Paper Transfers, Ticket Takers, even Ticket Salesmen are going by the wayside. Other Cities have figured out that these things are not neccesary. As a mass transit user in both Philadelphia and Washington DC, where I go to school, I can say with much basis that the SEPTA system is greatly lacking.
In the Washington, you can purchase one card, the SmartTrip Card, which is a rechargeable card that can be used on the Metro, buses and even to pay for parking. You pay at machines and you go through a faregate and get on a train. It is a very simple procedure.
In Philadelphia, to get my ticket for the train I have to either buy it at the station from a person which requires me to wait in line and potentially miss the train, or I can buy my ticket onboard at a higher price from a conductor... conductor? Really? is it 1952? And, why does it cost more to buy a ticket onboard? That, however, is a seperate issue, but I will mention that my ticket is 5 dollars on board and 4.25 at the station, that seems unfair.
In DC and NY, they have what are essentially vending machines selling farecards, so no line and no tokens. I don't even think New York uses Subway tokens anymore... the farecard is king in the big apple.
The beauty of the Washington DC SmarTrip is that it can be used on buses and trains, so why can't Philadelphia implement this technology? One could still have the fare of the paper transfer on the cards, the computer would deal with the bookeeping, though, and not bus drivers. This eliminates the neccessity of the paper transfer as well as the job of organizing the forms. Unfortunately, until there is a modern alternative, we need the paper transfer, because you cannot get rid of a system until there is a new one in its place.
Philadelphia needs to get paperless like many other cities in the US including Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco. We are the 6th largest city in the nation, and thus, we must modernize our system to more efficiently move our commuters. We now have the funding to do it, let's get on task. Seattle is testing the program now, and plans to implement their ORCA card in the fall.
We won't need paper transfers forever and, for the time being, we should keep our current systems in place and focus on entering the 21st century of Mass Transit. I'm sure I am not the only person with SEPTA issues, so feel free to leave them on here.
Comments (1)
I agree with all of your points on the farecard system. It's time for Septa to join the 1980s.
In defense of the conductors, I like having them on board. It makes me feel safe at night. Also, they can answer questions for confused passengers. (Theoretically! I know some are lazier than others.)
Still more, since the Regional Rail stops don't have turnstiles that prevent people without tickets from accessing the platform and board the train, there needs to be someone on the train to reduce the likelihood of riding for free. I used to live in London, and London had the same problem, in that Connex, their regional rail service, did not have turnstiles. Only, they didn't have conductors either, so I rode for free all the time! Every now and again, they would post a few conductors at the exit of major center city stations like Waterloo and London Bridge, but I only got caught once. I paid a 10 pound penalty, which was far less than all of the money I had saved by freeloading!
And even though it's not 1952, I think having conductors is a charming eccentricity. This, combined with the more substantive aforementioned reasons, makes me not mind paying their salaries.
Yes, some conductors do need to be more courteous helpful. But implementing a farecard system has nothing to do with the existence of conductors on trains.
Posted by jordon | July 27, 2007 2:45 PM