Written by 
From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
Work on the next generation of fare collection on SEPTA will begin after the transit agency’s board approved a $211 million contract for SEPTA Key 2.0. The system will be used to collect fares on regional mass transit, including buses, trains and trolleys.
Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. will design, install and operate the new system that will replace the aging SEPTA Key system, which is running on technology that’s nearly 15 years old, said Andrew Busch, spokesperson for the transit agency.
“We’ve had [SEPTA Key] out there for riders to use for about nine years now, but it’s based on technology that is getting on 15 years old,” Busch said. “A good analogy would be to think about what version of the iPhone you had in 2011 compared to what you have now and how much technology has advanced since then.”
SEPTA Key was unreliable at times, including last year when SEPTA Key cards failed for some travelers. That caused the agency to lose money because it had to allow riders to use the system for free.
Bush said the second generation of SEPTA Key will be built using open architecture, allowing the system to recognize forms of payment that haven’t even been invented yet.
“We don’t want our customers to have to guess whether or not the system’s working. We want it to be reliable and consistent and then open to be able to adapt to whatever comes up,” Busch said.
The awarding of the contract is just the first in a multi-stage process for implementing a new contract with a different company that currently has the contract to run the fare collection system. The new equipment won’t be forward-facing to the public until at least 2027, according to Busch.