't see a similar option here.
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Old 08-11-2017, 07:17 AM
 
5,546 posts, read 6,872,026 times
Reputation: 3826
Yup: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...rovements.html

Does anyone use the Key's Monthly Transpass? I used to get a card through the Wage Works program (using the old cards still), but now need to purchase a SEPTA Key card version. This site could not be more confusing:

SEPTA | Introducing the Future of Fare Payment at SEPTA

How easy is it to reload every month?

I thought that SEPTA would start to manage actual user accounts so someone could associate a card with a person and then you could manage everything more easily. Apparently not...
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Old 08-11-2017, 07:54 AM
 
10,787 posts, read 8,755,490 times
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People are still using tokens and old transpasses although I am noticing more and more key card use.

About time they fixed this!
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Old 08-11-2017, 08:00 AM
 
10,787 posts, read 8,755,490 times
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Most of you don't care about this but why does it take months to process and receive( they're mailed out) senior transit key cards?
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Old 08-11-2017, 01:34 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7,736 posts, read 5,513,631 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BK_PHL_DEL View Post

Can you add funds to the Key card/travel wallet AT a kiosk? You can add funds to a Metrocard from the first screen at an MTA kisok but I don't see a similar option here.
Yes that's the "reload" feature. You tap the card against the reader and it brings up your balance and account. You add money to it then.
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Old 08-11-2017, 02:25 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
288 posts, read 244,788 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thedirtypirate View Post
Yes that's the "reload" feature. You tap the card against the reader and it brings up your balance and account. You add money to it then.
Thanks, it was staring me right in the face looking at the picture. D'oh!
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Old 08-11-2017, 03:52 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7,736 posts, read 5,513,631 times
Reputation: 5978
Quote:
Originally Posted by BK_PHL_DEL View Post
Thanks, it was staring me right in the face looking at the picture. D'oh!
Don't worry, I agree it fails in being clear. The one right now is awful. This upgrade still isn't that clear in explaining a Quick Trip is essentially a single token and that you can only use a quick trip one way. So you cannot buy two quick trips at city hall and ride to the stadium and use the second city hall quick trip. You need to buy another quick trip from the stadium to city hall. It is not really explained anywhere until you buy two and wonder why it's not working at the stadium when the game lets out, basically the worst time. For that reason I suggest people get a SEPTA Key even if they only plan on riding once or twice.

Last edited by thedirtypirate; 08-11-2017 at 04:01 PM..
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Old 08-11-2017, 06:42 PM
 
Location: Philly, PA
385 posts, read 400,805 times
Reputation: 194
I'm glad they fixed the UI. It appears to be much more user friendly, easier to navigate. I never had a problem with the original, but i can see where and how others had issues with it.
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Old 08-11-2017, 11:52 PM
 
Location: Germantown, Philadelphia
14,166 posts, read 9,054,479 times
Reputation: 10506
Quote:
Originally Posted by BK_PHL_DEL View Post
My wife and I got our Septa Key months ago and the kiosk menu to obtain it was confusing even for me, as an engineer who works on instruments and UI. So I had to think about it for a moment to figure out what it was trying to make me do. Ever since, using the Key has been fine for us. I reload my card online, which is still clunky and un-intuitive.

Can you add funds to the Key card/travel wallet AT a kiosk? You can add funds to a Metrocard from the first screen at an MTA kisok but I don't see a similar option here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJNEOA View Post
Yup: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...rovements.html

Does anyone use the Key's Monthly Transpass? I used to get a card through the Wage Works program (using the old cards still), but now need to purchase a SEPTA Key card version. This site could not be more confusing:

SEPTA | Introducing the Future of Fare Payment at SEPTA

How easy is it to reload every month?

I thought that SEPTA would start to manage actual user accounts so someone could associate a card with a person and then you could manage everything more easily. Apparently not...
Monthly SEPTA Key pass user here.

It's about as easy to reload a pass onto the Key card as it is to refill a Travel Wallet with fare money, but there was the same issue with the user-hostile interface - like so many others, I got a second Key card the first time I tried reloading a pass onto the card.

Jim Saksa at Plan Philly, who I used to run into a lot more often when I was reporting on transportation for Phillymag, has a very good explainer of what got fixed - and equally important, what didn't - in this revised kiosk UI:

After hundreds accidentally get multiple Key cards, SEPTA takes a step to fix confusing kiosks | Plan Philly

As he notes in the article, the language used on the displays still bears only a passing resemblance to English and remains unclear: "Add Travel Wallet" would not lead me to conclude that choosing that option lets me put more money into my stored-value Key card. And the fix for this would be soooooo easy: "Add Cash to Travel Wallet" (or "Add Cash for Fares") instead. "Purchase Transit Pass" is at least straightforward. And the kiosk now throws a screen of legalese at you if you want to get a Key card for the first time, a step backward.

Reloading a pass every month or week is not that difficult at the kiosk, and will be easier now that the confusing intro screen has gone bye-bye.

The online site is if anything even more user-unfriendly: while you won't get a second Key card by accident, the langauge is once again abstruse - and the icons make no sense and aren't themselves clickable links, which they should be. (Why would a shield with a dollar sign on it signify "Register Key Card"? I might have gone for an image of a Key card with a passport stamp or something like that. And what does "Add Product to Key Card" mean? Will I give my card a perm or color treatment if I choose this? What's wrong with "Load Fares Onto Your Card"?

Whoever at SEPTA thought these were good user interfaces didn't know squat about user interfaces.

Edited to add:
Wait, you want to get a new Key card via the website? You can't do that at all - you need to visit a kiosk to get one.
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