SEPTA has issued its long-awaited call for bids on an ambitious new electronic "smart card" fare-collection system, with plans to award a contract in the spring.
The system will replace the tokens, tickets and magnetic-stripe cards that passengers use on buses, subways, trains and trolleys.
SEPTA's request for proposals, issued Friday, is intentionally vague, leaving many specifics of how the system will work up to the companies that offer to build it. But the agency said it wanted a system that will allow passengers to use credit cards, prepaid SEPTA cards, even cell-phones to pay for their trips.
With a "smart card," passengers will be able to wave a card at a sensor on a turnstile or fare box and be on their way.
It will be several years before a new system can be built and installed. Cost estimates have ranged as high as $100 million, although SEPTA urged bidders to offer innovative financing proposals, such as public-private partnerships, to reduce the cost to the agency.
The biggest challenge may be designing a system that works well on Regional Rail, since rail passengers do not enter through a single gate or door.
SEPTA told bidders they must come up with a system that addresses rail fare-collection "in a customer-friendly manner."
"SEPTA is really in uncharted territory here," said Matthew Mitchell of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, noting that other transit agencies have not devised a high-tech system to collect rail fares.
Mitchell said "it is going to be very hard to improve on" the weekly and monthly passes that most regular rail commuters use. He said SEPTA should install simple vending machines at every rail station to accept credit-card payments.
Another challenge will be to create a smart card compatible with those used by other transit agencies. PATCO, which operates commuter trains between Philadelphia and South Jersey, this year installed a smart-card system, and NJ Transit is in the early stages of designing one.
Mayor Nutter's transportation chief, Rina Cutler, has said compatibility should be a high priority for SEPTA's fare system, so passengers can use a single card for travel, and perhaps even parking, throughout the region.
The deadline for companies to submit fare-collection proposals to SEPTA is March 17. The agency hopes to award a contract by April, general manager Joseph Casey said last month. |