Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-14-2011, 05:23 AM
 
Location: Midwest
1,283 posts, read 2,226,385 times
Reputation: 983

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by wordlife View Post
Something like a metrocard is gravely needed in Philly. It really is a pain in the *** when I have to go to a window and the clerk will be like, "yeah we don't have tokens, but you'll be able to use a card in 3 to 4 years". Its hilarious, you can't help but to laugh (this happened to me just a few days ago when I was down in philly). I know me, personally I "grew" up using metrocards and I think a similar system would be really good for Philadelphia, especially for people visiting the city who are using public transportation. I don't have a car, so whenever I'm down there I rely on SEPTA to get around the city and using tokens is just really frustrating.
For me, I was way more confused by the Metrocard than I was by tokens.

Nexis4Jersey is right about those computer chip cards. And it's not that simple. People stand in front of the machines for like 5 minutes in Minneapolis trying to figure out how to work the machines, and then just get on the train without paying because they can't figure it out. Saw it all the time. Although I assume Philadelphia would have a better fare checking system as opposed to random police searches. My point is, it's pretty confusing for out of town visitors.

The concept behind the token is extremely easy. You have tokens, they have rides: you give them a token, they give you a ride. I'm no world traveler, but out of the 6 or 7 cities I've used public transit in, SEPTA was the least confusing to learn.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-14-2011, 07:59 AM
 
Location: back in Philadelphia!
3,264 posts, read 5,652,428 times
Reputation: 2146
Again, I don't think the problem is with the tokens themselves, it's with how hard SEPTA's made it to buy the tokens. It was easy when there were token machines at every stop, but the situation now IS a pain.

If there was a card system but then you couldn't buy cards easily at every station, it would be the exact same problem.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-14-2011, 10:57 AM
 
5,802 posts, read 9,894,970 times
Reputation: 3051
Someone refresh my memory - Pittsburgh's PAT is upgrading it's fare collection system to SmartCards as we speak with full Go Live targeted next Spring..... Why wasn't SEPTA able to upgrade aren't they both state funded projects....

Thought I read someone both PAT and SEPTA had similar timelines for upgrading Fare Collection? Not the Regional Rail but the City and Suburban Divisions atleast.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-14-2011, 11:39 AM
 
Location: Philly
10,227 posts, read 16,819,013 times
Reputation: 2973
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212 View Post
Someone refresh my memory - Pittsburgh's PAT is upgrading it's fare collection system to SmartCards as we speak with full Go Live targeted next Spring..... Why wasn't SEPTA able to upgrade aren't they both state funded projects....

Thought I read someone both PAT and SEPTA had similar timelines for upgrading Fare Collection? Not the Regional Rail but the City and Suburban Divisions atleast.
SEPTA had planned on upgrading it's fare system but state funding dried up. in the current SEPTA has approved the issuance of debt to overhaul the fare system...which should be complete in the next three years. it's probably not the most important thing (look at chicago, they got rid of tokens but they're infrastructure was in such bad shape trains were slowed to 5 mph and people got trapped in broken down trains, etc)
SEPTA | SEPTA To Hold New Payment Technology Information Session

PAT would be a whole lot better off if they could have lowered the cost per seat mile. (not that I'm against modern fare systems)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:49 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top