SEPTA sucks (Norristown, Paoli: option to buy, shops, buses)

[1ondoner]

My son takes the bus in the Summer and he's been using the SEPTA tokens to pay for his fair. I usually buy the tokens from the Paoli station but they have discontinued selling them in favor of the SEPTA key.

However, they don't sell the SEPTA key at the Paoli station and the closest suburban station where I can buy the SEPTA key is the Norristown terminal. Only that they close at 1 pm and are closed during the weekend.

If SEPTA is keen on increasing their ridership, they need to up their game. And don't get me started on the reliability of the bus my son takes. On the app it shows the bus is coming however it never shows up at his stop. From what we can tell the bus skips some stops and uses a non-designated route.

Thank God we have a few more months to put up with this bullsh*t after which my son can drive solo.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

My son takes the bus in the Summer and he's been using the SEPTA tokens to pay for his fair. I usually buy the tokens from the Paoli station but they have discontinued selling them in favor of the SEPTA key.

However, they don't sell the SEPTA key at the Paoli station and the closest suburban station where I can buy the SEPTA key is the Norristown terminal. Only that they close at 1 pm and are closed during the weekend.

If SEPTA is keen on increasing their ridership, they need to up their game. And don't get me started on the reliability of the bus my son takes. On the app it shows the bus is coming however it never shows up at his stop. From what we can tell the bus skips some stops and uses a non-designated route.

Thank God we have a few more months to put up with this bullsh*t after which my son can drive solo.

"Fare" not "fair". It's your bloody language originating from the place you came from. Lol

The rest of this is kinda

[AJNEOA]

You can thank funding for most of this problem. It's not like SEPTA doesn't want to put Key dispensers other places or stay open longer, they just have to be very careful with where they put their money. And skipping transit completely just dis-invests more by reducing ridership and fare recovery. Btw, you only have to go to get a Key once. Then you can manage the account online or at select terminals. Not really an issue if you're planning properly.

In terms of bus routes and quality of drivers, routes and tracking. That is something that SEPTA should be on top of. But they're not on some lines. There are some really great drivers and some really terrible drivers for sure. And there are some good routes with proper infrastructure and terrible routes with traffic and poor configurations.

I do agree that the GPS tracking should be dead-on at this point, given the current state of technology.

[1ondoner]

I was hoping I could buy the key card online but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

You can thank funding for most of this problem. It's not like SEPTA doesn't want to put Key dispensers other places or stay open longer, they just have to be very careful with where they put their money. And skipping transit completely just dis-invests more by reducing ridership and fare recovery. Btw, you only have to go to get a Key once. Then you can manage the account online or at select terminals. Not really an issue if you're planning properly.

In terms of bus routes and quality of drivers, routes and tracking. That is something that SEPTA should be on top of. But they're not on some lines. There are some really great drivers and some really terrible drivers for sure. And there are some good routes with proper infrastructure and terrible routes with traffic and poor configurations.

I do agree that the GPS tracking should be dead-on at this point, given the current state of technology.

[PHL10]

Once they start accepting Key on the Regional Rail, that should solve the problem. meaning, they will have kiosks at all the stations.

[thedirtypirate]

For me the Key Card is infinitely better because you can reload it online.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

I was hoping I could buy the key card online but this doesn't seem to be the case.

I hear you. But "SEPTA sucks" isn't really representative of the whole picture. I get equally frustrated by some of these things, but there's a lot to SEPTA. And there's a lot of good.

[1ondoner]

Why get rid of the tokens while the Key card is not available in the suburbs?

I first attempted to buy the Key card at a city station and the attendant wrongly advised me that it would not work on the suburban bus routes even after he spoke to their supervisor on the radio call. After which I went to Paoli stop which has a manned ticket office (with a very kind gentleman, who has served me a couple of times) and they only sell the weekly passes. He referred me to the Norristown station which turns out they close at 1 pm on weekdays so you can imagine my surprise when I got there and they are closed on weekends.

I checked the SEPTA website and there's no option to buy the keycard online. All these on top of a unreliable bus service.

In many countries I've been to, the contactless are available even in supermarkets and corner shops.

Originally Posted by PHL10

Once they start accepting Key on the Regional Rail, that should solve the problem. meaning, they will have kiosks at all the stations.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

Why get rid of the tokens while the Key card is not available in the suburbs?

I first attempted to buy the Key card at a city station and the attendant wrongly advised me that it would not work on the suburban bus routes even after he spoke to their supervisor on the radio call. After which I went to Paoli stop which has a manned ticket office (with a very kind gentleman, who has served me a couple of times) and they only sell the weekly passes. He referred me to the Norristown station which turns out they close at 1 pm on weekdays so you can imagine my surprise when I got there and they are closed on weekends.

I checked the SEPTA website and there's no option to buy the keycard online. All these on top of a unreliable bus service.

In many countries I've been to, the contactless are available even in supermarkets and corner shops.

As you probably discovered key cards have been working on suburban transit(buses, nhsl, trolleys) for months. I am assuming, though, that all suburban buses have working key card readers.

[1ondoner]

I'm yet to use SEPTA and will unlikely ever use it. It's my son who needs to use the bus to go for his Summer gig. I had bought tokens earlier in the year for him to use in the Summer and they will soon run out. We can pick him from work in the evenings however he has to take the bus to work in the mid-morning while we are both at work.

So you can imagine our dismay when he calls us at work if the bus fails to show up at his busstop so that we can take him to work. Luckily, we both work 15 minutes away and one of us can drop him to work. I'm trying to convince him to ride his bike to work should the bus not show up as there is a trail that he can use and not cycle on the roads.

Originally Posted by kyb01

As you probably discovered key cards have been working on suburban transit(buses, nhsl, trolleys) for months. I am assuming, though, that all suburban buses have working key card readers.