PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The price tag has gone up again for SEPTA's Key card system.
The SEPTA board, on Thursday, is being asked to add another $745,000 to its contract with Conduent, the firm that designed SEPTA's fare card. For years, the SEPTA Key system has been plagued by delays and cost overruns.
This is the 26th change order since the contract was awarded a decade ago, bringing the original $123 million cost to nearly $209 million. This change order would pay for adding new fare discounts, transfers and mobile ticketing capabilities to the SEPTA Key card.
At an operations committee meeting last Thursday, SEPTA board member and city deputy managing director for transportation Mike Carroll asked whether a package discount could be negotiated for future SEPTA Key functions.
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"I'm suspecting there's a few more things that we have in mind that we want to come back and implement," he said. "Have we laid out a road map with Conduent on that and is there any benefit in trying to bundle more of that stuff together?"
That's feasible, replied Rich Burnfield, SEPTA's deputy general manager.
"We have made them aware of, going forward, there could be additional changes in fare policy," Burnfield said. "We will look at the possibility of being able to bundle some of those changes if that could reduce some of the expenses on our side."
The transit agency is already looking at what it’s dubbed SEPTA Key 2.0 and a dozen vendors have made proposals on how to improve the fare card system.
