PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA has discovered that a glitch with some of its fare cards has been inconveniencing riders in the new year.
SEPTA estimates about 100,000 student, senior and paratransit fare cards issued in 2020 were encoded with the wrong expiration date.
SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch says, regardless of the expiration date printed on them, “some of these cards were incorrectly coded with an expiration date for the end of 2024."
Riders trying to use their student, senior and reduced fare cards in 2025 were declined at the turnstile or fare box. Regular SEPTA Key cards are not affected, and Busch says only one batch of cards is in question.
"It's confined to cards that were issued in 2020. So cards issued after that are not experiencing any problems."
Busch says it may take days to get the problem resolved, and it may be necessary to issue new cards.
“It's an issue with the manufacturer of the cards,” he said. “So we have to be able to find a way to make it work with the manufacturer.”
For now, SEPTA personnel have been told to allow student and senior riders to board as usual with the prematurely expired cards.
"We're hoping to keep any disruption to them and other riders minimal until we get the issue resolved."