SEPTA rolls out Key Card truck at county courthouse
MEDIA » The big mobile white truck sat outside the Delaware County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon but this one, parked on Olive Street, wasn’t doling out hot dogs.
Indeed, the merchandise available from this vehicle was the aqua SEPTA key card.
The key card is replacing tokens as the way to access SEPTA’s buses, trolleys and trains. All that is needed to obtain one is a minimum $10 to be put toward travel costs when buyers register their cards.
On Tuesday, the Delaware County Transportation Management Association partnered with SEPTA and the Delaware County Planning Department to have the truck outside the courthouse for three hours so people could ask questions about the card or to buy their own.
“Our purpose is always to promote alternative transportation and the county is very supportive of that,” Cecile Charlton, executive director of the association, said.
She said her agency worked with SEPTA to bring the truck to the courthouse so that employees wouldn’t have to go to 69th Street Transportation Center or into Philadelphia to get a card.
SEPTA officials were on site to assist with any questions.
“Today, we’re here to promote purchase of the key card to anybody in the town of Media or the county employees that use SEPTA to get to work,” Jen Scimone, SEPTA senior sales development specialist, said. “We’re trying to get people to convert over (to the key cards) or educate them.”
Byron McCaskill, SEPTA revenue transportation supervisor, was showing people how the card worked.
“The biggest concern is how to go in between lines, transferring in between lines,” he said, adding that that interaction was seamless with the device. “We let them know that the card deducts their fares whenever they transfer to another line. It keeps track of their traveling and just deducts the transfer on each line.”
Eventually, the key cards will make their way to the Regional Rail system. Currently, they are accepted on buses, trolleys and subways.
“We’re in the process of installing all the equipment on the Regional Rail lines,” McCaskill said.
The key cards are expected replace tokens in time.
“We’re phasing them out,” McCaskill said of the tokens. “We don’t have a set date on when they stop.”
Scimone said, however, the transition period will be long.
“When we stop selling the tokens, we’ll probably give a year or two after that to use them simultaneously with the key cards because we want to get all those tokens that are out on the streets back in,” she said.
McCaskill added that the to tokens can be key cards.
Individuals can put anywhere between $10 and $250 on the key cards to be used towards their SEPTA transportation costs. Once registered, the card is good for three years.
“As long as they register their card, they don’t have to worry about continuing to buy a key card,” McCaskill said. And, with it being registered, can be traced. “If they lose it for any reason or it’s damaged, they can call (and) with their registration number, we’ll replace their card with the monetary value on it,” McCaskill said.
Charlton said although this was set up for county employees, the TMA can arrange to have the SEPTA key card visit local businesses.
“It’s not a one time event,” she said. “We’ll be able to do it for other companies.” it used towards the