Heard in the Hall

Please add EZ Pass tolls to the list.

I think this is a greeat idea and had SEPTA been more malleable in the past, we might not already have two disparate systems. If I had to choose two, I'd say making PATCO and SEPTA work seamlessly is more important.

It is stunning (if, perhaps, predictably so) that no progress has been made to date on electronic fare cards for SEPTA. How nice to hear a City official thinking of improving it. Washington's Metro puts our transportation infrastructure to shame, from automation to electronic fare cards and machines.

@ 12:58: How would one integrate EZPass to a farecard? Slowing up enough to tag a card against a sensor would eliminate the advantage of EZPass.

maybe the cards could all have online accounts to be refilled...

pay your ez pass and transit accounts all at once?

EZ Pass is wonderful. Why in the harry does the PPA go with another transponder system for the Philadelphia Airport? Now commerical vehicles must get another transponder so the airport can bill you for pickups. Whats up with that??

Here's the biggest problem with all of this - SEPTA would never go for this because the union guys will lose their jobs sitting around in the ticket booths - WHICH serves no purpose at all.

SEPTA is SO twisted.

SEPTA needs to start using electronic fare cards. Their current system is embarrassing.

Each SEPTA station that accepts an electronic fare card, as with Washington D.C's Metro system, will still have a SEPTA employee in each station. I have had issues with my D.C. Metro fare card that only the "station manager" was able to resolve, and I expect the Philly system will have similar issues (the laundry, change, cell phones and other electronics can wreak havoc on those magnetized fare cards); there is no need for the vast majority of SEPTA union workers to worry about new cards taking away jobs or working hours available. Who knows, maybe the future will hold ATMs and cellular and Wifi access (something not even D.C. has) for Philly's subways and elevated trains? In Philly we have an older public transit system, being, and always having been, a much larger city than is Washington, so change comes with more difficulty and higher costs. Since PATCO is a much "younger" (and smaller) transportation system with newer technologies, it is with little surprise that it is able to make use of new technologies more rapidly than a creaking and large system such as SEPTA is able to do so. The future is bright, fellow Philadelphians, so let us follow the path one step at a time. Let us not forget that since Washington's Metro has extensive federal funds, and is 30 years young, it has some convenience advantages with which the Philly, New York, and Boston systems cannot compete. That said, we should not settle for less, and we must always hold SEPTA and PATCO up to the highest standards and fault them when they do not deliver. We should never settle for lower levels of service when we know better service is feasible.

Each SEPTA station that accepts an electronic fare card, as with Washington D.C's Metro system, will still have a SEPTA employee in each station. I have had issues with my D.C. Metro fare card that only the "station manager" was able to resolve, and I expect the Philly system will have similar issues (the laundry, change, cell phones and other electronics can wreak havoc on those magnetized fare cards); there is no need for the vast majority of SEPTA union workers to worry about new cards taking away jobs or working hours available. Who knows, maybe the future will hold ATMs and cellular and Wifi access (something not even D.C. has) for Philly's subways and elevated trains? In Philly we have an older public transit system, being, and always having been, a much larger city than is Washington, so change comes with more difficulty and higher costs. Since PATCO is a much "younger" (and smaller) transportation system with newer technologies, it is with little surprise that it is able to make use of new technologies more rapidly than a creaking and large system such as SEPTA is able to do so. The future is bright, fellow Philadelphians, so let us follow the path one step at a time. Let us not forget that since Washington's Metro has extensive federal funds, and is 30 years young, it has some convenience advantages with which the Philly, New York, and Boston systems cannot compete. That said, we should not settle for less, and we must always hold SEPTA and PATCO up to the highest standards and fault them when they do not deliver. We should never settle for lower levels of service when we know better service is feasible.

One start to fixing the Phila Parking Authority Cards would to make them refillable. The current system is cumbersome because I have to order ones online or find a place that sells them.