Asking Philosophically: Why do people hate SEPTA so much? (Philadelphia: sales, wage)

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by selhars

Well, a friend just told me about a frustrating experience:
She wanted to buy a Septa Key (fare card) for a family member.
-- She couldn't by a monthly pass in the middle of the month.
-- She had to go to certain transportation centers to buy one. (which wasn't convenient)
-- She had to buy a weekly pass, that's NOT renewable. (She wasn't told this at purchase. Only was told when she went to put more money on it to buy another week.)
-- She couldn't buy a monthly pass until the first day of the month.
-- When the nephew bought the pass, it wasn't good starting that day. He had to wait until the next day to use it. So he still had to have money for his trips that day.

Her thoughts: "WTF?"
-- Why can't a monthly pass be bought at any time? It can't be prorated in some way?
-- Why can't weekly passes be renewed? IF a person wants to just renew weekly passes, why can't they?
-- Why can't passes be valid for use immediately after purchase?

We can put men on the moon and probes on Mars, and purchasing SEPTA passes puts people through this kind of BS?
In her experience, buying the passes was just too aggravating and inconvenient. So needless to say she's feeling no love for SEPTA when it comes to that issue.

She, herself is NOT a regular SEPTA rider. She might take the commuter train once or twice a year.

Septa Key is the renewable aqua colored fare card. That is one can add money to your virtual septa key wallet for fare payment.

Trans passes(weekly or monthly) are the old payment card system and have never been renewable and never will be. Septa is still supporting them for now. When they expire you have to purchase a new card.

Key cards are meant to be tapped on the turnstile display. Passes are meant to be swiped.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by TheProf

but also the crowded neighborhood along Girard to the west.
Further north, across the Schuylkill River, this line diagonally cuts through the busy Strawberry Mansion neighborhood -- again with no stops.
SEPTA should explore at least one Regional Rail stop here served by the Trenton and Chestnut Hill West lines.

I'm sure I'll be dead in the ground before Septa adds a train station in Strawberry Mansion or the Girard Ave neighborhood. No way they upset the sensibilities of those fine Chestnut Hill passengers.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Septa Key is the renewable aqua colored fare card. That is one can add money to your virtual septa key wallet for fare payment.

Trans passes(weekly or monthly) are the old payment card system and have never been renewable and never will be. Septa is still supporting them for now. When they expire you have to purchase a new card.

Key cards are meant to be tapped on the turnstile display. Passes are meant to be swiped.

No use of the wallet on Regional Rail yet. I saw somebody get removed from a train yesterday because he swiped his card at the turnstiles and then was told it doesn't work while riding the train. He had to get off at Temple University.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

I'm sure I'll be dead in the ground before Septa adds a train station in Strawberry Mansion or the Girard Ave neighborhood. No way they upset the sensibilities of those fine Chestnut Hill passengers.

The issue is likely the cost of fare and resulting farebox recovery. Chestnut Hill passengers would likely have no say in it. For example, riding the 23 bus is less than half as expensive as a ride on the train into Center City.

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by TheProf

To answer the question of the thread, I have one answer: Philadelphians.

lol. somewhat true, but people complain everywhere.

I complained about the East Market station in the first reply in this thread.

I was walking around a bit yesterday and got there and came up and out at the atrium area there and honestly it was a very good experience. Idk if it is just because it's Army-Navy week, but a fresh coat of paint had to have just been applied to everything. Old guy was playing the piano, I bought something from 5 Below, and a coffee from Dunkin. On a good day that side of the station can be very pleasant.

I took a photo to commemorate

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Septa Key is the renewable aqua colored fare card. That is one can add money to your virtual septa key wallet for fare payment.

Trans passes(weekly or monthly) are the old payment card system and have never been renewable and never will be. Septa is still supporting them for now. When they expire you have to purchase a new card.

Key cards are meant to be tapped on the turnstile display. Passes are meant to be swiped.

Key cards also "store" weekly and monthly passes. This was one of the other big fails of SEPTA's implementation of contactless stored-value fare cards: They spent no time questioning whether their old fare structures (passes, discounted fares, transfers) was the optimal arrangement from both a revenue and a rider convenience standpoint.

The new technology should have made it possible to at least offer either unlimited-use passes that expired a set number of days after you first use them or a bulk-trip purchase option where you only reload after you've used all the trips you've purchased, no matter how soon or long that happens. And they could have explored some sort of non-pass fare arrangement where a transit rider could switch to and from Regional Rail without paying a separate full fare. But no - they stuck with the system they'd had in place already.

And the old-style passes, which will go away eventually, now have NFC capability, it appears - I've seen riders tap them against the fare card readers on the buses.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

lol. somewhat true, but people complain everywhere.

I complained about the East Market station in the first reply in this thread.

I was walking around a bit yesterday and got there and came up and out at the atrium area there and honestly it was a very good experience. Idk if it is just because it's Army-Navy week, but a fresh coat of paint had to have just been applied to everything. Old guy was playing the piano, I bought something from 5 Below, and a coffee from Dunkin. On a good day that side of the station can be very pleasant.

I took a photo to commemorate

If it makes any difference, your photo is of the atrium of a privately owned mixed-use office/retail development inside the shell of a former downtown department store. There are plans, currently on ice, to add an apartment tower to this.

But in any case, this isn't part of SEPTA's domain, even if there are two rapid transit stations abutting it. To get to Jefferson Station from here, you currently have to walk two blocks on the surface, and will have to do this until the makeover of the Gallery at Market East into Fashion District Philadelphia is complete late next year.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

I'm sure I'll be dead in the ground before Septa adds a train station in Strawberry Mansion or the Girard Ave neighborhood. No way they upset the sensibilities of those fine Chestnut Hill passengers.

I strongly doubt the operating folks would want a station there either. Zoo Interlocking - Philadelphia PA

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Key cards also "store" weekly and monthly passes. This was one of the other big fails of SEPTA's implementation of contactless stored-value fare cards: They spent no time questioning whether their old fare structures (passes, discounted fares, transfers) was the optimal arrangement from both a revenue and a rider convenience standpoint.

The new technology should have made it possible to at least offer either unlimited-use passes that expired a set number of days after you first use them or a bulk-trip purchase option where you only reload after you've used all the trips you've purchased, no matter how soon or long that happens. And they could have explored some sort of non-pass fare arrangement where a transit rider could switch to and from Regional Rail without paying a separate full fare. But no - they stuck with the system they'd had in place already.

And the old-style passes, which will go away eventually, now have NFC capability, it appears - I've seen riders tap them against the fare card readers on the buses.

I was unaware of what you said in your first sentence. The rest I agree with.

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

And the old-style passes, which will go away eventually, now have NFC capability, it appears - I've seen riders tap them against the fare card readers on the buses.

Are you sure you saw this?


I think what you might have seen are people who use the paper cards provided by social service organizations that have the key card functionality embedded in them. They typically say something like "good for two trips". Or what have you. It's the replacement for the former program of providing these organizations tokens.


I still use the old style tranpasses, due to getting them from my employer. SEPTA claims they don't know how to do this on the keycard, which I don't quite understand. I'm not aware of any ability to do anything besides swipe it.